Regional French Perfection....well almost!

Helene Darozze at the Connaught is one of those restaurants that seems to be a bit of a paradox. One thing by night at dinner, whilst a totally different proposition during the day at lunch. I have been lucky enough to experience both there in the last couple of weeks. My dinner experience was first. I went with very high expectations, perhaps a little too high as it turned out.

The a la carte dinner is £75 a head for three courses, which in itself is expensive but not overly so at this level. Dishes on the carte are presented in French and English, with the predominantly French staff all too eager to explain to you the details.

The wine list is the biggest I have come across, and of course is loaded with every great wine and vintage from around the world. The prices are also the highest I have come across in London (maybe even anywhere). You certainly need deep pockets if you want anything with a reputation. We had a bottle of Lynch Bages 1998 which at around £300 was pushing the realms of reality. However, I took the view that to fully enjoy the food I had to have a bottle that also could live at the same high standards.

The dinning room is a modern art deco masterpiece. Comfy armchairs, sexy lighting and some fabulous Hermes china that a female dinning companion will want to take away with you. Overall the restaurant is a serious player on the London dinning scene.

We both enjoyed the meal immensely but for some reason left feeling something was missing. This may have been compounded by the fact that we had just paid almost £600 for dinner. The food was annoyingly good, the wine excellent, décor second to none in London. Yes, the price was expensive but tolerable given the wine we had ordered. So why did I not feel on top of the world?

Well, it’s all down to the ambiance that is created in the dinning room itself, which quite simply, is guilty of trying too hard. The staff, which are clearly knowledgeable, provide faultless service, but it’s all too cold and stuffy. This, combined with the touch of distain from the sommelier whenever he spoke left an unfulfilled empty feeling as we left. All this despite having enjoyed some of the best food I have been fortunate enough to eat anywhere in the world.

So a couple of weeks later I found myself again at Helene Darrozze, only this time for lunch with a colleague. This time I was very surprised, and I have to say pleased, that I experienced a much more relaxed affair. The stuffiness and overbearing formalities are not there at lunchtime. All that remains is the exquisite food, the quality of the wine and a complete dinning experience that I have yet to better. At lunchtime, