M: A 24 hour cookbook

By Michael Reid

Winner of the Open Table Diner's Choice award for 2015, M is two restaurants in one. With RAW and GRILL side by side, and open from early morning until midnight every day, M venues offers diners endless opportunities, and this exciting new cookbook presents them both.

With RAW, M is informal and high energy, delighting patrons with small dishes and sharing plates of tartars, tiraditos and sashimi, while GRILL specialises in the best steaks from around the world. Alongside this, the M-Bar offers expert wines, which can be bought via the M Wine Store and online, and there is a secret 'den', making both M restaurants a multi-purpose hotspot for Londoners. Innovative and much loved by its patrons, M even offers pampered pooch parties, including a doggie dance off, for those who love the restaurant's incredible food – and their pets.

With essays and recipes covering a full 24 hours in these iconic London restaurants, M: A 24 Hour Cookbook showcases the very best the restaurant has to offer, with stunning new photography of the recipes and the restaurants by Jodi Hinds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Aug 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781472938558

Book preview

CREATING M

After a full decade travelling the globe, dining at the finest restaurants, visiting vineyards, drinking in cocktail bars and staying in hotels in the search for inspiring hospitality, Martin Williams’ inspirations germinated into the creation of M. The resources and energy expended ended up being shrewd investments. All of the places he’d spent time in contributed to the story, making it compelling. M, in short, is borne on the shoulders of its inspirations and Martin’s imagination.

Ask Martin and the philisophy of M is quite simple. It is to bring the highest quality food, beverage and hospitality offerings possible to his guests. At M, this goes as far as being able to use the M website to chose your own table in ‘airline style’ before you dine – an industry first.

On a local scale, Martin is passionate about the multiculturalism of London and wanted to create a restaurant that is a true mirror of cultural liberalism. M draws inspiration from international cuisines, but it’s also supported by an international team of staff, many of whom learned their trade in some of the foremost eateries and venues across the planet. M isn’t simply a restaurant or a bar, it’s closer to a private members’ club or hotel in feel, and the type of venue that you’d use for a range of purposes. The success of M has been predicated on fostering relationships with regulars who return almost daily.

M GRILL

M GRILL, Threadneedle Street

During his time working in London, Martin noticed that there was a specific brand of badinage taking place between guests. He’d have people from all corners of the world visiting, and each would insist that beef from their country was the best that you could get. It dawned on Martin: restaurants tend to focus on one type of beef. You have British, American and Argentine steakhouses in London, but it’s very rare that you find a restaurant that specialises in serving the best steaks in the world. From there, the concept of M quickly unspooled. Martin decided to open a restaurant that specialises in steak and wine from the top six nations in the world: the United States, France, South Africa, Australia, Argentina and Japan.

Each steak on the menu has its own specific character that requires a certain preparation. The kitchens were installed with two types of grills: a wood-fired parrilla like you’d find in Argentina and a Josper charcoal grill. The wood-fired grill is a more delicate means of cooking, perfectly suited for cuts like rump and fillet. These same cuts would be overpowered by the Josper, which suits fattier steaks like rib-eyes and almost any cut from Wagyu or Kobe beef.

M GRILL is also one of the few restaurants in London to have its own ageing chamber, on display from the dining room. The kitchen staff take sides of beef that have been flown in, trim them and age them for up to twenty-eight days to give the meat a deeper, nuttier taste.

The six-nation theme extends beyond the steaks. There are six starters on the menu and six non-steak main courses, each one reflecting the cuisine and ethos of the represented country. Australia, for instance, is plated in the form of crocodile fillets with slow-cooked hen’s egg, pear, onion powder and bone marrow. Executive Chef Michael Reid spent a long stint working in the thriving culinary city of Melbourne, and brings a talented hand to both the sourcing and preparation of Australian ingredients. There are also six dishes from M RAW which have crept onto the menu, with lighter, punchier flavours that stimulate the palate and prepare it for the robust mains.

