Hélène Darroze at the Connaught (Mayfair)

There are two menu choices at Hélène Darroze at the Connaught: a full tasting menu of 7 courses starting at £165 prior to any supplements and a shorter 3 course menu for £65 prior to any extra supplements.  It was a special occasion and probably not going to be done very often to this level, so in the end, all agreed to go for the larger tasting menu. The meal began with an amuse bouche of cucumber, lemon verbena and tarragon oil which was refreshing but a little underwhelming as a starting impression.  Canapés were next and there were three: bluefish with cured sardines and cantaloupe melon which was nicely balanced; a mackerel taco with cucumber and roses which was not my favourite and a stunning anchovy parfait with dill and chive.  Homemade sourdough came with two artistically presented butters – plain and unsalted from Oxfordshire and espelette pepper which comes Armagnac.  Not that surprising as Helene Darroze herself comes from Armagnac, so this region is showcased as much as possible within this restaurant and menu.

Brown and spider crabs from Dowrick, Cornwall was the first course presented in the open, half shell.  The crab itself sat beneath a layer of  pomelo and crab espuma (the largest of citrus fruits), lampong pepper (black pepper from Southern Sumatra, Indonesia), “txangurro” (shredded spider crab in Basque) with wild garlic flowers. This was extremely light and pleasant as an introduction.  Celtuce, a large citrus was the next course with Scots pine sprinkled on, a Bellota ham consomme and timut pepper.  Different and refined, but ultimately not anything to stop traffic over – the main enjoyment was the unusual texture of the celtuce and that was the highlight.  The paired non-alcoholic drink was  cucumber with fennel – the fennel providing a flinty minerality and the cucumber for texture.

An interlude of foie gras from Landes with a sake sauce with cherry, almond, lemon verbena and elderflower was lovely and soft as a little course to have. I have had more mind-blowing foie gras but it went very with the sauce. This was paired with a non-alcoholic drink of melon and  strawberry which had a base of acidity and vibrancy with the star anise.  Lobster from Phil Trebilcock in Cornwall was served with lobster mousseline, tandoori spices, coriander oil, carrot mousse, citrus, spring onion, buerre noisette.  There was no doubt in anyone’s mind at the table that this was a significant dish.  The utterly succulent lobster was perfectly matched with a sensational balance of silky smooth and sweet carrot with flawlessly balanced spices to accompany and a touch of decadence from the buerre noisette.  This was an utterly beautiful dish in every way and well worthy of the 3 stars. 

Next was John Dory from Bonnie Grace in Cornwall came with a stunningly sweet and smooth buerre Blanc, girolle mushrooms and broad beans.  Nothing really not to like with this dish.   For the meat, there was a choice of pigeon as part of the £165 menu, or the Wagyu for an additional £95 supplement. My logic of opting for the latter was I would probably not be doing this every week and you cannot opt for this on the £65 set lunch menu, so if I was to come back again just to try it, it woud cost another £165 just to try it, so I thought it may as well be done now…

Highland ‘Wagyu’, was displayed on the menu and was served with oyster mushrooms, tarragon & parsley cream, capers and a beef jus made with fermented pepper and a bone marrow accompaniment.  One point on non-Japanese wagyu which is a bit of a contradiction because the literal translation of ‘wa-gyu’ is ‘Japanese cow’ and if you speak to any chef in Japan they will laugh at you if you say you had wagyu from reared cattle outside of Japan.  On asking the staff, it was confirmed that the herd this had come from was indeed from black, Japanese cows but I couldn’t get an answer on which bloodline these were to authenticate:  Tajima, Kedaka or Shimane.  I also couldn’t gain the supplier name so my suspicion is that this wagyu was from a herd of Scottish Highland cows that had been mated by a Japanese bull in order to be legally compliant in order to be called ‘Wagyu’.  Why do I babble on about this? Because it actually makes a huge difference of not only the rearing process of the cow but also the ultimate flavour of the beef and I can say 100% that unfortunately, whilst basically passable in flavour, this was no-where near the same levels of wagyu experienced in Chateaux Joel Robuchon, Tokyo or Mizai in Kyoto – not one bit.  The fact that it was an additional £95 supplement on top of a £165 menu made this frankly a kick in the teeth and ultimately a huge letdown. I’m afraid for the asking price, I simply would not recommend this.  Still, on the side there was a beef tartare taco which was light and nicely done to enjoy. 

On to the sweets, first was Garigette strawberries (from SW France and prized for their sweetness), were served with Chantilly cream, white balsamic vinegar, bay leaf and craquelin choux pastry crackers.  This was a sensational dish with the sweet beauty of the strawberry sorbet and strawberries themselves and the genius of the pastry. Knock out. 

A beignet or small doughnut was then prepared at the table after with cream and a raspberry jam filling.  Finally a signature Baba (an additional £18) made with Armagnac was served with raspberries with raspberry gel inside them as a lovely touch.  The baba itself had a gorgeous texture and was made with long pepper (complex) and expensive Sarawak pepper (from Kerala, SW India) and lovely whipped Chantilly cream, all laced with Armagnac within the sponge.  About as good as one can make this and probably pipping Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester‘s version to the post by a nat’s hair. 

