HUMO | Wood & fire cooking at its finest
It’s thought that humans first tamed fire just over a quarter of a million years ago.
And that, in the opinion of Colombian-born chef Miller Prada, was the moment that culinary technology officially peaked.
But the best argument in favour of this fairly bold idea is a meal at HUMO (which is Spanish for ‘smoke’, FYI), his debut restaurant which just raised the curtain in Mayfair. Because the kitchen uses absolutely nothing other than wood & fire to cook the entire menu. No electricity. No gas. Microwaves are like kryptonite in there. And the result is a lineup of frequently smoky, occasionally surprising, and always fantastic dishes.
You’ll find HUMO opposite the stately colonnades of Mayfair’s St George’s church. Inside, it’s an elegant sleeve of space split in half between the open kitchen and the tables that line the opposite wall. If you can get a seat at the bar though, that’s where you want to be. It’s from here that you’ll get the best vie of the hearth at the centre of the whole operation, blazing away as chefs occasionally sear, scorch, and melt things on it. Every so often a chef will pull an ember from the fire with a pair of tongs, then place a raw scallop onto it. A medieval-looking device called a flambadou is used to spit molten fat onto petite skewers of langoustines. It’s theatrical in the best sense.
The menu itself is divided up into the four stages of a fire. You start at the ignition, which is a short selection of raw sashimi (it’s here that we should note that chef Miller Prada was the protégée of third-generation sushi master Endo Kazutoshi for years, so he knows what he’s doing). There’s seabass with a surprising hint of vanilla, and a 14-day aged trout topped with caviar grilled in kombu kelp. After that it’s smoke, which includes a meltingly tender ash-cooked cauliflower, or some extraordinary Jerusalem artichokes with salsify.
The third part of HUMO’s menu is the showstopper – flame – which includes fire-kissed dishes like scallops with whisky, or langoustines with fermented apple & flatbread. And finally, it all finishes on the embers, with near-perfect lambchops in a bright beetroot sauce and some bitter leaves, and aged turbot with a skewer of wild mushrooms. As you eat, you’ll taste the progression of the flavours as they move from smokey, to lightly seared, to subtly charred, and each dish seems to be constructed like a little work of art.
You can pair this all up with their extensive wine list, or something from the slightly theatrical cocktail menu, but it’s all about the food at HUMO. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it.
So you won’t get burned.
NOTE: HUMO has just won a Michelin Star in the 2024 listings. You can find out more, and make a booking at their website right here.
ALSO NOTE: If you really want to push the boat out, check out the chef’s table downstairs, Abajo.
HUMO | 12 St. George Street, W1S 2FB
Dining in Mayfair…need more tips? Have a scroll through the best Mayfair restaurants, handpicked by The Nudge.