M GRILL, Threadneedle Street

M RAW

M RAW was inspired by trips to Japan and the great Asian cuisine that can be found in restaurants in the major cities – New York, London and Paris. The motto of RAW is ‘the natural purity and simplicity of ingredients’ in world gastronomy. When dining at seminal international Japanese eateries like Zuma, Morimoto and Sukiyabashi Jiro, you never leave feeling as if you’re bloated or you’ve overeaten. You always leave feeling as if you’re sated and on a protein high. This is recreated at M with a menu that focuses on the ingredients sourced by Michael and Martin, which are notably light on the carbohydrates and heavy on the fish. The restaurant showcases Asian classics like nigiri, sashimi, tartars and ramen.

There’s also a playful element on the menu gleaned from travelling around some of Tokyo’s most famous restaurants, such as Chikuyotei Honten and Bird Land at Marunouchi. There’s finger food in the form of chicken karaage and Chinese bao, and the kushiyaki served on hot stones always entrances diners with its theatricality. Guests then have the opportunity cook their own Wagyu beef, Iberico pork and yellow fin tuna at the table, or watch as their server does.

M DEN

The theatricality of restaurants has always excited Martin. Once, in a bar, he happened upon a wardrobe teeming with fur coats. The words ‘To Narnia’ were scrawled on the back panel of the cupboard. After pushing on the wardrobe, Martin was disappointed to realise that it didn’t lead anywhere in particular. He decided that he would create his own version of Narnia, tucked away behind a secret entrance, when he launched his own restaurant.

This, of course, became M DEN. It’s the kind of playroom that you’d create in your own home if you had an unlimited budget. It’s set back from the restaurant and quite effectively hidden, so that you wouldn’t know it was there, and is reserved for guests who frequent the restaurant and really appreciate what M offers. Alongside a raft of luxury items running the gamut from foosball tables and state of the art sound systems to artwork by Miles Aldridge, M DEN also offers private bottle lockers and a humidor where members can store cigars, imparting a sense of ownership similar to a private members’ club, but one so secret that few know it exists.

M DEN

M BAR

M BAR, Victoria Street

It’s hard to nail down inspirations for a bar, particularly when you’re operating in one of the best markets for cocktail bars on the planet. Three international bars that figured into the psyche of M are the Bar & Courtyard at the Setai in Miami, Floreria Atlantico in Buenos Aires and a strange little bolthole in Tokyo that Martin can only nebulously recollect. The bar at M is eminently adaptable: guests can pop up and have a glass of wine – or indeed a flight – be led on a wine tasting by a sommelier, enjoy a cocktail, a pint of lager or open a bottle of champagne. It’s both accessible and aspirational; diners can choose to eat the big M burger or caviar, as well as anything in between. The only important benchmark is that the dish is playful.

This extends to the cocktail list which was put together by Martin’s friend Lance Perkins, who helms the bar at the London Edition Hotel. Together, they constructed a drinks list that consistently subverts expectations. Just as in M GRILL and M RAW, guests will initially be struck by the flavour of the drink, before the cocktail’s texture, mouthfeel or garnish supplies a secondary surprise. M BAR also shares common blood with the restaurants in that it uses the finest ingredients. All of the house spirits are premium brands: the vodka is Belvedere; the gin Tanqueray 10; rum is Ron Zacapa; even the vermouth is top-shelf – Cocchi Americano. No punches are pulled in assuring that drinkers are sipping the best.

M BAR, Threadneedle Street

M WINE

Fine wine can be an intimidating and off-putting field to get into, which is why so many diners will leave their bottle up to the sommelier’s discretion – this can, in turn, feed into upselling bottles and compromising trust. The mission of M WINE has always been to open doors for guests to enjoy fine wine and make it more accessible, and the wine dispensers are the perfect vehicle for that. At M, wines like Screaming Eagle, Opus One and Petrus are not only available by the bottle and glass, but by a 50ml tasting measure. In some restaurants it’s quite common to be spending over £3,000 on these wines, which puts them out of reach for most people. You’re paying for its authenticity, its storage and for a sommelier who can explain the terroirs, producer and history behind the wine.

Zack Charilaou, the Wine Director at M, is a virtuoso. At the tender age of twenty-four he has already won a slew of accolades, winning the Harpers Award for Sommelier of the Year 2015, serving on the panel of the Sommelier Wine Awards and winning a nomination as Young Sommelier of the Year for Imbibe Live Awards 2013. In spite of his successes, there’s not a hint of pretension in Zack. Affable, charming and expert at holding a chat, he’s the perfect point of contact for anyone anxious to learn a bit more about what they’re drinking.

M Wine Store + MWINESTORE.COM

There’s nothing wrong with occasionally being inspired by yourself, and the M Wine Store and MWINESTORE.COM were built upon the success of wine at the Threadneedle site. After finishing their meals, many diners at M would ask how they could buy the wines for their own homes. It’s very rare that you can purchase high-quality, restaurant-standard wine in the supermarket or anywhere else without being a fine wine merchant or collector. Martin was inspired to make the wine accessible through both physical and online marketplaces.

For the actual bricks and mortar shop, 150 of M’s most accessible wines were taken off M’s 300 bin menu, with another 150 added that draw on from the six continent theme with the notable addition of Italy. The shop in Victoria has been fashioned to resemble a classic car collectors’ garage – with white lacquer shelving with white inlays and brushed concrete flooring. Perhaps more importantly there are six wine dispensers with forty-eight wines on offer, as well as a beautiful tasting table where guests can imbibe. Winemakers’ dinners and tasting dinners are held weekly – and the food menu is written like a wine list, divided into whites, rosés and reds.

MWINESTORE.COM arrived on the back of the second restaurant, and offers all of the 300 wines that are found in the shop. In typical M fashion, however, it’s not your average online wine delivery service. Online shoppers will have the option to bolt on experiential components to their orders: there’s a sommelier service wherein a sommelier will deliver the wines and do a tasting for you with glass and decanter; customers will be invited to tastings within the shop; and wine hampers are available to order. For those who just can’t wait, wine can be delivered within 45 minutes to London destinations. Everything from one bottle to several hundred bottles can be ordered – there’s no limit or case size. As with the restaurant, the mission of the wine shop is to make fine wine accessible and fun.

Entrance at M, Victoria Street

DESIGNING AND BUILDING AN M RESTAURANT

The two M venues are spaces that you can return to again and again, noticing something different each time, and it was calculated as such. René Dekker Design, the interior designers hired to create both the Threadneedle Street and Victoria sites, had never created a restaurant before. Their speciality is large mansion houses and private residences in west London and across the world. This benefited the project in a couple of ways. First of all, they didn’t force their own stamp and imprint on it and were happy to accommodate Martin’s vision. Secondly, the venues feel very warm and comfortable, as if each is in a home. There isn’t a disjointed feel – all rooms flow into one another – making it feel less corporate and more human, like a private members’ club.

The experience of walking into M is akin to entering a luxury hotel – there’s a lobby, and if you walk to the left you’ll have a certain experience, and if you walk to the right you’ll have another. There are purposefully no hurdles to clear in the vestibule. There’s a reception podium rather than a desk so you can just wander into the restaurant and be warmly greeted by the staff. This eschews any subliminal barriers, creating an accessible and inviting environment, as if you’d strolled into a friend’s home. As Martin says, ‘When you enter a friend’s home, you don’t just leave the door ajar and allow people to wander in and out. There’s always a hand on the door, a smile, eye contact and a handshake’, and that’s the quintessence of M – warmth, embrace and making the guest comfortable.

If you were to walk to the left of the sweeping staircase leading into the mezzanine level of M Threadneedle Street, you’d enter M GRILL. There’s a playful sense of theatricality here. The restaurants that excite Martin the most are the ones that offer a sense of spectacle. The M venues resemble amphitheatres. The GRILL restaurant in Victoria Street in many ways brings to mind the Royal Albert Hall, with an oval dining room flanked by an upper leave, with hidden booths that evoke images of the upper boxes.

