A candlelit dining room at Maison Noir, tables set in deep shadow

Maison Noir — Mayfair, London

A Quiet Theatre of Taste

Eleven courses · One sitting · Served in near darkness

The Idea

We believe a meal can be staged like a film — lit low, paced slowly, edited without mercy. Nothing arrives at the table that has not earned its place in the dark.

Tasting Menu

The Eleven Courses

£195 per guest · wine pairing £120 · the menu changes with the moon, not the season

I

Oyster, Smoked Cream, Sea Herbs

A single Lindisfarne oyster warmed over embers, finished with cream smoked in last year’s oak.

Château-Chalon, Jura — poured from height
II

Bread of the House

Black sourdough, three days in the making, with butter beaten by hand and salted with charcoal.

Fino en rama, Sanlúcar — bone dry
III

Beetroot Cooked in Its Own Ash

Buried beetroot, aged sherry vinegar, a shaving of frozen foie gras that vanishes as it lands.

Blaufränkisch, Burgenland — served cool
IV

Hand-Dived Scallop, Brown Butter Dashi

From Orkney, raw at the centre, with a dashi drawn from roasted scallop skirts.

Chablis premier cru — ten years on
V

Smoked Eel, Bone Marrow, Pickled Walnut

Severn eel over applewood, marrow glazed in its own roasting juices, a Victorian pickle to cut it.

Oloroso, thirty years — one ounce only
VI

Turbot Cooked on the Bone

A whole wild turbot, rested longer than it is cooked, sauced with champagne and chicken fat.

Meursault — the quiet kind
VII

A Spoon of Game Consommé

Clarified over three days from grouse, heather honey and burnt onion. Drunk, not eaten.

Nothing — the consommé is the pairing
VIII

Aged Herdwick Lamb, Black Garlic, Wild Leek

Forty days in the salt room, carved at the pass, dressed with a jus reduced to a whisper.

Côte-Rôtie — decanted at dusk
IX

Stichelton, Honeycomb, Malt

A single farm, a single wheel, served at the exact temperature of the dining room.

Vintage port, half glass — no more
X

Burnt Pear, Brown Bread Ice

Williams pear blistered over the last of the fire, with an ice cream of yesterday’s loaf.

Tokaji aszú, five puttonyos
XI

Dark Chocolate, Smoked Salt, Nothing Else

The room dims one final time. A single piece, made that afternoon, eaten in silence.

Armagnac, 1989 — the year the house was built

The Chef

Elias Marchand

Born in Lyon, formed in the kitchens of the Basque coast, Elias came to London with a single conviction: that restraint is the rarest luxury. At Maison Noir he cooks almost entirely over fire, with a brigade of nine and a menu that is rewritten by hand each lunar month.

He does not chase novelty. He chases the moment a dish becomes inevitable — when nothing can be added and nothing taken away. Most evenings he carves the lamb himself, at the pass, in silence.

E. Marchand — Chef Patron

“Darkness is not the absence of the dish. It is the frame.”

The Cellar

Twelve Thousand Bottles Below Mayfair

Rows of dusty bottles resting in the candlelit cellar — The Long Vault

Red wine being poured against a dark background — Poured From Height

A single glass of wine catching low light — One Glass, One Course

The dim dining room seen from the cellar stair — The Stair to the Room

Our sommelier, Ana Ferreyra, buys only what she would drink at her own table. Burgundy in depth, Jura in obsession, and a sherry collection that has been called unreasonable. We take this as a compliment.

Private Dining

The Salon Obscur

Behind an unmarked door on the first floor, a single table for ten. Your own kitchen, your own sommelier, and a menu composed for the evening alone — written by hand and burned at the end of the night.

Enquire

Reservations

Your table awaits

Two sittings nightly. Released on the first of each month, at midnight.

Reserve a Table

Address

11 Hartwell Mews
Mayfair, London W1K 4QF

Hours

Tuesday – Saturday
Sittings at 18:00 & 21:00

Contact

+44 20 7447 1889
table@maisonnoir.london

A Quiet Theatre of Taste

The Eleven Courses

Oyster, Smoked Cream, Sea Herbs

Bread of the House

Beetroot Cooked in Its Own Ash

Hand-Dived Scallop, Brown Butter Dashi

Smoked Eel, Bone Marrow, Pickled Walnut

Turbot Cooked on the Bone

A Spoon of Game Consommé

Aged Herdwick Lamb, Black Garlic, Wild Leek

Stichelton, Honeycomb, Malt

Burnt Pear, Brown Bread Ice

Dark Chocolate, Smoked Salt, Nothing Else

Elias Marchand

Twelve Thousand Bottles Below Mayfair

The Salon Obscur

Your table awaits