Hélène Darroze At The Connaught Hotel

My boyfriend took me here to celebrate our six month anniversary. Can you say FANCY? Very upscale, very expensive and very «old-​money» esque. I loved the creative atmosphere and the food was pretty good as well. The wait staff was extremely attentive, the manager was nice and the atmosphere was very posh.
We did the vegetarian menu along with Champagne and wine pairings. I loved the food, however some things I thought were a little bland (the beet salad).

We came here for my dad’s [big] birthday celebration this fall and had a very memorable time.
Honestly, the only weird thing was the marbles and menu at the beginning, which is fun in a way because it’s «choose your own adventure,» but it’s hard to retain different «rules» (number of marbles, what the «?» marble means, etc.) and is a bit too different. It doesn’t seem to fit the more traditional nature of the restaurant and the space.
Nonetheless, the service and the food were very good. (There were about 15 different people who served us food during the night!) I would opt for 5 courses — honestly, 7 is too many, and there will be surprise desserts at the end — and 9 would be out of the question. The small plates will sneak up on you!
Our favorite dishes were the foie gras, veal, scallop, and vanilla-​pear dessert. But you really cannot go wrong with any of the choices.
Another oddity — our sommelier didn’t offer to help us pick an initial wine. I guess we didn’t ask her upfront, but I guess I’d expect the sommelier to introduce herself as such and offer her help.
Be sure to check the bathrooms before you leave! Really, really impressive.

We came here for a special American Express cardholder’s lunch for Restaurant Week. It was a four course lunch with a glass of champagne included. Any other booze was on us, but we can’t do a multi-​course anything without wine, so we opted to get the wine pairings to go with.
The food came out and a fairly steady pace. The amuse bouche of tomato confit on focaccia with French ham (sliced at the table!) was stellar and a great way to start the meal. The first course was pumpkin veloute and squid. The flavors were fantastic and it was a nice small bite to get me fully ready for the meal.
They offer to bread choices (brown and mini-​baguettes) and two butter choices to go with it. One is unsalted and the other is mixed with espelette pepper. (Which I first found out about it France and is, by the way, my new favorite thing ever.) Turns out there’s more in a pot on the table so we made our butter extra peppery and extra delicious. YUM! (And proceeded to have a conversation with the French people next to us about the region and how good the food is from there and the pepper!)
Our second course was foie gras. Which was delicious. Although the pistachio biscuit around it was slightly too sweet for me to have with the foie gras, it was still all really amazing and delicious.
Third course was Hake. I’m not usually a fish course fan, and the fish itself was a bit lack-​luster, but the sauce and sides with it really made up for the fish dish, so I was pleasantly surprised by it.
Dessert was blackcurrent and vanilla with crystalized violet. It looked pretty, and tasted amazing, but the meringue on top of the soft vanilla pannacotta made it kind of hard to eat. But whatever it was delicious.
Add some macarons and other little nibbles at the end to enjoy with our coffee, and things ended well. They also have an extensive Armagnac collection (as apparently Helene’s family is in the business), so we enjoyed a glass of that as well. Speaking of which, the wine pairings were really good, interesting and went well with the food.
The décor is really pretty. Very minimal with some of Damian Hurst’s art on the walls. (Lots and lots of butterflies!) They even had some of the ingredients under closhes in the middle of the room that you could look at on your way to the restrooms (or if you had anywhere else you needed to go).
At the end we got a lovely (and delicious) canele to take home. All in all the event was great. The food and wine were fantastic, and I’m ready to come back to try the full tasting menu. Definitely one of the better Michelin starred places in London.

Lovely setting. Food came before we had even ordered wine. Weird way of choosing food. Game board. Printed information on separate card all but unreadable. never advised that grouse had froie gras as well as appetizer we ordered. Grouse tasted off. When check presented, we had been overcharged by 20 pounds. Be sure to check your bill. Staff very pleasant. Charged for water even though implied it was included. Spent well over $ 400. Will not return

I am not a huge fan of uptight French cuisine. It all seems so fussy with the perfectly cut vegetables and foamy things. Give me flavor over style any day of the week. I have to say the seven course menu with wine pairings was one of the best meals I’ve had in a while. The raw scallop course was meh and it was the first thing so I was set up for disappointment. And then these pumpkin ravioli with chunks of lobster came out. After that there was no looking back. The wine choices stole the show. Be warned, if you don’t like hanging out with people who LOOK snobby (they might actually be really cool people), don’t come here. It isn’t a stylish place to take your date. It is stuffy and highly manicured. But I am rating this relative to other stuffy Michelin starred restaurants.