Pins and Needles, Chairs and Tables

Close study of an M restaurant offers a masterclass in attention to detail. Banquettes are mixed with loose seating, with a number of alcoves interspersed. Niches are created for the banquette seating, and the decorative lighting is brought down low above the table, so diners are bathed in a corona of soft light.

Tables are laid with the highest-quality, yet casual, settings. The cutlery is Tramontina, which has an agreeable weight and quality. The glassware is Riedel. Very thin, delicate hourglass tumblers are used for water, which also make the perfect wine glass without a stem. All elements are an inviting blend of casual and luxury.

The chairs and tables have been laid out with the same precision. As they say, the devil is in the detail. A subject as seemingly basic as seating, something as natural as sitting down, can unearth a mother lode of planning and strategising. For instance, when a guest’s knees are higher than horizontal when sitting, the guest would eventually have the uncomfortable sensation of pins and needles in the legs. The distance between the table and the guests’ knees at M is ten centimetres so diners don’t have to make the effort of lowering their arms in the process of eating. It’s important to establish equipoise between both factors. Arms on the chairs encourage diners to feel as if they can stay as long as they like. These are the minute influences that the average customer might not notice, but the M team believe they are instrumental in creating a comfortable dining experience to ensure guests are fully relaxed. To achieve this and maintain uniformity, when the staff are setting up the restaurant they use string to line up the tables, creating symmetry with the glassware, the candles and the cutlery. Creating such a clean and precise environment puts guests at ease and suggests that the experience with the food will be the same. Microscopic attention to detail is an inherent part of the culture at M.

Plaster and Paint

René Dekker have an extensive knowledge of the products, paint and plaster effects that help to create a visually stimulating, yet homely, ambience. On every surface, nook and cranny of an M restaurant, textural elements have been added that are pleasing to the eye, including faux eel skin wallpaper running the length of the walls. Feature walls have been decorated throughout with specialist fi nishes from top London decorators; some resemble distressed timber whilst incorporating gold leaf. Other walls resemble stone and slate. Through labour-intensive plastering, surfaces have been created that are striking, yet soothing, to they eye, almost mesmerising.

M GRILL, Victoria Street

M WINE STORE, Victoria Street

M found nice artistic complements in Miles Aldridge and Thomas Wolski, who manage to sum up the character of the restaurant in their works. Miles tends to focus on glamorous nymph-like young women having food fi ghts and his art has very playful elements with reference points in Andy Warhol and the pop art movement, as well as contemporary photographers. It’s simultaneously alluring, yet self-deprecating. A plethora of his photos are spread throughout the restaurants including a fl agship piece portraying a beautiful young woman seated in front of a plate of steak tartare.

Thomas Wolski has a similar tongue-in-cheek and subversive, yet good-humoured, world view expressed in his art. His incredibly intricate artworks, often incorporated on to mixed media materials such as animal skin, reveal an M.C. Escher-level attention to detail. After creating the ‘United Nations of Steak’, which features six nations of beef, Thomas spent four days at M Threadneedle Street on top of a ladder doodling amazing and intricate fine drawings on the windows.

RAW’s design emulates its pure and unfussy menu, with a pared back design scheme paying homage to Japanese Zen gardens, pervaded with minimalist details and a simple palette of soft light grey fabrics and bleached oak. The floor is laid with concrete effect tiles with a lace embossed pattern, which pulls everything together. The most striking features of M RAW in both venues are the Bianco Eclipsia stone sushi bars. On a busy night, diners often sit on high stools at the bar as a Santoku knife flashes and coruscates, catching the light and carving angular slices of salmon, tuna, swordfish and trout.

A Narnia for the Cocktail Enthusiast

The M BARs feature fireplaces and low comfortable seating with soft upholstery, Textura wall coverings and concrete