Hélène Darroze Cuts the Mustard

Two Michelin-starred cooking for free at Maille pop-up at Spitalfields Market

Words and Photography by Simeen Kadi

Two Michelin starred chef Hélène Darroze has found time in her busy schedule of running her restaurant at the Connaught to team up with venerable mustard brand Maille.

Darroze has picked up on the growing Parisian trend of Le Drunch, a laid back late afternoon or early evening meal enjoyed with friends and family either at home or at one of the many restaurants now offering Le Drunch as a weekend dining option. While Le Drunch might sound somewhat more palatable then plain old Drunch, the concept of blending lunch and dinner is not uncommon over here either and Darroze has worked with Maille to develop some easy recipes to get us drunching in style.

From March 15th to the 24th March Maille has set up a pop-up salon and restaurant where you can sample Hélène Darroze’s fabulous cooking for free. Dishes such as Gazpacho made with tomatoes and piquillo peppers come topped with a quenelle of Maille mustard Chantilly, taking this delicious cold soup to an even higher level. A toothsome lamb Parmentiere is light yet satisfying with a hint of mustard cutting through the rich, slow cooked lamb.

We also enjoyed Hélène’s Le Drunch Eggs Benedict featuring a tangy, mustardy hollandaise.

The Maille pop-up boutique also features a Mustard pump where you absolutely must try the limited edition Chablis and Black Truffle mustard on tap. This is so delicious I could happily eat it on its own.

Info: The pop-up Le Drunch event is on from March 15th to 24th. To book your free sitting hurry to the site here.

For Hélène Darroze’s Le Drunch recipes click here .

Now can we please change the name to Lunner, Drunch is putting me off my food!

Top Female Chefs Taking Centre Stage

We have all grown up on the cooking of our mothers and grandmothers, aunties, wives and all those other important women in our lives, but when it comes to fine-dining, Michelin starred cuisine, I have always wondered why so few female chefs have taken centre stage...

If you would like to continue reading this piece which I wrote for the Como Hotels, please visit their website here.

London Restaurant Reviews - The Square

Phillip Howard opened his restaurant The Square (just off Berkeley Square) 21 years ago. I can think of few restaurants that have traded for so long, particularly in such a volatile industry (and times), and can think of even fewer that have held 2 Michelin stars for 15 consecutive years. He is also the co-owner of the hugely popular Notting Hill restaurant The Ledbury, Kitchen W8 in Kensington, and Sonny's Kitchen in Barnes.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Phillip Howard concentrated his energies on retaining the quality standards in his restaurants rather than becoming a celebrity chef or serial book writer, which is very good news for us diners. His cooking style marries seasonal produce with modern French techniques to create his award winning cuisine.

He started his cooking career with the Roux family followed by some time with Marco Pierre White at Harvey's (now the site of Chez Bruce in Wandsworth, one of my favourite London restaurants) before opening The Square.

The year 2012 was a great one for Phillip Howard - not only did he publish his first book, The Square - The Cookbook, Volume One: Savoury, he was also named the Chef's Chef of Year at The National Restaurant Awards 2012.

His cookbook, published by Absolute Press, is a 528 page homage to his 21 years at The Square. As the name suggests, it concentrates on savoury dishes only (Volume Two: Sweet is due out in June 2013). This is a fine-dining cookbook which requires skill, attention to detail and careful planning before any of its recipes are attempted. Having spent a year at Le Cordon Bleu, I find his recipes call on all the skills I learnt during my course and a few more beyond. This is certainly not a cookbook to be dipped into mid-week when looking for inspiration for the left-overs in your fridge, but rather a book to inspire you to excel in the kitchen. This is a book for those who are interested in haute cuisine and are not put off by unusual ingredients like soya lecithin (foam stabilizer) or Sosa gelespessa (thickening agent). A supplier's list of these hard to track down ingredients is given on page 516.

