It was actually while watching the Hairy Bikers’ programme on chicken, that I got an urge to eat Poulet de Bresse in a good French restaurant. I searched the web, but didn’t find exactly what I was after, but I did come across Helene Darroze at The Connaught, which had a limited Sunday menu called Poulet de Dimanche. The 5 course chicken based menu, at £130 for two, looked very enticing to me and my partner, so I tried to make a reservation. Restaurant host Florine helped us to find a date, which wasn’t easy, and we ended up agreeing to go for dinner on Sunday 13th November, which happened to be the last day they were doing this special menu.

I was really looking forward to eating at Helene Darroze for the first time, and I decided to wear my ‘Sunday best’, even though their website didn’t mention a dress code. We arrived 5 minutes before our 18:30 slot (the opening time), but we were told to wait a few minutes, while they finished getting ready. That was fine, except we couldn’t see any lobby waiting area at the Connaught. So I stepped outside to take a photo and admire the water feature and lights in the tree at the front of the hotel, which, unfortunately didn’t come out well enough to publish here!

Our dining table had two white ceramic chicken feet on it, presumably to remind the waiters that we were having the special menu. We were offered a Champagne aperitif from a waiter with a trolley of bottles and had to quickly decide what to have, without knowing anything about the wines on offer, or their prices – which was very risky and unnerving for a chap of modest income!  Only later, when I was shown the wine list did I see that I had smartly avoided a glass of Krug at £55/glass, but I had chosen a rose champagne at £20/glass.
The wine list at Helene Darroze is indeed expensive, so I asked the Sommelier to advise me on “a bottle of white to cover the menu ahead, as close to £50” as he could find. He suggested an Australian Clonal chardonnay at £45, which I enjoyed very much; reasonably dry with only a hint of oak, nicely balanced with green and citrus fruit flavours – it worked nicely with each of the first four courses.

The dining room is a moderate size, tables have white tablecloths, there are oak panelled walls, thick carpets and comfortable, elegant seating. A centrepiece table is adorned with glass cloches covering some key luxurious ingredients; lardo, caviar, ceps, crab and more.

We were presented with three canapés each: some aged beef tartare in a filo cone with something white on top, so it resembled an ice cream cone; some smoked eel with (possibly) yuzu seasoning; and a native oyster shell containing a white foam.
The oyster thing was hard to eat because the bivalve didn’t slide off the shell, and they hadn’t given us any cutlery to help it on its way. But the flavour was good and refreshing. The eel was really lovely. The beef had great flavour and the filo cone tasted terrific and indicated that the chefs knew how to cook at the highest level, which is exactly what I think canapés should do; they are a prelude to a fine meal and an introduction to the kitchen brigade.  9/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we were served warm crusty brown bread with two types of butter, plus a slice of dried French ham, sliced on a hand-powered slicer at table side. I ate the fine ham with my fingers, in the absence of any cutlery. But this was OK, as it helped us to relax and to realise that this restaurant wants you to relax and feel at home: it is not at all as stuffy as I had imagined it might be, being in a very high end Mayfair hotel. 8/10

The first course was ‘L’oeuf coque “directment sorti du cul de la poule”’ – a remarkable title, which reinforces my comment about the restaurant wanting to be informal. The head waiter spoke to us about the title and said it referred back to when Helene was a child and their poultry farmer neighbour came every Saturday with the freshest of eggs for her family.  The dish was an eggshell painted gold, resting in hay, containing a rich and gooey confit egg yolk, topped with a parmesan emulsion and scattered pieces of chicken skin and Alsace bacon. It was sublime and comforting. 8/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second course was ‘Le bouillon de la poule au pot comme le souhaitait Henry IV’. A bowl was placed before us containing small spheres if autumn vegetables, a couple of ravioli of Bigorre ham, and a pea shoot garnish. Into this was poured a rich and flavoursome chicken consommé. The flavours were awesome and somehow reminded me of Japan, because of the use of very seasonal vegetables, and because of the next step: the waiter advised us to leave a bit of consommé in our bowl, into which was poured some Armagnac from Helene’s brother’s distillery.  This was the reference to Henry IV, who, apparently, treated the poor with chicken soup with red wine added.  This was a delicious dish (though the brandy did pack a punch of immediate inebriation), with a great background story, and a personal touch from the Darroze family. 9/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main course was ‘Le poulet roti du Dimanche de ma grand-mere Louise’. The whole bird was presented and carved at the table, which was a magnificent piece of theatre not often seen these days. The breasts, with cep, tarragon and parmesan stuffing under the skin, were served on a plate already adorned with black truffle paste, a roost and some charred leeks, and topped with a rich chicken jus. The rest of the bird was taken away to be used in the next course.
The chicken was just a touch dry for me (in recent months at home I’ve been brining my poultry prior to cooking, which means I’ve become accustomed to very moist and tender breast meat), the flavour of truffle was imperceptible and the stuffing a little wet and underwhelming. The jus was very good and the rosti was delicious. So too were the leeks, but they and the chicken would have been easier to cut with a sharper knife. But overall it was a pleasing ’Sunday roast’   7/10

Then came a little dish using the thigh of the roast chicken: ‘Le taco mexicain “Retour d’Asie”’ was a small taco with the chicken meat covered in an unctuous sweet sauce and lifted by avocado, tomato and some Asian herbs. It was very nice. 8/10

Dessert was a three-fold affair to show off the egg; ‘Mes trois desserts “Madeleine de Proust” autour de l’oeuf’ . We ordered a glass of dessert wine to go with it, and the Sommelier poured us a Chinese Icewine (£14/glass) This was a first for me! It was very smooth, rich and fruity; most enjoyable. First the head waiter ladled some fine (runny) creme Anglais into a bowl and placed a snowball of poached meringue with passion fruit surprise inside and silver leaf on top, in the middle of the bowl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The custard was flavoured with lemongrass, which made this a light and refreshing dish, not overly sweet and heavy, which can be the case with Ile Flotante (Floating Island) really lovely 9/10. Then there was a slice of creme caramel, which was more dense and richer than the average 8/10. And then things came to a close pretty quickly, as I started to feel the pain of being full, and because we had to get back to Victoria for our train home. So they kindly packed up 10 olive oil Madeleines and another pastry, for us to take home with us.

We had both thoroughly enjoyed our dinner at Helene Darroze, and we felt it had been worth making the journey up from Brighton for this special occasion. (How different from our Sunday lunch at Elystan Street a month ago!).  The food is well worthy of its 2 Michelin stars, the waiters were all very charming and friendly. We felt very relaxed and well looked after.  The final bill for 2 people was £282.25 inc service; a meaty sum, but more than half of that sum were the wines. The quality of the cooking displayed was generally very high, the service standards were absolutely top notch, so I can say this was the best meal I’ve had in London for several years.  Overall experience 9/10
I can’t wait to go back.

PS the bill also included £1 towards a homeless charity. As we walked through Mayfair after dinner a young street-sleeper asked us “Have you got a spare 25 grand, sir”, which tickled me!