I had a great time here. Helene Darroze is located in The Connaught, kind of an old school 5 star hotel. The surrounding areas are really pretty to walk around before or after the meal. There’s also a famous Connaught Bar here, #5 according to World’s Best 50 Bars. You could plan a full day just at this spot. We did the full tasting menu at £225.
Food: Everything was pretty delicious for the most part. I wasn’t absolutely blown away but everything was tasty and well executed with some dishes having a higher peak than others. Some highlights were the onion (this was like a French onion soup on steroids), scallop (amazing flavors and probably the biggest scallop I’ve ever had in my life), turbot, and pear dessert. They were kind enough to add an additional sweetbread course free of charge, I don’t have much experience with sweetbread but it was good as well. I also tried capon for the first time, while the meat was extremely tender and juicy I wasn’t a fan of the Albufera sauce that it came with, it was way too heavy. Every dish was well portioned and I was absolutely stuffed towards the end.
Service: Very standard Michelin level, no complaints. Friendly servers. I personally don’t care but there were some minor miscues like forgetting to scrape away some bread crumbs and a bit late to refill water. We were in a semi-enclosed room so perhaps it’s more perfect in the main area.
Vibe: As mentioned, we lucked out and were put in a special semi-enclosed room that was filled with their signature Armagnac from different years. It was almost like a private dinner. Their main dining area was fine but didn’t really stand out to me. This semi-private room was awesome though.
Summary: We had a great time and recommend coming here. Reservations are fairly easy to grab. I did feel we got some special treatment because of the extra course and private room, I wonder if it’s because we booked early and were coming from overseas? I’m probably just overthinking it.
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I had a great time here. Helene Darroze is located in The Connaught, kind of an old school 5 star hotel. The surrounding areas are really pretty to walk around before or after the meal. There’s also a famous Connaught Bar here, #5 according to World’s Best 50 Bars. You could plan a full day just at this spot. We did the full tasting menu at £225.
Food: Everything was pretty delicious for the most part. I wasn’t absolutely blown away but everything was tasty and well executed with some dishes having a higher peak than others. Some highlights were the onion (this was like a French onion soup on steroids), scallop (amazing flavors and probably the biggest scallop I’ve ever had in my life), turbot, and pear dessert. They were kind enough to add an additional sweetbread course free of charge, I don’t have much experience with sweetbread but it was good as well. I also tried capon for the first time, while the meat was extremely tender and juicy I wasn’t a fan of the Albufera sauce that it came with, it was way too heavy. Every dish was well portioned and I was absolutely stuffed towards the end.
Service: Very standard Michelin level, no complaints. Friendly servers. I personally don’t care but there were some minor miscues like forgetting to scrape away some bread crumbs and a bit late to refill water. We were in a semi-enclosed room so perhaps it’s more perfect in the main area.
Vibe: As mentioned, we lucked out and were put in a special semi-enclosed room that was filled with their signature Armagnac from different years. It was almost like a private dinner. Their main dining area was fine but didn’t really stand out to me. This semi-private room was awesome though.
Summary: We had a great time and recommend coming here. Reservations are fairly easy to grab. I did feel we got some special treatment because of the extra course and private room, I wonder if it’s because we booked early and were coming from overseas? I’m probably just overthinking it.
Note: We also hit up Sketch and CORE, stay tuned.