A very, classy place. Recently the introduced a new menu and structure — go there to find it yourself.
The foods are fantastic — there are not an off dish which I would expect from this type of restaurants. There are many dishes that are interesting — really able to enjoy flavours of ingredients in an exciting way.
What you don’t get is the world class service which I would like to accompany the food… All the serving staffs are young and I cannot seem to find the same waiter after a year or so which is a shame… the services are really just not that great. I really miss service and food combo in this venue.
Another this is a supplement on the menu — the course meal is a set price but every single feature dishes seem to have quite hefty supplements — I much rather that they increase the overall price of a course menu and not have any supplement — after all, I am here for rating menu, not a bistro 3 course menu.
The interior is getting slightly old as well.
They have a nice brunch buffet on weekends — reservation must. Would def try once but not sure if I would go back too frequently. (I personally have been there 3 times over the corse if 5 years)

Our evening here was innovative and the meals and service were befitting a Michelin-​starred restaurant. We had a few different people looking after us, but there was no reduction in the level of service. Everyone was professional, yet amiable and made us feel comfortable and at ease.
The first ‘wow’ moment was when we were each given a wooden disc, about the size of a saucer, which was holding 13 marbles. It was kind of like a solitaire game board, but with the indents in a four by four matrix. Each marble was pure white, except for the name of an ingredient in small, serious black capital letters. This was how we chose our dishes! Once you decided how many courses to have, you left the marbles of the courses you wanted on the board, and placed the others to the side. We didn’t have to have the same dishes and indeed we didn’t — we only had three in common.
All of the dishes displayed technical excellence and the effort necessary to prepare them was palpable. There was a lot of luxury ingredient used, particularly black truffle, but I am not convinced that they made the dishes outstanding. There was a £20 supplemental charge for the chicken course I had and I assume it was because of the black truffle. It may have been just as good without it. My favourite part of that dish was the thick spear of asparagus which had been cooked perfectly, right to the second.
My favourite course was the sea bass which came with cute clams and calamari. The taste was subtle and it was served with a lemon grass foam. It shared a piece of theater which was common to most of my courses: the waiter would present the plate of food, then separately carry over a small vessel of sauce or foam which he would generously spoon over the top. For these dishes, I was pleased to have that particular piece of cutlery which is only used for scraping up the last morsel of sauce from your plate once you have finished everything else.
My wife commented after the dinner that she thought the flavours were a bit too salty. In retrospect, it seems like a fair comment, but I didn’t notice as much at the time. I enjoyed the natural flavours which came through, particularly for the fish courses I had: langoustine, scallop and sea bass.
There was an extended dessert finale which made me feel special and a bit spoiled! There was the dessert course which we had chosen earlier (on the marble board). I had rhubarb, which was sweet and tart at the same time. Delicious. Then we had petits fours, as you would expect. But, then there was a surprise mini course of green apple sorbet with short crust pastry bits. It was like an apple pie in sorbet form. We were very pleased with this and my wife was still talking about it the next day! But then, one of the waitresses wheeled in a trolley which we had earlier spied by the entrance when we arrived. We got a bonus petits fours round of everything from this trolley: jellies, chocolate, nougat, marshmallow, caramels. Oh, and a small cake each in a take home box. How cool was that! We were beyond full, so we ended up taking the wrapped items home.
The size of the bill at the end slightly sourced the experience, as I hadn’t prepared myself for something in the high £300s. To be sure, it was excellent service, very good food and I loved the surprises. But, I am undecided if the price was right.

Night of my life! loved the house Billecart-​Salmon champagne! Had the 7 course menu, the lamb and kidney platter was definitely my favorite! such beautiful presentations! excellent service and ambiance!

The Connaught is such a beautiful hotel and the restaurant adds to the ambience. Service was attentive and really added to the experience. The food was excellent as was the wine list. Each course was more delicious than the last. A special touch was printing individual menus once our orders were taken and presenting us with these as mementos. Definitely worth a visit when in London!

