Tomatoes rarely get this much attention, especially not in a fine dining restaurant. But at Mauro Colagreco in Raffles London at The OWO, tomatoes take center stage this summer. For a limited time, the iconic chef has created a seasonal tasting menu that treats tomatoes as more than just a salad ingredient or base for pasta sauce. It sounds like it would be a simple concept until you witness how much work goes into transforming the humble tomato into raw, grilled, juiced, frozen, and even sweet creations.
We started the night downstairs for cocktails at The Spy Bar, one of the London hotel bars that feels more like a private club than a pub. It’s dark and moody, with a James Bond car mounted over the bar. There are no photos allowed, which adds to the exclusivity and we will have to leave to the imagination just how special our martinis and “Diamonds are Forever” old fashioneds were.
Upstairs, the dining room had already filled. Chef Leo was out front welcoming tables. Then Mauro himself appeared. Not behind a kitchen door left ajar in the private dining room (there is one, Mauro’s Table), but walking the floor, checking in on guests, smiling, relaxed. This is a chef with multiple restaurants across continents and three Michelin stars, but here he was, in the room, making sure people were happy.
The menu opened with green zebra tomato gazpacho, served from a beautifully chilled silver bowl surrounded by a lavish spread of the same fresh green tomatoes used in the soup. Not an over-the-top table side presentation, and not theatrical in any way, but beautiful and impressive. In the individual bowls, a scoop of mustard ice cream was already waiting to be bathed in cool gaspacho and garnished with a delicious gastrique. It was an impressive and clever start to the menu, and exactly the kind of dish you want to eat in the middle of summer.
Then came a salad of chocolate cherry tomatoes with Sussex sheep’s ricotta and fig leaf oil. The tomatoes were sweet and earthy, the ricotta cool and creamy, and the fig leaf oil added a subtle green note that tied everything together. It was simple, but not plain, and gorgeously garnished.
Grilled lobster came accompanied with plum tomatoes, soft potato foam, and garam masala. The lobster was good, but the potatoes were a standout. We would have happily eaten a full bowl of them and not missed the lobster. It was that flavorful!
The Cornish monkfish was one of the standout dishes of the night. Grilled and served with Isle of Wight tomatoes, tomato XO sauce, and saffron, it hit every note—smoky, rich, a little spicy, and packed with umami. The tomatoes added just enough brightness to cut through the rich sauces and the monkfish was — as expected — cooked to perfection.
The final savory course featured grilled sirloin from ex-dairy cows (a sustainable choice and signature of Colagreco’s menus), served with pink beef tomatoes, tomato kimchi, and a wild herb chimichurri. It leaned more intense and savory, and paired beautifully with a Chilean Bordeaux blend.
Dessert started with tomato-vanilla sorbet, ginger, and lemon. It worked wonderfully as a palate cleanser, but could have also been a refreshing finish in its own right. Then came the final dish: tomato sorbet with verbena cream and sake jelly. Light and floral, yet sweet at the same time, our son adored the brilliant pink sorbet.
This menu runs through August 16, and it’s one of the most focused and exciting seasonal menus we’ve seen in London this summer. Book your table here.
Note: Mauro Colagreco provided support for the reporting of this story.