Each recipe starts with a photograph of the completed dish and is spread over 3 pages broken down into sections headed "overview", "focus on", "key components", "timing", "ingredients" and "method". I am impressed by the level of detail in each recipe, enough for anyone to attempt them with a reasonable likelihood of success. The book is priced at £40 and is one of the most sophisticated cookbooks I have come across. Finally, a fine-dining cookbook whose recipes are genuinely achievable.

His recipe for "Roulade of Octopus with a Citrus Vinaigrette, Mussel and Salt Cod Beignets and Whitebait" on page 121 sounds absolutely fantastic and is the one I will be attempting. Phillip gives two different cooking methods for the octopus, one being sous-viding it at 82C for 10 hours, which I am keen to try since acquiring my Sous Vide Supreme (reviewed here). 

While I get my act together to attempt my first Phillip Howard recipe, I was lucky enough to visit his restaurant for a spot of lunch. Given The Square is a two-Michelin starred restaurant, the lunch menu is excellent value at £30 or £35 for two or three courses respectively. Commendably, the lunch menu read just as excitingly as the current a la carte or tasting options. I am often disappointed by restaurants which offer inferior options for their "good value" set lunch menus.

Dr G and I went for the 3 course option, and since there were 2 choices for each course, we ordered the entire menu:

Squid Ink Linguini with Langoustine Claws, Spring Onion, Lemon and Chilli

Veloute of Celeriac and Pear with a Game Terrine and Sherry

Fillet of Stone Bass with Pumpkin Gnocchi, Jerusalem Artichokes, Salsify, Cockles and Parmesan

Glazed Shin and Roast Rump of White Park Beef with Smoked Creamed Potato and Red Wine

Roasted Pear with Date Cake and Sherry and Raisin Ice Cream

Cardamom and Vanilla Yoghurt with Passion Fruit Jelly, Mango and Mint

There was also an option for an additional cheese course for £15 or £10 supplement as a dessert choice, but by that time, we were so full, we decided to skip cheese sadly. The a la carte menu is priced at £65 and £80 for two or three courses respectively and the 9-course tasting menu costs a reasonable £105 per person (or £175 including wine).

It is not often that I come out of a restaurant having enjoyed every single dish and wine matching, but The Square is definitely one of these rare finds - all the dishes were beautifully made and presented. Surprisingly, my favourite was the one I thought was the least appealing on the menu - the passion fruit jelly, mango and mint dessert - I loved the zingy and refreshing combination of flavours of this dessert and having now tried it, cannot wait to get hold of his second book "Sweet" to be published in June 2013.

The sommelier Mohammed was spot on with all his wine matching, below are some of the amazing wines that he served us through the meal, ending with a 12-year old Calvados to accompany the selection of petit-fours and coffee.

I had the opportunity to interview Phillip Howard but unfortunately due to my Cordon Bleu commitments at the time, I was unable to do so. Very kindly, he recorded the answers to the questions I submitted regarding filleting fish which you can see in the video here.

Or if you would like to learn how to make Phillip Howard's squid ink pasta dough (as in the starter we tried at The Square), you can watch the video below.



Cost: £35 for a 3-course lunch menu (excl. wines)

Likes: best lunch menu in London for both value and quality of food, the passion fruit jelly, mango and mint dessert was a winner, fantastic wine matching by sommelier Mohammed, friendly service 

Dislikes: none

Verdict: my new favourite set-lunch menu spot in London, at £35 for a 3-course lunch this is great value for the outstanding food on offer, an elegant restaurant with impeccable service in a very central London location. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

Michelin Stars Shine Bright in Gorgeous San Sebastian

Words & Photographs by Simeen Kadi

There must be something in the water in the Basque region of northern Spain to produce so much talent in one small region. Martín Berasategui, born and bred in San Sebastián, Spain is perhaps the most famous of the chefs cooking in this region and keeping the El Bulli flame alight from the other side of the country. Martin Berasategui holds seven Michelin stars in total, three of which are for his eponymous restaurant on the outskirts of beautiful San Sebastian. Having worked and been inspired by some of the greats, including Alain Ducasse and Ferran Adria, his style of cooking is very current, featuring seasonal, locally sourced ingredients and focussing on intense flavours and surprising texture combinations.

