Hélène Darroze at the Connaught, London

Hélène Darroze at the Connaught (£185, 3/4/2022, 7- Course incl. VAT)

I have not had any fine dining in the past 2 years, can’t stop thinking of how to please my palette in my recent trip to London. I chose Hélène Darroze at the Connaught and Sketch. Hélène Darroze, being the 2nd Michelin 3-star female chef in UK, gained her 3^rd star in 2021. Chef Darroze started her career with Alaine Ducasse at Louise XV in Monte Carlo for 3 years before taking over her family restaurant in Paris and retained its Michelin star.

Chef Darroze’s flagship restaurant at the Connaught opened in 2018, gained a Michelin star in 2009, a 2^nd star in 2011 and a 3^rd star in 2021. It is located in the Mayfair section of London. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a traditional doorman, elegantly dressed in green and brown, and then directed toward the restaurant’s door before we were seated in a private room inside the restaurant. This private room/wine tasting room was surrounded by many bottles of vintage Darroze Armagnac displayed in glass cabinets against the walls. While the large dining room’s decorations felt traditional with dark wood paneling accentuated by modern fabrics, lamps, and accessories, the private room had wood paneling and bottles, and was cozier.

After reviewing the menus, I decided to forgo the 3-course lunch special and 5-course Tasting Menu. Instead, I chose the 7- course Tasting Menu. The meal began with Amuse Bouche.

Amuse Bouche

It started with consommé made with onion from Sevan and Timmur pepper from Nepal. Timmur pepper is a highly pungent, sharp tasting dried berry from the prickly ash shrub family. But chef Darroze made it not too spicy and it was instead tasty and soothing. It was served in a custom-made tableware by Ema Bodere. The artist designed an indented edge to facilitate easy holding by diners’ thumb. This pre-palette cleanser was followed by a trio of mushrooms. My server reminded me to start with the order from L to R.

1.Sea Bass Tartare and Paris Mushroom Tartelette, Bergamot

Diced raw and slightly cured fresh sea bass were filled in the tart, served with Paris mushrooms and beautifully shaved mushrooms. Sea bass was in prime quality and suitably flavored. It had a different taste from sashimi, and was lovely and refreshing. (18/20)

2. Cep Tuile, Foie Gras Parfait, Douglas Pine

Cep mushroom purée and flour were mixed to make tuile. A tuile is a baked wafer, or you may call it a gourmet chip with your desired flavor. Foie gras parfait was filled in between two slices of mushrooms adorned with Douglas pine. It had moderately richer in taste than the tartelette. (17/20)

3. Doughnut Filled with Black Trumpet Mushroom, Black Garlic

Choux pastry doughnut was filled with black trumpet mushroom and decorated with black garlic purée (in black line), delicately sliced mushrooms and gold leaves. It was pleasing visually as well as gastronomically. (17/20)

My favorite among the Amuse Bouche was the sea bass. However, they were all pleasant, especially when you had something enjoyable to munch on while you decided what to order.

1.Crab, Davrik-Cornwall, Brown and Spider Crabs, Pomelo, Lampong Pepper, “Txangurro”

Cornish spider crab, with both white and brown crab meat, was coated in pomelo mousse-foam along with sauce and crab jelly on the side. Mousse-foam was thicker than foam but thinner than mousse. It carried a very important function in this dish. It kept flavors from all ingredients well-balanced.

 

The crab dish had an excellent flavor given by the light sourness of pomelo as a contrast to the natural sweetness of the crab meat. Chef Darroze had a pop-up restaurant in Hotel Maria Cristina in San Sebastian in 2016. San Sebastian has been famous for its Txangurro (crab cake Basque style using Basque region’s spider crab). Chef Darroze has reimagined and recreated the Basque style into her Darroze style crab cake. It finished with Cedro from southern Sicily. Our server demonstrated this last step by our table side.

Cedro is a giant lemon (the size of a grapefruit) with a thick rind and hearty zesty flavor, it also has a stronger aroma than the ordinary citrus. Our server used a grater to grate the zest from cedro onto the top of the mousse-foam. At last, the mousse-foam shaped like a ball sat beautifully in a pinkish half-shell with cute and adorable micro flowers and tiny grated cedro zest on top. I would certainly not refuse another serving. (19/20)

Bread

Bread was very good, sourdough with rye flour made in the kitchen and having nice texture and acidity. Bread was served with 2 types of butter; butter was laboriously cut manually into thread thin size. (17/20)

1).Oxfordshire, salted butter

2).Espelette pepper mixed (in orange color) with salted butter from Brittany

2.Jerusalem Artichoke, Benoit Quiviger-Brittany, Guanciale, Cedrat, Kenyan Estate Coffee

Ravioli stuffed with puréed Jerusalem artichoke was served with roasted chestnut bits, guanciale slices (the lusciously and enticingly half-transparent looking), Kenyan Estate coffee (brown bits scattered in the plate) and chicken consommé infused with lemon, adorned with some amaranth leaves. On top of the raviolis, there were fresh artichoke pieces and fresh artichoke cream, then a piece of roasted artichoke. Chef Darroze has again demonstrated her creativity in preparing artichoke, she has made sautéed, roasted and puréed styles. She has provided each style with well-balanced flavor, texture and presentation. The amaranth leaves, seeds and roots that chef Darroze often chose as ingredient or for decoration were also very beneficial to our health. The amaranth family has higher protein and iron than quinoa. (19/20)

