Nice pictures, but not a single comment? What am i looking at at least?
Othersideofthemirror
Good price for a London 3 star tbh.
Laughing at them pushing the butter through a Play Doh haircut machine.
eogreen
Hélène Darroze (lunch, £95 per person)
to/dr— if you get the chance, go! Absolutely the best meal we’ve had this year. Just perfection.
It’s a three course set lunch with additional welcoming broth, canapés, and mignardises (treats). You also get an Armagnac canelé to take home.
* Excellent Kir Royale to start (complimentary/included). Accompanying mushroom broth had depth and vibrancy beyond straight up “mushroom tea”. A deep earthy mushroom flavor. It supposedly had pine oil, but we couldn’t taste it. * We splurged and had a glass each of a high end red. Their wine list is massive, so that was fun to look over. Two glasses of red: Gevrey-Chambertin and Nuits-Saint-Georges. * Canapés were all good, although I can never remember what they actually were and they never list them in the menu. First was Jerusalem artichoke in a tuille cylinder, middle was sort of like poke in a thin tartlette (our least favorite), and third was a perfect little smoked salmon croquette. * Sourdough boule with two butters resembling hedgehogs (although I’m sure they were going more for chrysanthemums). One butter was a nice Oxforshire salted butter. The other we cared less for, a slightly spicy chili butter. The bread could have been better, honestly. I think I would have liked a more standard baguette. * French onion “soup” was absolutely beautiful to look at and surprising to eat. I wouldn’t call it French onion soup, but it was delicious. The onions were the base, caramelized to sweet perfection and topped with a warm, creamy dollop of gruyère. Resting on the onions and cheese, the bread was transformed into thin crackers elaborately curled to create a rose And then sprinkled with a dusting of black pepper, chive blossoms, and thyme leaves. Around that rose were lightly poached onion petals with chive oil drops. Then the beef broth was poured tableside to form the “soup”. Absolutely delicious and we knew we were in for a grand experience. * The main course—Vol-au-Vent was a magical piece of cooking. Each element was prepared just perfectly and despite seeming like they shouldn’t go together, all the flavors married well while still being their own individual delight. The baby turnips were pure joy to eat and our favorite piece of the dish, which was surprising since there was also lobster, veal sweetbreads, mushrooms and parsnips. The puff pastry was absolutely perfect execution. The whole dish was then garnished with mint, parsley sprigs, and a light foam of vin jaune d’Arbois for a light wine zip. Around the vol-au-vent were some creamy dollops of puréed celeriac to bring in some sweetness. Overall a stunning piece of cooking and a damn good plate to eat. * Citrus dessert could have looked better (I found it to be a bit…slime pile in appearance), but was refreshing with lots of pops of citrus. The Greek yoghurt sorbet was nicely tangy, although I couldn’t taste even a hint of eucalyptus which was supposedly there. Little diced bits of blood orange, clementine, and pops of finger lime were all there under a thickened Buddha’s hand citrus purée (poured tableside) and a blood orange gelee. Garnished with dianthus petals. * Of course, a couple of post dessert treats (mignardises) which were good, but not delightful. Although I always wonder if that’s because they aren’t great or I’m just too full. Anyway, a nice pistachio mille-feuille. The chocolate truffles were weirdly medicinal which we didn’t enjoy. * Sent us home with a canelé for breakfast. It was definitely a canelé, but I’m not a fan of that squishy texture.
3gin3rd
Looks and sounds fantastic. Definitely on my list to try next time I’m in town.
4 Comments
Nice pictures, but not a single comment? What am i looking at at least?
Good price for a London 3 star tbh.
Laughing at them pushing the butter through a Play Doh haircut machine.
Hélène Darroze (lunch, £95 per person)
to/dr— if you get the chance, go! Absolutely the best meal we’ve had this year. Just perfection.
It’s a three course set lunch with additional welcoming broth, canapés, and mignardises (treats). You also get an Armagnac canelé to take home.
* Excellent Kir Royale to start (complimentary/included). Accompanying mushroom broth had depth and vibrancy beyond straight up “mushroom tea”. A deep earthy mushroom flavor. It supposedly had pine oil, but we couldn’t taste it.
* We splurged and had a glass each of a high end red. Their wine list is massive, so that was fun to look over. Two glasses of red: Gevrey-Chambertin and Nuits-Saint-Georges.
* Canapés were all good, although I can never remember what they actually were and they never list them in the menu. First was Jerusalem artichoke in a tuille cylinder, middle was sort of like poke in a thin tartlette (our least favorite), and third was a perfect little smoked salmon croquette.
* Sourdough boule with two butters resembling hedgehogs (although I’m sure they were going more for chrysanthemums). One butter was a nice Oxforshire salted butter. The other we cared less for, a slightly spicy chili butter. The bread could have been better, honestly. I think I would have liked a more standard baguette.
* French onion “soup” was absolutely beautiful to look at and surprising to eat. I wouldn’t call it French onion soup, but it was delicious. The onions were the base, caramelized to sweet perfection and topped with a warm, creamy dollop of gruyère. Resting on the onions and cheese, the bread was transformed into thin crackers elaborately curled to create a rose And then sprinkled with a dusting of black pepper, chive blossoms, and thyme leaves. Around that rose were lightly poached onion petals with chive oil drops. Then the beef broth was poured tableside to form the “soup”. Absolutely delicious and we knew we were in for a grand experience.
* The main course—Vol-au-Vent was a magical piece of cooking. Each element was prepared just perfectly and despite seeming like they shouldn’t go together, all the flavors married well while still being their own individual delight. The baby turnips were pure joy to eat and our favorite piece of the dish, which was surprising since there was also lobster, veal sweetbreads, mushrooms and parsnips. The puff pastry was absolutely perfect execution. The whole dish was then garnished with mint, parsley sprigs, and a light foam of vin jaune d’Arbois for a light wine zip. Around the vol-au-vent were some creamy dollops of puréed celeriac to bring in some sweetness. Overall a stunning piece of cooking and a damn good plate to eat.
* Citrus dessert could have looked better (I found it to be a bit…slime pile in appearance), but was refreshing with lots of pops of citrus. The Greek yoghurt sorbet was nicely tangy, although I couldn’t taste even a hint of eucalyptus which was supposedly there. Little diced bits of blood orange, clementine, and pops of finger lime were all there under a thickened Buddha’s hand citrus purée (poured tableside) and a blood orange gelee. Garnished with dianthus petals.
* Of course, a couple of post dessert treats (mignardises) which were good, but not delightful. Although I always wonder if that’s because they aren’t great or I’m just too full. Anyway, a nice pistachio mille-feuille. The chocolate truffles were weirdly medicinal which we didn’t enjoy.
* Sent us home with a canelé for breakfast. It was definitely a canelé, but I’m not a fan of that squishy texture.
Looks and sounds fantastic. Definitely on my list to try next time I’m in town.