The taxi from the centre of San Sebastian to the restaurant is, however, less inspiring. We wound down suburban roads past a high rise housing development and under a graffiti-covered motorway bridge before we saw a sign indicating that, yes, this three Michelin starred restaurant was indeed, based here. One last turn and we were facing a curved modern building with panoramic windows looking onto a steep lawned garden.

We chose a table on the terrace overlooking the garden and surrendered to the legions of waiting staff – glad Martin Berasategui is doing his bit to boost employment in Spain . Opting for the ‘Great Tasting Menu’ (no, they did not have an ‘Average Tasting Menu’ option) rather than a la carte, we also decided to let the Sommelier select wines by the glass to go with every two or three courses. The menu features 12 courses, ten savoury and two desserts - intended to be the highlights of Berasategui’s 30 year career, although there are seasonal changes.

The first dish was a Millefueille of Smoked Eel, Foie Gras, Spring Onions and Green Apple which was concocted by the great chef back in 1995. The dish really showed what a brilliant combination eel, foie gras and apple can be, with layers of smoked eel and foie gras interspersed with fine layers of the green apple and topped with a crisp layer of caramelised apple syrup, like the topping of a crème brûlé. Rich but delicate, with the onions and apple cutting through and providing lightness. An onion cream sitting alongside was intense yet fresh and light.

A chilled glass of Grimau cava was the perfect accompaniment, providing a zingy foil to the richness of the dish.

Our next mini-dish was even more pleasing on the eye. Squid Soup, Creamy Squid Ink Ravioli Served with Squid Crouton actually sounds quite humdrum compared to the taste sensation we experienced. The consommé was intense and had the rich sweetness/umami combo of lobster – the perfect home for the tangle of squid ribbons, cooked till they were a little squeaky but still sweet and fresh. The raviolo balanced on top was in fact the thinnest layer of squid encasing an eye-popping burst of squid ink. The waiter, who must have seen a couple of squid ink explosions in his time, had pre-warned us to eat it in one bite.  The crispy disk is also worth a mention as, in such a stellar establishment, immense time and effort had gone into reducing down squid ink, combining it with rice and then frying a thin disk of such intensity of flavour I am tempted to recommend Walkers try reproducing it for their next oddball crisp flavour edition – or at least try.

By now we were settling into the afternoon and our taste expectations were rising by the second as we glanced greedily as large, white crockery was wafted to other tables. Martin Berasategui is definitely a man who likes to experiment with flavour and texture. Emulsions are intense and taste exactly of the main ingredient – an onion air so oniony yet so utterly light and ephemeral it takes this humble bulb to entirely new heights. Spheres and foams also abound, as do some of the most delicious jellies, used to hold together the more intricate, multi-ingredient dishes. And a complete absence of stodge – the carbs we are so used to eating as a vehicle for protein or simply as comfort-food. Apart from the bread at the start, this was the ultimate carb-free meal. So, if you are super rich and on a health kick, Martin’s your man.

We moved onto a fresh, grassy white wine next – the Sota Els Angels 2010 made of 100% Picapoll (or Picpoul, if you prefer your wine in French) This was very well judged by the sommelier as it stood up to the next course gamely. Oyster with Cucumber, Kafir and Coconut is in keeping with the current trend of underplaying the title of a dish to exceed expectations on delivery. And deliver it did – two plump poached oysters rested on a cucumber and oyster jelly and a coconut and kafir lime cream. The combination of the cool, rich and citrusy was swoon-worthy, especially with contrasting textures of an unctuous jelly and a light cream. Shiso and seaweed kept the dish bright.