I think I got a pretty good seat with a view of most people in the dining room. And it’s a big room too. So looking at these people and listening to their conversations were my entertainment for this evening. Oh and the 9 course meal too was awesome.
After all, eating by myself does suck a majority of the time, but you can make a game out of it, like listening to other people talk or gawking at that nice and pretty Asian hostess lady with the British accent or just smelling those nice unpasteurized cheeses nearby.
This place can be nice and intimate, but it does get loud too. But they separate you far enough so you can enjoy your dinner with your company, or in my case, just by myself.
The chairs that you sit on will probably make you fall asleep. And with all that food in your system, it will only exacerbate the situation. The expresso helps out a bit. But you’re here to relax and splurge a little bit. So go for the tasting menu. Go for the 9 course Signature meal, and maybe sit up straight so the chair doesn’t get ya.
So yah, they do deserve their Michelin star rating for 2012. Remember, your paying in £, so I recommend saving a penny or two and then go all out… ahhh yeah!
Oh, by the way, if you need your foie gras fix, then get it here. One of the best I’ve had so far. Nice, chilled and fatty. You can definitely taste that duck being force fed with the best ingredients ever.
Michelin 2 stars in 2012

I went to Helene Darroze at The Connaught to try her new American-​inspired weekend brunch. It was a very good brunch, a good mix of American dishes, but with a french influence like the Connaught burger made of tender beef cheeks and pan seared foie gras. Eating it was like going to foodie heaven! Apart from the American main courses, which included reinvented hot dogs and mac & cheese, there was a traditional buffet bar with the standard sliced meats, smoked fish, salad, and eggs that you expect. Except that for everything, the absolutely best and highest quality ingredients were used from the smoked halibut from a specialty Scottish farm, to the pistachio terrine that tasted divine, and succulent white asparagus salad. Dessert was no less stunning, with the most amazing cherry and pistachio cupcakes I’ve ever had, home-​made waffles that were light instead of sweet & heavy, and a good selection of cakes and fruits. Overall, definitely an interesting weekend brunch, and I have to say well worth the money even though it was around £50 per head.
Read my longer review at The London Insider with pictures!

If i could, i would not give this restaurant a single star. Absolutely appalling experience!
Arriving 5 minutes before our booking, we were informed that they were having a debriefing and the table was not ready. We were ushered to a bar and told we would be informed as soon as they were ready. 15 – 20 minutes later we were finally allowed to take our seats. This is simply unacceptable.
The food was not up to the standard required for such prices. In fact the seabass was served undercooked! After speaking to an argumentative waiter, we spoke to the manager who was finally persuaded to take the dishes back. Needless to say, he came back somewhat embarassed since the chef admitted it was indeed undercooked. At least the second effort worked. The mistake is somewhat shoddy for a michelin star restaurant, and more importantly, the way things were dealt with was not impressive to say the least!
We were ignored for very long periods of time. The waiters seemed to find it more important to have long conversations with the french speaking diners on the table next to ours, to the detriment of the rest of the diners! Outrageous! We can honestly say that this was the worst service we have ever experienced in a so-​called «fine dining» establishment.
Ofcourse after making our displeasure very clear, the service charge was removed from the bill. The seabass was also deducted from the price of the tasting menu we had opted for.
All in all, i can honestly say this is the worst dining experience we have ever had in london. In fact, i felt nauseous at the end of the meal.
For a few hundred quid! Appalling! Never again!

It’s been over a month, but I am compelled to write a bit about my experience at Helene Darroze because it was just amazing. I am not exactly a foodie — perfectly happy with good pizza — but fully appreciated their amazing, tiny, beautiful morsels of food served by heavily French-​accented waitpeople. The 3 course meal was separated by what I guess are palate refresher pre-​meals — crème of this and that served in tiny shot-​glass style wares. Even dessert had «pre-​dessert». As pretentious and eye-​rollable as the notion may sound, they really added a lot to the whole experience. I was with co-​workers and clients, and the meal lasted nearly 3 hours, and I think we actually mostly talked about food, not work! BTW, we were able to book a table here at the last minute, and thinking back I believe we got lucky due to cancellations due to the large demo at the Parliament Square against tuition hike that happened to take place the same night.

*Review relates to brunch only**
Epic, rich and luxurious.
The surrounds are somewhat overwhelming for a sunny Saturday morning, but once you are aquainted with the free-​flowing nature of this brunch you are immersed in foodie heaven!
Highest recommendation: Buy a mui mui or kaftan before this event.
There are three parts to this sitting:
1. You choose your favourites from a walk-​up buffet of the finest fresh cut meats, eggs, salads, garnishes, pates, cheeses and breads. You can return as many times as your eyes will allow.
2. You order a main off the menu — choice of scallops (amazing), pigs head (woah!), burger or duck.
3. You select your sweets from the pastry table — croissants, cakes, fruit, yogurt, and the all important and delicious waffles.
The food and service is of the highest quality. It was my birthday when we went and I was served a delectable chocolate ganache and some French chocolates compliments of the chef. The chef obviously thought I had an elasticated waistband on my sparkly skirt. Alas, I did not.
Wash it down with some lovely champagne and then roll home. You will be in a deep carbo coma for the rest of the day, so suggest an immediate taxi home and a long lie down!
Highly recommended as a treat/​special event x

