At the restaurant, this is served as the opening course of the tasting menu. It's a purely product-driven dish, completely naked, and one served to eat with your hands: the antithesis of what many people associate with fine dining.

Serves 6

water 3 litres
salt 90g
English asparagus 2 bunches, trimmed and peeled where necessary

For the mayonnaise:
egg yolks 2
water 10g
Dijon mustard 5g
lemon juice 12g
chardonnay vinegar 8g
salt 3g
sugar 1g
vegetable oil 150g
extra virgin rapeseed oil 100g
dried meadowsweet 5g, an English wild flower, not dissimilar in taste to camomile, available from justingredients.co.uk
toasted hazelnuts 100g, crushed and lightly salted

Bring the water and salt up to a rapid boil and add the asparagus. Return to a fast simmer and blanch for 3 minutes, using a timer.

Check a spear, and, if cooked to your taste, remove all the spears with a slotted spoon and plunge into iced water to arrest the cooking. Drain once cool; don't keep in the iced water longer than necessary. Keep at room temperature for serving.

To make the mayonnaise, place all the ingredients apart from the oils in a container and blend. Gradually blend in the oils until the texture is thick and homogenous. Chill.

Serve the asparagus with the mayonnaise, topped with a generous sprinkle of the meadowsweet. Place a mound of hazelnuts alongside. Eat by dipping the asparagus spears first into the mayonnaise and then into the hazelnuts.

• Dabbous, 39 Whitfield Street, London W1T 2SF; dabbous.co.uk; 020 7323 1544