More combination alchemy followed with the Morsel of Asparagus and Raw Truffle, Air and Juice. How we may have guffawed 20 years ago if someone were to predict that we would be paying three figure sums to eat ‘air’ and ‘juice’. More understatement here as this is no ordinary air but the condensation of raw truffle into a foamy cloud which leaves your tongue with the intense richness of truffle, quite extraordinary how a breath of bubbles can carry so much flavour. The layers of asparagus (the finest spears that had hardly been blanched) and truffle were topped with crunchy sunflower seeds, which can be seen growing inland from the town on the way south to Rioja. And then there was the asparagus essence, an intensely coloured and flavoured liquid which justified tipping the plate to capture every drop. There was also a smear of parsley pesto which seemed at odds with the superb flavour combination of asparagus and truffle and we could have done without.

The next dish was basically a paean to fennel, served three ways – little dice of fennel in a creamy sauce was like a creamy risotto, while a light foam gave freshness to the dish and fine shavings of raw fennel made a good palate cleanser.

And then we were onto slightly larger, heavier courses starting with the Smoked Balloon with Endives, Oily Fish, Watercress and Chickweed. This dish was stunning to look at. Translucent spheres against a crayon green sauce and bright white foam. The balloons turned out to be spheres of smoked salmon emulsion and the green liquid was a superb veloute of watercress and chickweed. Sardine and endive made an excellent pairing and were lifted by the cress foam.

We moved to a fragrant Viognier to wash this down – Vallegarcia 2010 from Castilla La Mancha.

Anyone who was visited the Basque region will know that the language here really bears very little resemblance to Spanish or other Latin languages. Our next course was a ‘Corrotxategi’ Egg resting on a Herb Salad with Dewlap Carpaccio. According to the Cambridge dictionary dewlap is a fold of skin which hangs under the throat of a cow or a dog: as I am guessing there aren’t many dogs or their owners willing to give up their throats, even for the great Berasategui, let’s assume it was a cow’s throat. And the ‘Corrotxategi’ turned out to be an egg yolk which had been confitted (I may have just created a new past tense for ‘confit’, sorry France) in oil at 55 degrees for five hours. This intensified the flavours but still gave it the runny texture of a soft-boiled yolk. Combined with the liquid salad and the thin square of crunchy dewlap it worked beautifully. The smear of beetroot would have worked well too but it had hardened onto the plate and was nigh on impossible to scrape off.

We were now ready to move onto a red wine and the Abadia de Retuerta 2009, we were assured, would see us through the next two courses. Made in the nearby region of Castilla and Leon, 10% cabernet gave heft to the fruity tempranillo and rounded this into a smooth and toothsome mouthful.

The next dish was a real looker – bright jewel colours resting in a glistening lake. Warm Vegetable Hearts Salad with Seafood, Cream of Lettuce and Iodized Juice yielded nuggets of lobster, swirls of avocado and nibs of hearts of artichoke and tomato strewn with assorted leaves and edible flowers. All suspended in the most gloriously intense, colourless tomato jelly I have ever tasted. And then there were the surprise bursts of verdant flavour from the spheres of ‘iodized’ lettuce juice and the lobster emulsion. A real stand-out dish and one I could happily eat every day, were I so lucky.

Roast Red Mullet with Edible Scales, Tails and Marine Salad with Sesame and Nuts arrived next. The edible scales were a clever touch – the scales had been carefully removed, crisped up in hot olive oil until they curled and then replaced on the fish. Worth the bother, as long as you are not the poor sod delicately replacing the scales on the mullet. Perfectly timed fish with its crispy, scaly topping was flanked by two little towers – turned out to be unctuous, meltingly soft and slightly caramelised pig’s tail. Fabulous combination and cut through nicely with the seaweed salad which, along with the sesame and seaweed emulsion gave the dish a Japanese edge. A glug of extremely good olive oil kept things in sunny Europe.

