Mark Kempson loves game. You only have to read the menu for the upcoming celebration of game and London’s Kitchen W8 in Kensington to know that. But, this year, the menu has taken a playful twist with new ideas for how to keep game fresh and exciting.

The menu features four game dishes and then finishes with a cheese course and a dessert. According to Mark the game menu is essentially the tasting menu for the restaurant, lunch  and dinner, for 2 weeks running from the 12th to the 24th October.

The menus starts with a duck sausage:

Wild duck sausage, BBQ beetroot ketchup, caraway brioche and crispy artichoke

Says Mark: “It’s a play on the hot dog although we keep it light so it’s not too bready. We take off off cuts, trimmings and offal from wild duck and add pork and lardons to make a sausage. We serve that with a brioche bun flavoured with caraway and with that you get ketchup and instead of crispy onions we’re gone with crispy artichoke. I love the way game can be adapted.”

Hare bresaola, autumn leaves, preserved damson, celeriac and honey truffle

Says Mark: “We cure the hare and hand it downstairs and then slice thin to make the bresaola. We pair this with a tart preserve of damson as well as shavings of honey truffle which is English and has notes of mushroom and fungi. It goes really well.”

Fillet of fallow deer, ragu stuffed smoked potato and black pepper emulsion

Says Mark: “We age the fillet and make a ragu from some of the other parts of the carcass which we use to stuff smoked potato skins. The black pepper emulsion adds a depth of flavour to accentuate the sweetness of the fillet.”

Roast breast of partridge, chanterelle, squash and brown butter pie, autumn truffle liquor

Says Mark: “This is a playful menu and we’ve continued this theme through all the courses. Here I’ve created a pie, mash and liquor. It’s one partridge for two people – basically one breast each – and the truffles come from Wiltshire truffles.”

Beauvale cheese, black figs, nettle and rye sourdough

Says Mark: “To finish off we have a classic cheese plate with a really great English cheese plus some sweetness from the fig and an unusual but delicious bread.”

Warm vanilla rice pudding, roast pear, stem ginger ice cream and hazelnut

Says Mark: “When it came to dessert I didn’t want to do anything too fancy. It’s autumn and I wanted something creamy and reassuring so a beautiful rice pudding really hits the spot with some additional flavours coming from the pear and ginger in the ice cream.”

Book your table now at www.kitchenw8.com