Hélène Darroze at the Connaught
Fay Maschler, Evening Standard (Rating: 3/5 stars)
The doyenne of critics damns the latest Mayfair arrival from the City of Light with something approaching faint praise. “Unlike in most temples of haute cuisine”, she notes “a pronounced regional bias” on the menu. “Where it comes undone is where it clashes with the distortion that the pursuit and capture of Michelin stars imposes on a meal.” No surprise then that the approach can end up seeming “egregiously elaborate (and expensive)”.
But some failings just seem rather basic. A soup, for example, was just “a bit insipid”, and the critic’s waitress assumed the role of “condescending leading lady rather than the more appropriate best supporting actor”. In the end, though, one senses that it’s the prices that really took the edge off Ms M’s appetite.
Richard Vines, Bloomberg (Rating: 3/4 stars)
The critic has a perfectly fine meal. Even though he writes for a financial news service, however, and is relatively cost-insensitive, he concludes that the prices are notably more spectacular than the cooking.
Andy Hayler, andyhayler.com (Rating: 8/10)
Is there a cultural difference going on here? Andy Hayler has eaten in almost all of the top restaurants in France, so is an honorary Frenchman to some extent, and he’s very up on the Connaught’s newcomer. (He was pretty up on the recently-opened Ambassade de L’Ile, too – to an extent which has not shared by most of the critics who are ‘professionals’ in the more technical sense.)
Ambassade de I'lle
Guy Dimond, Time Out (Rating: 3/6 stars)
“[W]hat shines in Lyon can, in London, seem a bit naff”, notes TO’s head man (mercifully back at his keyboard). He finds this multi-million pound Gallic arrival in South Kensington looks like a “passable impersonation of a Stevenage nightclub circa 1978”.
He baulks at the à la carte prices, and settles for the “paupers’ £30 set lunch”. In it, he finds “much to like”, including a “paragon” of a soup and “one of the best desserts we’ve encountered this year”. The main course, however, was a let-down. “The way to get the most out of this place”, he surmises, “seems to be to come as part of a large, corporate group, when the company is paying, and to hire the private room downstairs. Then you can work your way through the tasting menu and list of stupendously-priced fine French wines, and create your own atmosphere, without having to foot the eye-watering bill in person”.
Brasserie St Jacques
Guy Dimond, Time Out (Rating: 3/6 stars)
Claudio Pulze is “a restaurateur as sure-footed and experienced as they get”, notes the critic, “so it says something about current restaurant trends if his latest place is a conservative, orthodox, rather unimaginative French brasserie”. “BSJ does nothing wrong”, he concludes, “but it also adds nothing new or invigorating to London’s dining landscape”.
Kyashii
Marina O’Loughlin, Metro (Rating: 3/5 stars)
“Food is evidently taken very seriously indeed” at this new Japanese outfit, in the West End, concludes the critic. “So why… serve it in a place as utterly ludicrous as this? From the get-go, we're hooting at Kyashii's supreme daftness and, well, blingness… If you love intricate, ambitious, Japanese-inspired food, Kyashii will have you foaming at the gills with annoyance thanks to its irony-free pretentiousness and daylight robbery pricing”.
Wild Honey
David Sexton, Evening Standard (Rating: 4/5 stars)
“By common consent”, says the critic, “the restaurants offering the best-value set lunches in London are sister restaurants Arbutus in Soho and Wild Honey on the Mayfair side of Regent Street. The menus may not alter much with the seasons, but he finds they pretty much live up to their billing.
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