MATER1A, Notting Hill: London’s best tasting menu is an exhilarating tour of Japan for your taste buds
Simply one of the best meals we’ve ever had, full stop.
It’s very easy, if not outright lazy, to lean into superlatives when recommending something. The internet is awash with ‘best’ this and ‘greatest’ that. But to put to bed any question about Notting Hill’s MATER1A, I’m going to cut straight to the chase.
MATER1A has the best, greatest tasting menu in London, without a doubt.
Michelin maestro Victor Garvey’s new 16-seat restaurant, based entirely around a tasting menu grounded in Japanese food culture but sprinkled with learnings from his international culinary experiences, serves the sort of ‘event’ meal that you’ll be telling your foodie friends about for years, and whispering about on your deathbed. You’ll want it flashing before your eyes as those pearly gates beckon.
It’s not cheap, and seasoned diners will get the most from it — but it’s not performative or stuffy either. MATER1A is my favourite meal of the year so far — here’s why you should be checking it out too.
WHERE IS IT?
You’ll find MATER1A on Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill. It’s easy to miss despite its highstreet location — you don’t expect to find a restaurant of this calibre squeezed between a Cafe Nero and a hardware shop, and we initially walked straight past on our visit.
Nearest tubes are Bayswater and Notting Hill Gate, both an easy walk, though arriving by black cab might be more fitting for the experience.
Inside, the space is tiny — just 16 covers ensures the definition of ‘intimate dining’ — but it’s comfortable rather than intimidating. Handcrafted wood, curved seating, warm lighting and soft shadows, the dining room feels somewhere between a Tokyo listening bar and a relaxation pod.
The entrance corridor doubles as a kind of edible exhibition space, showcasing the ingredients used that evening before they appear on the plate. It’s theatrical without feeling cheesy — an insightful tease as to what awaits you inside.
WHAT’S SPECIAL?
The headline is chef Victor Garvey, whose Michelin-starred SOLA already cemented him as one of London’s more technically gifted chefs. But MATER1A is clearly the passion project: smaller, weirder, more intimate and heavily shaped by the two years Garvey spent cooking in Japan.
The restaurant name comes from “materia prima” — raw material, not the magic-infused orbs of the also-Japanese Final Fantasy series that many a nerdy friend has asked me about while I’ve waxed lyrical about the place. That philosophy runs through everything here. Ingredients are treated with near-spiritual reverence, while the dishes are served with technique and precision.
There’s also a refreshing refusal to play by conventional fine-dining rules. One minute you’re eating tuna with umami pavlova, the next you’re being offered a second bowl of unbelievable broth like a 1970s mum who can’t refuse another mug of bovril to her lad on the terraces.
And then there’s the music. A live DJ scores the evening in real time, shifting the room’s energy as the meal unfolds. That small detail stops the restaurant becoming overly reverential, with playful tunes cutting through the gastronomic drama. In fact, the DJ read our taste so well that we had to corner him to ask if our Spotify playlists had been pre-profiled before we arrived, so on-the-nose were his picks. It turned what could have been a conspicuous dining room (there’s more staff than diners) into something more akin to a dinner party.
WHAT’S NEW?
The entire thing! MATER1A only opened a few weeks back, and already feels like one of London’s defining luxury restaurants.
WHO SHOULD YOU BRING?
There’s room for everyone at MATER1A, but those of the culinarily well-versed kind will get the biggest kick out of it. That’s not to say it’s a challenging menu, or one that can’t be appreciated by all. But foodies will marvel at what’s been put together here.
You’ll be fine to bring a date, definitely — ideally one you’re trying to impress rather than relax around, though the background music keeps the vibe playful rather than intense. The room is intimate and relatively low-volume despite the soundtrack, so conversation still flows easily.
It’s also excellent for serious food friends, milestone birthdays or expense-account dinners where someone says “we should do somewhere special” and actually means it.
WHAT SHOULD YOU WEAR?
Smart. Not black-tie smart, but you’ll want to dress up — not so much to match the clientele, but as a mark of respect to the food. It turns up, and you should too. On a practical level, pop some shoes on and a nice shirt. The crowd leans creative luxury rather than City banker, but you’ll feel out of place if you’re not ready to meet the elevated nature of the cuisine halfway. But the MATER1A site itself stresses there’s no real dress code, and is likewise relaxed about table turn around times — you can simply relax and indulge.
WHAT WILL YOU PAY?
A lot, though not irrationally so for this level of ambition. You’re not going to walk away without at least denting £250 a head once drinks are counted. That said, compared to some London tasting-menu restaurants charging similar money for faceless luxury, MATER1A at least feels distinctive.
MUST-TRY DISHES?
As a tasting menu only set up, you’re going to get the full force of the MATER1A experience with every booking, and there’s not a duff dish among the pack. But there’s a few moments that are really breathtaking.
The Marinda Tomato, your opening dish, really sets the scene. Paired with a sakura miso, the agar agar Tokoroten noodles, using that same tomato base hits with a sharp, flavourful bang, totally slurp worthy.
‘May in 5 bites’ follows, an inventive and beautifully presented cornucopia of fish dishes representing the month, each a playful reconstruction of sushi favourites from otoro tuna to yellow tail.
It’s followed by Mr Tanaka’s Tuna — decadent chunks of deep red fish with leek and edamame in a gloriously syrupy base.
Skip forward a dish to the Oden — MATER1A’s tongue-in-check ‘surf and turf’, and arguably the star of the show. Suckling pork belly with daikon and quail egg, it’s served with a broth left to sit and warm in front of you for a few minutes, having brewed for 48 hours before being delicately poured over the meat.
But it’s eaten with anything but delicacy — you're actively encouraged to gulp down the slightly-sweet umami juices from a serving plate that includes a sippy spout on its side. Reader, I have no shame — I asked for seconds, and MATER1A was only happy to deliver.
The menu continues on in kind: a Joselito Ham served with truffle on a creamy duck liver; some of the finest A5 cuts of Kagoshima Wagyu I’ve ever tasted; a menagerie of strawberry desserts, each showing a different attribute of the berry, served from an urn that breaks away like a matryoshka doll, each layer hiding a fresh goodie.
It’s mind-bogglingly good, and the attentive staff are only too happy to talk you through the finer details of the epic construction.
As for drinks, that’s a guided experience too, paired confidently to “showcase small producers from Spain, France and the U.S,” and there are also non-alcoholic pairings for anyone pacing themselves.
GET ON THE GUESTLIST?
Absolutely, without hesitation. If you can afford the asking price, this is core-memory establishing stuff, an unforgettable trip into the inner workings of one of the best chefs working right now. It’s like jumping aboard that Wonka paddleboat, swapping the river of chocolate for a stream of soy.
Reservations are essential, unsurprisingly, and with only 16 seats the prime slots will disappear quickly. If you can swing a weekday lunch, you’ll probably have an easier time getting in. Right now, though, MATER1A feels like one of those rare London openings that genuinely earns the hype: ambitious without ego, theatrical without gimmicks, and memorable long after the final course lands.
MATER1A can be found at 115 Westbourne Grove, W2 4UP, with reservations handled through Open Table.
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