THE ANGLO-​FRENCH COMBINATION LOSES SOMETHING IN TRANSLATION [Non-​photo Review] See full review here:
The woman who snatched the reins from Angela & Gordon I will spare you the full introduction to chef Hélèné Darroze as she is probably already pretty well known to most readers of this blog. How about some quick bullet points instead (I have been working too much lately)? Hopefully, like a good amuse bouche, they will be easily digestible: — Darroze comes from the Southwest of France (Les Landes) where her family has been in the hospitality and culinary fields for four generations, with her father holding a Michelin star at their Relais & Château hotel and restaurant in Villeneuve-​de-​Marsan — She earned her BA in business and wanted to go into the hospitality business too, so got a job on the administrative side of Alain Ducasse’s organization and, after being there for a while and observing everything, decided she too wanted to be a chef, eventually rising to become his ‘right-​hand woman’ (no small feat), cooking alongside the master chef at his Monaco-​based Le Louis XV — She then went back to her family’s business and, due to a difference of cooking styles (it’s ‘complicated’), her father ‘volunteered’ to resign;She retained the family’s Michelin star, won tons of awards for her culinary promise and prowess, then opened up her own restaurant on the left bank in Paris, which received 2 Michelin stars within two years of opening — In the spring of 2008, she was eventually convinced to take over the restaurant at London’s historically important Connaught hotel when Angela Hartnett and Gordon Ramsay Holdings essentially got booted out, gaining a Michelin star there within a year of opening. She took a big brigade from Paris to set up the operation and commutes every other week to London so is in the London kitchen approximately half the time — Given all the above, I had been very interested to try her food, especially given her reputation as being one of the best ambassadors for the food of her region and one of the brighter lights in the French culinary scene. The triplet mystery So, on a cold and rainy November evening, the dynamic duo arrived at the imposing façade of the oh-​so English Connaught Hotel. The restaurant lies to your right after entering the hotel, and is reached via a narrow corridor of dark wood panelling. The hotel was recently completely refurbished for the small price of £70 million and is quite classically beautiful inside. Surprisingly, once inside the rather grand dining room, things become a bit lighter, with comfy upholstered chairs of white and mustard-​yellow swirls, cushioned bench seating of muted gray with a vertical diamond pattern, some art deco details and golden chandeliers. This all somehow resolves itself very neatly within the still clubby carcass (i.e. dark wood panelling) of the room. A quick perusal of the menu revealed the usual tasting menu and a 3-​course option. We opted for the simpler of the two and began pondering the options there within. As I was ruminating, I was struck by the descriptions of her dishes. Nearly all of them were described in threes, and I was reminded of our recent meal at Pierre Gagnaire’s sketch Lecture Room & Library, where he is also fond of focusing on one primary ingredient for a dish and preparing in three different ways. As I was wondering whether this phenomenon of triplets was a peculiarly French affectation, some nibbles interrupted my train of thought. Sorry, hold on, this is thestarter? Amuse Bouche 1: Leek & potato velouté with barley foam; Parma ham; breadsticksNow I thought this was slightly odd. We were in a very posh French dining room and Parma ham was being laid out on a sheet of black slate, with breadsticks poking up out of a basket on the side. It all seemed very Italian to me, although I guess the kitchen had salvaged its haute cuisine/​French-​ness by serving a tall glass of velouté as part of the trio. The Parma ham was good, but also particularly salty (⁶⁄₁₀). The breadsticks were, well, breadsticks and don’t stand out in my memory (⁵⁄₁₀). The leek and potato concoction was probably the nicest of the three, with a lovely smooth consistency and a subtle heat (the spicy kind) to it (⁷⁄₁₀). A rather odd start, but a start nonetheless. Amuse Bouche 2: Foie gras crème brûlée; green apple sorbet; peanut cappuccinoThe next amuse was apparently a signature dish of Darroze. I thought it worked quite well, with the richness of the foie gras cream being well accented by the sweetness of the peanut foam and cut through by the very noticeable streak of green apple. It was all very pleasant, but the foie gras flavor did remain quite muted beneath it all and this little glass of joy certainly wasn’t an earth-​shattering gastronomic moment for me. ⁷⁄₁₀. Bread & ButterIn the meantime, we had been served a nice selection of bread, which was of high quality. Butter was sliced from what is probably the largest slab