A Dessert Tasting Menu Restaurant Called No Idea Is Open in Shoreditch

A tasting menu restaurant aiming to blur the line between sweet and savoury is open for a limited time in Shoreditch. No Idea, the creation of chef-owner Andrew Sutton, quietly opened on the site vacated by the Nordic fermentation restaurant, Rok, between Shoreditch and Liverpool Street Station.

The six-month pop-up, thought to be at least in part inspired by the dessert tasting menu restaurant Coda in Berlin, serves a three- or five-course menu, priced at £30 and £50, respectively. Wine pairings for each are available for each, priced at £20 and £25.

The restaurant’s website says that “NO IDEA is more of a lifestyle than just a name; stemming from our slogan ‘it’s ok to have no idea, yet still do something powerful.’”

Concentrating on ingredients that customers ordinarily associate with dessert, Sutton is aiming to subvert convention at the same time as achieving balanced flavour combinations: “Our restaurant focuses on the indulgence that you get from eating desserts, by combining flavours and techniques to create a dessert inspired tasting menu that can be enjoyed as a main meal.”

The pop-up restaurant has two months left to run and opens Tuesday to Friday, 6pm to 10pm and Saturday from midday to 4pm. Dishes currently on the menu include buttermilk and cherry, fig and Thai basil, Gruyere and apricot, potato and coffee, and chocolate and shiitake.

“Our journey to develop a dish is not as straight forward as people may assume,” they say. “Working with day to day ingredients, we wanted to shine a new light on them. Focusing on one main ingredient and building around it, without limitations.

“We aim to awaken the senses, evoke emotions and create conversations.”