Cycene
You ring a doorbell on Chance Street to get in, and the meal moves through the building: a drink and the first course in the bar, a snack standing in the kitchen, then a dining room of about 16 covers with crockery thrown for the restaurant. Cycene won a Michelin star in 2023, changed head chefs in August 2024, and still holds the star in the 2026 guide.
Why go
Cycene is the restaurant inside Blue Mountain School, the five-storey Shoreditch building where founders James and Christie Brown stack fashion, furniture, ceramics and food into one project (Hot Dinners). Head chef Taz Sarhane, raised in south-east London by English-Moroccan parents, came up under Claude Bosi at Bibendum and Brooklands, and the classical discipline shows in how far he pushes a British-only larder: about 90 percent of the produce is from UK farms, stretched across the year with fermentation, pickling, salting and aging (The Staff Canteen). Preserved ingredients sit in the background of a dish for acidity or umami rather than as garnish theater. The name is Old English for kitchen.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the set menu is the only option and changes with the foraging calendar. Time Out logged a bone marrow tartlet with foraged mushrooms, egg yolk and caviar, smoked eel with potato balls in parsley liquor, charcoal-seared wagyu, and a frozen-raspberry oyster in its November 2025 visit. Saturday lunch runs a shorter version with an oyster and sparkling-wine reception.
- Avoid: counting on a walk-in. Roughly 16 covers, and reservation releases book out months ahead, so lock the date before the rest of the trip.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out London (2025): a 5/5 review from food and drink editor Leonie Cooper calls it
Michelin-star magic via foraged finds and old-world heritage
and, on the menu's game-heavy stretch,a veritable Berghain of enigmatic meats and victuals.
1 - MICHELIN Guide (2026): one star, first awarded 2023 and held since. Inspectors:
Ring the bell and you're welcomed into an operation unlike any other,
praisingdelicate, balanced and innovative dishes.
2 - The Staff Canteen: owners James and Christie Brown framed Sarhane's promotion as
the start of a new and progressive direction for the restaurant.
3
Good to know
- Timing: dinner Wednesday to Saturday; Saturday luncheon 12:30 to 3pm. Closed Sunday through Tuesday.
- Booking: essential, via the venue's site; reservations currently open through August 2026. Groups and private hire go through cycene@bluemountain.school.
- Price: 195 pounds for the full menu, 95 pounds for Saturday lunch (Time Out, Nov 2025); course count is reported as nine or ten depending on the season, so treat it as an evening, roughly three hours.
- Dietary: no published gluten-free or vegan policy; the booking flow asks you to raise allergies and intolerances with staff, so call ahead rather than assume.
Verdict
must-visit — A Michelin star that survived a head-chef change, a Time Out 5/5 from November 2025, and a format that exists nowhere else in London: sixteen-odd covers reached by ringing a doorbell in a five-storey concept building, with the meal moving from bar to kitchen to dining room. The rung rests on craft and singularity, and Jeff's own exceptional flag agrees with the published record.