Larry Jayasekara is living the dream.
Just to pack his life story into a nutshell: he was born in Sri Lanka and, skipping a few years ahead, he then started manning the stoves at The Waterside Inn (three Michelin Stars), Michel Bras (three Michelin Stars), Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons (two Michelin Stars), and was head chef at Gordon Ramsay’s darling Pétrus (one Michelin Star), which he left after being named National Chef of the Year. Basically, he was a chef brimming with both talent & experience, sitting on the verge of greatness, who only needed his own restaurant to finally seal the deal.
Well, now he has his own restaurant.
To open it he’s teamed up with art dealer Tim Jefferies, who owns his own esteemed photography gallery in Mayfair, and together their only aim was to essentially create the very best eatery they could. That’s the dream, and Larry Jayasekara is living it.
The result is The Cocochine, which you’ll find on the quiet little alleyway that is Bruton Place, just off Grosvenor Square, in deepest, plushest Mayfair. Step in under the dark orange awning and you’ll find an intimate space with just eight tables, subtly separated from each other to create their own little private bubble. The herringbone parquet flooring, the brown leather chairs, and the small marble wine island all project understated elegance. And the artwork on the walls, unsurprisingly, comes from Jeffries own gallery space nearby, and rotates with some regularity.
If you venture upstairs, you’ll find a chef’s table bar area overlooking the gigantic kitchen (which is almost the size of the dining room below), and sitting atop all that on the next floor up is a private dining room so large and opulently laid out it’s practically its own villa.
The menu similarly finds itself changing almost daily, landing on roughly four starters & mains apiece. You can get a generous helping of meltingly good fatty otoro tuna topped with caviar (and Jayasekara is restrained enough to simply let the ingredients do the talking here, without any further interference), or a verdant plateful of thick Pertuis asparagus partnered up with kombu & bacon Hollandaise. Then you’ll have a bread course comprising fluffy brioche loaves of onion-infused dough and some butters to glaze it with.
On the mains, you’ll find anything from turbot (dry aged in-house) with Dorset crab and lemongrass sauce; cauliflower that’s been marinaded in miso for a week to infuse it with intense flavour; or 40-day aged beef with a floret of maitake mushroom and some rich red wine jus draped all over it.
And to finish? We cannot recommend the Tahitian vanilla ice cream with jaggery caramel enough. It’s the most vanilla-y vanilla ice cream you’ve ever had, and it’s topped with a not-too-sweet caramel that gradually thickens as it cools. Truly delightful. It’s not cheap, but if you fancy splashing out, it’s worth it.
And as one final twist? They don’t take online bookings – phone only. It helps to establish a rapport with the diner before they arrive, and iron out any dietaries, etc.
Or maybe it just has a nice ring to it.
NOTE: The Cocochine is open now, Monday to Saturday. Booking is by phone only, on 020 3835 3957. You can find out more at the website right here.
The Cocochine | 27 Bruton Place, W1J 6NQ
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