This meal was complimentary.
In this blog post, I’m bringing you a brand new review of Twenty Out of Ten, a new dining venture from local MK chefs, Shane and Aaron Clarke. Dan and I were invited along to the first night of service at Twenty Out of Ten, which brings a casual fine dining experience to MK. You may be familiar with The Brother’s Supper who run supper club events in Milton Keynes, most recently in collaboration with Out of Office Coffee house.
We had a really wonderful meal at Twenty Out of Ten, so keep reading to find out my thoughts on the food and this new venture.
It’s been really amazing seeing how far Shane and Aaron have come since I first met them. Longer term readers of Sophie etc may remember that in 2018, I was on the panel for the MK Food & Leisure awards judging the Chef of the Year competition. Shane Clarke, then chef at The Swan Inn in MK Village, was crowned as the winner. I also attended one of The Brother’s Supper events last summer, something which they have continued to host throughout 2019 in partnership with other local businesses like Out of Office Coffee. The Brothers have a very signature style – classic dishes with a twist that let the flavours of the ingredients sing.
Twenty Out of Ten’s residence is in Central Milton Keynes coffee and brunch venue, Fourth & Fifth. I think it’s great that Fourth & Fifth are capitalising on the evening market, it means the venue can be used all day and not just for brunch!
The menu will change weekly and uses seasonal ingredients. Shane and Aaron have great connections with local suppliers and see what they have on offer and how they can be used in their dishes. From GCH Fishmongers in Bedford, to Brickhill Butchers and herbs from a micro growers in Northampton, it’s great to see so many local suppliers being used to create great food.
Growing up in the community of Milton Keynes, and with very little variety to the food that they encountered as youngsters, chefs Aaron and Shane want to ensure that great, well produced food can be available to this community. Using the tastiest, fresh and locally sourced ingredients, based in a current and innovative venue, the pair want to create the most enjoyable dining experience for all of their customers. Twenty Out of Ten aims to offer fine dining food, without the fine dining preconceptions.
Shane & Aaron Clarke, Twenty Out of Ten
Please bear in mind that the menu changes weekly – I feel a little guilty telling you how amazing our food was but fingers crossed some of these dishes circle back in a similar form!
We settled down with a glass of red wine and pondered over the menu…
To start, Dan ordered off the specials menu and opted for the teriyaki tuna tartare with miso emulsion, radish and crispy wontons (£9). This dish was the perfect balance of savoury from the miso, sweetness from the teriyaki and texture from the wontons. The tuna was tender and blended beautifully with the miso, with the radish adding a gentle heat that danced on the palate.
I chose the Italian burrata (£6) from the main menu (which changes weekly). This dish comprised of pesto roasted squash – which was absolutely delicious – olives and Pastel Franco, all sat atop grilled sourdough. The burrata cheese was soft and creamy, pairing beautifully with the salty olives and the squash. A very summery dish with an autumnal twist.
For mains, Dan ordered from the specials again. He went for the pasta dish – triangoli (£14). The handmade pasta was filled with flat iron chicken, chestnut mushrooms, porcini and truffle. It swam in a tarragon cream which was silken in texture and added a new layer of fresh flavour to the rich filled pasta.
I was drawn to the honey roasted pork fillet on the main menu (£17) which was served with a beautifully tender sesame glazed belly, puffed noodles and a pomegranate and root vegetable remoulade. A ginger and soy dressing was drizzled over the dish. The pork was cooked beautifully and was so tender though I did feel like I needed a little extra sauce as pork can be quite a dense meat in fillet form. The pomegranate added some welcome freshness that cut through the salt and savoury flavours. The puffed noodles added a really nice texture to the whole dish. In fact, this whole dish was absolutely bang on and totally up my street!
I think now is a good time to compliment the portion sizes at Twenty Out of Ten. Rarely do we ever feel like we can tackle three full courses (we usually do but at a push!) but the portions were the perfect size to have three full courses each! And, I think you could agree, each dish was very fairly priced too.
For dessert Dan had the Brother’s Chocolate Bar (£6), a signature dish from Shane and Aaron. This was a chocolatey pudding with toasted marshmallow and caramelised chocolate wafer. It was very rich but if you are a chocolate fan, you would love this!
I had the toffee apple crumble pie (£5) which was essentially a pie-crumble hybrid. It was served with vanilla and custard ice cream which was smooth and sweet, contrasting with the tartness of the apples. Another winner!
Read more: Best Restaurants in Milton Keynes for Date Night
Our meal at Twenty Out of Ten was so enjoyable. It is a fantastic destination to dine with friends or head for a date night. Milton Keynes’ food scene is suddenly really up and coming so it’s great to see two young chefs really driving this forward with a new venture. Central MK isn’t completely void of places to eat, but finer dining spots like this that produce great local food are definitely harder to come by, so I am sure Twenty Out of Ten is going to be a very welcome addition indeed!
At the moment, it will be open until February 2020 at the earliest, as Shane and Aaron hope to have a permanent residence. Also, watch this space for a potential supper club collaboration in 2020…!
Twenty Out of Ten is open Tuesday to Saturday from 5pm until late. To view menus and book, visit www.20outof10.co.uk.
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DISCLAIMER: This meal was complimentary and I have worked with The Brother’s Supper before. I wasn’t expected to write a review but I love to share my foodie finds with you and think this is somewhere well worth visiting!