Complimentary Course:  Acquerello Rice, Tenuta Colombara-Vercelli, Squid, Parsley, Chorizo, Parmigiano Reggiano

We were offered a complimentary course which I could not refuse. Rice was from Vercelli (near Piedmont, Italy). Squid was tenderly cooked and diced, along with diced chorizo hidden at the bottom of bowl. Squid ink was pitch black with the seafood umami flavor. Different ingredients were assembled in a pin-wheel style in different colors. Red for piquillo pepper (a variety of chili having a sweet taste with no heat, from Southern France), green for parsley, white for Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. There was a piece of black rice tuile adorned by parsley leaves on the side. Parmigiano Reggiano cheese gave the dish extra kick, exactly what I preferred. (18/20)

3.Lobster, Phil Trebilcock-Cornwall, Tandoori Spices, Carrot, Citrus, Coriander

When we first saw the size of the lobster in our plate, we noticed the ½ size of the tail was so much smaller than usual. Later we found out this lobster is in the “blue lobster” family, available only in small sizes and selected locations from the Cornish coastline only. It is available from a single source supplier. They are precious because of their flavors, texture and scarcity. Blue lobsters are entirely healthy and safe to eat. Once it is cooked, its shell looks like the shell of an ordinary lobster.

Lobster was prepared with tandoori spices (coriander, cumin, garlic powder, ginger, cloves, mace, fenugreek, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom and nutmeg), and served with carrot and citrus purée, spring scallion, sliced purple carrot, coriander oil (in brown color) and beurre noisette sauce (made with brown butter, chicken stock and spring onion). Chef Darroze’s application of Asian/Indian spices was creative and discretionarily controlled spices lifting the flavor of the tender lobster and its status as one of her signature dishes. (20/20)

4.Dover Sole, Newlyn-Cornwall, Calçot, Razor Clams, Romesco

Dover Sole from Cornwall was seared and torched, and served with razor clam foam, fish skin tuile and sauce. Fish filet was sliced horizontally first to create a pocket for sandwich, and stuffed with finely chopped tomato, almond and pepper.

Calçot is a local seasonal plant in Northeast Spain available in spring time. It is almost like a hybrid of scallion and leek. I love white asparagus, especially slow-cooked white asparagus. Chef Darroze slow-cooked the white part of calçot to taste like slow cooked white asparagus – very tender and tasty.

I was reminded to pair the fish skin tuile with each bite of fish. Fish was medium-rare and tender, served with cream crudo sauce made with tomato, paprika and smoked paprika oil. It was good, but when comparing with the lobster it was not as remarkable. (16/20)

5.Pigeon, Jean-Boga – Brittany, France, Beetroot, Comice Pear, Mole Sauce

There were two styles of preparation – barbecued and torched breast, and confit leg. In addition, Mole sauce.

The mole sauce took inspiration from Mexico. A mole sauce can be made with hundreds of ingredients over a long period of time, thickened with chocolate.

Pigeon breast was barbecued and torched, and coated with cocoa bits, beetroot tuile (made with beetroot purée) and pickled comice pear (considered the best pear) bits, and mole sauce. The pigeon breast was cooked medium-rare, very juicy, tender and nicely flavored. Pigeon leg confit, coated with puffed amaranth seeds, was served with beetroot ketchup (beetroot purée + vinegar). The nutty flavor of amaranth seeds worked very well with the slow-cooked pigeon leg. The earthiness of the beetroot contrasted nicely with the richness of the meat and sauce. (18/20)

Palette Cleanser – Beignet (doughnut) of choux pastry with lemongrass cream filling and lemon cream. The texture was lovely, flavor was rich and had enough acidity from the citrus to balance the sweetness of sugar. (17/20)

6.Vanilla, Tahiti, Corn, Banana, Mango

A dessert of sliced almond cake at the bottom, came with ice cream, torched corn and mango. A vessel-shaped tuile with banana purée was the holder of this cake set. The fruit had a refreshing flavor with its acidity nicely balanced with the richness of the cream. (18/20)

7.Signature Baba, Armagnac Dorroze, Pineapple, Passion Fruit, Tahitian Vanilla, Coconut Chantilly

The final dessert was on Baba, but using Darroze Armagnac rather than the usual rum. It was served with fresh cream, coconut Chantilly and passion fruit on the side. Baba was moist with a light texture. In an unusual creation, Japanese barbecue sauce glazed pineapple was also served on the side. It was an interesting way to contrast with richness of the cream and the Armagnac.

Server recommended 1995 among two other years’ Armagnac for my Baba. I noticed the oldest vintage in the Tasting room dated 1888.

This is a real coup of a dessert when pastry chef delivered it at his/her efforts so that the restaurant could require a supplement of £22 as an extra charge. (19/20)

Petit Fours

Restaurant provided two desserts for petit fours.

1).A six leaf clover shaped sponge cake with lemongrass and cardamon cream.

2).A chocolate bar filled with yuzu and lemon parfait filling and black sesame paste, with different content of chocolate for decoration – white cocoa, dark chocolate 70% and milk chocolate tuile.

Upon departure, my server brought over a goodie bag. It was a fluted “canelé”, a Bordeaux specialty. It was a cake ideally to be soft inside and a bit crunchy outside. Chef Darroze and her pastry chef did a wonderful job in making this delicious canelé. It was better than the one that I had recently in Bordeaux.

Service was attentive throughout the meal with knowledgeable and friendly staff. It was an enjoyable meal and an extraordinary experience. The restaurant included a 12.5% service charge in addition to the listed price.