We had noticed that, so far, the only cutlery we received with each new course was a fork and spoon – everything was either bite-sized or tender enough not to need a knife. So when a knife was finally placed on our setting we felt ready for some real slicing and chewing. Not that the tender sirloin was much of a challenge, it was yielding yet cooked rare – a sure sign of some sous-vide sorcery – finished off in the pan to a nice crisp. A real pleasure to eat with the crisp, tender texture and the flavour of a well-hung beef.  The photograph doesn’t really do justice to the intense greenness of the ‘chlorophyll’. This sauce was meaty and thick yet had a fresh, grassy flavour – hard to describe this combination but the brightness of the green was a good clue. Little spheres of a creamy cow’s cheese and a surprise hit of coffee air provided contrast and brought the dish together.

To accompany, we had a Rioja from nearby Laguardia, a beautifully preserved hilltop town which is definitely worth a visit. The Martue 2009 was fruity yet earthy, but perhaps a little too heavy for this dish.

And so, onto the puddings. As the small delicious morsels had, by now, amassed to a feast we were thankful for only two courses, especially as we had already spied the petits fours that followed on neighbouring tables. But the first of the puds was so light and titillating, I would have asked for more if the weight of three Michelin star etiquette had not been bearing down on me. Melon with Caipirinha, Lemongrass Sorbet, Crispy Flowers and Sheep’s Milk looked pale and interestingly New Nordic on the plate but was beguiling on the tongue. These were no ordinary cubes of melon – these were melon cubes which had been vacuum-packed with caipirinha for 5 hours to give the crisp melon a glistening sheen and a whopping flavour sensation. The lemon sorbet was always going to be fragrant and refreshing and it did not disappoint, crowned with a white chocolate and meringue croquant which had been encrusted with flowers.  The lemongrass jelly went exceptionally well with the sheep’s milk spheres which popped lusciously in our mouths.

And then came one of the most unusual textures I have ever eaten. The final pudding featured something that  looked like an Aero bar on steroids but when put in the mouth disappeared with a flourish of rich creamy chocolate – frustrating, but also rather a relief as I had been wondering where I was going to fit in another dessert. Amazing stuff. Alongside it was some caramel snow (granita, basically) and a very good bitter coffee ice cream. The menu said there were also asparagus spheres but I must admit I don’t remember them and damned if I can find them in the photo. Even so, a great coffee/chocolate combo.

After this things began to get a little hazy as we threw caution to the wind and went on a mini wine exploration with Antonio, the sommelier with whom we were now on first name terms. We had now been at the restaurant for 4 hours and so we took our drinks for a walk around the garden and a chat with fellow guests – apart from 2 large Spanish families (shudder to think what their bills were) the other tables were mainly foreign tourists; everyone photographing each dish from every angle and a couple even tweeting each course. A wine based digestive called Patxaran is a very traditional Basque after-dinner drink that has been around since the Middle Ages but has recently had a bit of a resurgence with makers from Navarre using updated practices to bring out the flavours of the sloe fruit from which it is made, with a little help from an slightly aniseed spirit. On ice on a hot afternoon, we could have settled in for a few if coffee had not arrived. And with it came a bronze tower of petits fours. There was a watermelon cooler and an alcoholic, creamy drink along with some delicious salty nougat, an almond and lime financier and some dark chocolate logs that were filled with ganache.

 After we had coughed up over 500 Euros, including tip, and received our souvenir mini menu, our new buddy Antonio asked if we would like a tour of the kitchen (guess the other guests hadn’t drunk as much wine as us to be bestowed with this honour). The huge kitchen had the expected acres of stainless steel worktops and lots of water baths, steam ovens and other gadgetry which looked impressive but I couldn’t name. Martin Berasategui had already retired upstairs – he lives above the restaurant – but we met some of the 40 chefs who work here at well organised stations. All was calm and cool in the post-service lull and the chefs looked a lot healthier than the pale, sunken-eyed waifs one expects to see in a high-pressure kitchen. Maybe it’s the healthy carb-free diet or maybe it’s the huge windows that line one side of the kitchen. Lots of women, too, I was pleased to note.

