Giving diners an intimate dining experience through a multiple-course tasting menu, Aulis is Simon Rogan’s eight-seater chef’s table situated in the heart of London’s West End.
Fine dining is in many ways as much about the experience as it is the food. More and more often people are looking for a meal that goes beyond simply sitting at a table in a dining room and being served a series of dishes; they want something more personal, more memorable and more interactive. That’s why 'chef’s tables' – small sections of larger restaurants that put you right in the midst of the action in the kitchen – are more popular than ever. Simon Rogan’s London restaurant Aulis takes the chef's table idea and makes it the focus of an entire restaurant (albeit a restaurant with only eight seats. This not only provides diners with a uniquely personal experience; it also acts as a development kitchen for dishes which might ultimately find their way onto the menu at Rogan's flagship restaurant L’Enclume in the Lake District.
Nestled away in the heart of Soho, Aulis serves a menu very much focused around Rogan’s farm-to-fork ethos, with head chef Charlie Tayler at the helm. The space itself has been kept very minimalistic to allow the food to do the talking; an eight-seater counter sits in the middle of the dimly lit space, which doubles up as an open kitchen. This allows Tayler to interact with the diners as they watch over their menu being cooked.
Aulis’ multi-course tasting menu changes regularly with the seasons, while much of the produce used comes directly from Rogan’s own farm (called 'Our Farm'), allowing the team to work closely with their supplier when creating new dishes. Diners can expect a variety of savoury small plates ranging from crispy chicken skin with Cornish crab and yuzu to roasted miso maitake mushroom with fermented cep, and desserts such as caramelised Pink Lady apple with verjus and meadowsweet, or frozen Tunworth with truffle honey and cobnut crisp. In terms of drinks, customers can choose for a selection of wine and soft drink pairings to accompany the food.
As restaurants go there aren’t many more intimate than Aulis – and for an interactive dining experience of the highest level, they don’t come much better.
There is another Aulis in Cartmel, the Cumbrian village where Rogan’s two-Michelin-starred L’Enclume is situated.
Aulis first opened in 2017 with Rafael Cagali as head chef, who now owns Da Terra in Bethnal Green.
The tasting menu at Aulis varies slightly in length but can be comprised of up to fifteen dishes.
Simon Rogan’s father worked at a wholesale fruit and vegetable market, coming home every evening with a box of the day’s the best produce. A fussy eater at the time, Simon Rogan was suspicious of the unfamiliar exotics he brought back, such as star and kiwi fruits, but credits this early exposure with sparking his life-long interest in ingredients and seasonal produce.
Already a keen home cook, aged fourteen he took a weekend job in a Greek restaurant in his hometown of Southampton, but at that point the financial freedom it afforded was the motivator. Football was more on his mind, with trials for Chelsea and a training contract with Fulham in the offing; but realising this was a pipe dream, he focused on catering college instead, which he attended on day release while he continued to work. He told GQ of his time there: ‘I was surrounded by aspiring chefs who were far more experienced than me and were working in the great country-house hotels of the New Forest … I couldn’t stand for that! So that fired up my competitive spirit and I vowed to become the best chef I could.’