The Petit Fours were equally pleasant in their simplicity and I was pleased with these. First were marshmallows with tarragon olive oil which, whilst weren’t everybody’s favourite at the table, I actually enjoyed the light and fatty combination.  Next were beetroot and red pepper gels which sound odd but were sweetened and balanced with sugar well enough to be ok with ultimately and then very good, simple ganaches with Talisker whiskey which was the winning petit four – a lovely, subtle flavour of Talisker and a combination not really exploited enough.

In the end and to my huge surprise, the bill was actually taken care of by my unspeakably generous dining companions so out of courtesy I will not be seeking the total however, you can get a feel from the aspects I have raised which will be corroborated by the open-source prices on their website.  The one thing that I was also amazed about to learn afterwards is that the paired non-alcoholic drinks menu to accompany the tasting menu is an unbelievable £130 extra. The glasses that I had were in a mixed show of some very refreshing to a couple of average tasting juices to one that was actually undrinkable.  Unless the fruits had come from the of depths of the Sembikiya fruit parlour in Nihonbashi, Tokyo and were bought retail, I cannot see in a million years how 7 half glasses of fruit and vegetable juice can marked up as £130.  I’m afraid this is another option I cannot recommend. The only matching drink that was extremely good was the coeur de boeuf tomato, celery, Worcestershire sauce with Tazmanian pepper that went with the pigeon course and I can imagine took a longer time to prepare. That said, you would be far better off and far healthier drinking a matching tea menu of finest-grade tea from companies such as Lalani and Co bringing the sheer health benefits (in comparison to the sugar content of the suggested mocktails) and far more unique experience.  If you do not drink, I would actually recommend you try this instead as I believe the restaurant does stock this tea.

This was a refined meal no question and there was much to enjoy with a couple of absolute top-class moments in the lobster and strawberry dishes.  Sadly, other than those two dishes, you have to question the expense of what you are gaining here and whilst a pleasant meal, the ultimate food truth is that based on this meal, I would genuinely rush back quicker to the likes of SOLA or The Ritz well before my next meal here at the delightful Connaught.

Food Grade: 81%

Snacks included seaweed crackers with mackerel tartare which were light and decent.  Foie gras and the smoked eel was warm and pleasant and the churros cep and potato and with parmesan was light and pleasant enough.   

The bread included a homemade campaillou (rye & wheat flour) and unsalted & Espelette pepper – both good, however, the pepper being a little distracting from butter.  The butter itself from Brittany takes 3 days to make the butter from Jean Paul, making it with wooden paddles to relax the butter.   

Lobster from St Ives in Cornwall (another place I visited as a child) was my chosen starter was beautifully fresh and came with vibrant lemongrass which was beautifully judged.  The pasta was actually the highlight and wonderfully fresh all round and the supporting parts of wild garlic, broad beans and white asparagus were very nice seasonal add ons.

Duck was my choice for main, served with beetroot and blood orange which was ok, but the spiced crust was more the star as was the softened beetroot, more than the quality of the actual duck itself.  

A pre-dessert of pineapple & mint sorbet was creamy and refreshing – no issues with this.  The rhubarb with lemongrass foam was delightful with meringue – albeit with a subtle rhubarb; at least it wasn’t radioactively acidic as they often can be.  The rhubarb ice cream was the genuine hero of the dish however.  A bonus chocolate dessert was a combination with sherry and was fine and I could see that the sour of the Greek yoghurt cancelled out the sweetness of the chocolate nicely.  Having the sherry served at the table from the barrel and poured through the air was a nice bit of theatre as well.  

Petit fours included yuzu chocolate, pineapple gel, apple tart and vanilla (with the latter being wow levels!), raspberry marshmallow and a lovely salted caramel truffle.  All in all, this basically meant an eight-course meal with three glasses of wine for £61 all in which, for London, let alone a 5-star hotel in Mayfair is superb value.  That will just about get you a starter in some Parisian 2 and 3 Michelin starred restaurants and is another example of where you really can get some exceptional deals in London.  

The only catch being that as fun and lovely as this was, especially with the marble board menu at the beginning, it wasn’t blow your socks off food.  If anything this appeared to be possibly poking into a 2-star meal, but was nevertheless a very pleasant experience and in excellent service hands.  Another tasting menu beckons for the next visit to pump up the wattage a tad I feel. 

The food was extremely well balanced on this tasting menu occasion and stylishly created yet my only negative is that I cannot remember too many of the dishes which is not a good sign in terms of the genuine impact they had in the mouth.  The custard foie gras starter was without a doubt lovely and the creativity of all the remaining dishes was pleasing which was the overall impression gained.  The wine menu was impressive and the options were carefully selected by the sommelier and were enjoyably original.