Berasategui has 10 restaurants around the world, from Shanghai to the Dominican Republic, but this is the only one that he always cooks at. His expansionist stance has earned him some criticism of late and could be why he has slipped down in the world’s top fifty restaurant rankings this year, but his three Michelin stars for this restaurant look pretty safe for now.


Other Information:

The Great Tasting Menu is priced at 175 Euros per person

All the wines were reasonably priced at 9 euros per glass. I would definitely recommend allowing the sommelier to choose the wines as his knowledge was impressive (especially of Spanish wines) and the huge wine list is a bit daunting, unless you are a serious wine buff.

The website is http://www.martinberasategui.com. The address is Loidi Kalea 4, Lasarte-Oria (Gipuzkoa), 20160, San Sebastian, Spain. Tel +34 943 366 471 6. 

A guest post by Simeen Kadi
Simeen Kadi is a technology marketer and a bonne vivante. She has recently begun sharing her dining and drinking exploits as a guest reviewer, writing about food, cocktails and fun times from around the world. Simeen lives in and is in love with London.

Hélène Darroze's Saturday Brunch at The Connaught

Hélène Darroze is a two-Michelin starred chef from Landes, South West France, famous for her outstanding restaurant at The Connaught Hotel.  The hotel dates from the late 19th century, and is an elegant 5 star affair in a beautiful location in London's Mayfair.

In recent months, Hélène has been running a sumptuous brunch on Saturday mornings. The brunch has been attracting an increasing number of loyal diners - from entire families to couples, shoppers and visitors, this is a perfect place to kick off your weekend in style.

The restaurant, Edwardian in design, has dark wood panelling, plush carpet and refined upholstery. While our table was being prepared, we headed for the bar to enjoy a glass of Ruinart Rosé Champagne, which got things off to an excellent start.

The brunch menu is priced at £55 per person (children £39).  The menu includes an open buffet of starters, a choice of an a la Carte main course, a fantastic cheeseboard and an open buffet for dessert including waffles made to order.  It is literally impossible to sample everything on offer, and for £55 for food of this quality, I believe this to be excellent value.

While all the items on the starter buffet are available, we were pacing ourselves and opted to start with a medley of charcuterie, chicken & truffle terrine, spiced foie gras terrine, pork & pistachio terrine, a fantastic 3-coloured beetroot salad (candy, ruby and golden) with the creamiest buffalo mozzarella I have ever eaten, creamy scrambled eggs, an assortment of freshly baked bread and the Connaught's own churned butter.  The starters were excellent and generous, and I was impressed by the routine use of the very finest ingredients Pata Negra charcuterie and lobster.

For the main course, we opted for 'Our Burger', stuffed with braised Aberdeen Angus beef ox cheek and duck foie gras from Les Landes and accompanied by the most fantastic chunky chips. The combination of unctuous foie gras with the intensely beefy cheek  in a toasted bun was surprising, intriguing and delectable - a remarkably refined burger.

We also had Eggs Benedict, with York ham and black truffle from Perigord (for a £5 supplement). This was very nicely executed. We also had a portion of Macaroni and cheese, gratinated with aged Comte.

There is a wide range of cakes and puddings, fruit salads, cheesecakes, but by this stage in proceedings, we were struggling to finish our food, and opted to share a freshly made waffle with a wonderfully tart rhubarb conserve and Chantilly cream.  Dr G has always fancied himself as a waffle connoisseur, and even he was impressed by the fine flavours and textures in the Connaught's version, accompanied by a good house blend coffee.

For more information about Hélène Darroze's fantastic brunch at The Connaught, including the entire menu on offer, visit the link here.

Cost: £55 per person (£39 for children)

Likes: Fine old Mayfair hotel setting, discreet elegance, great food. A fantastic place to take visitors for an impressive brunch.

Dislikes: None

Verdict: An outstanding place for a posh brunch on a Saturday.  It's not cheap, but represents very good value for money given the location, quality of ingredients and stellar chef. I loved it and will be returning. Highly recommended.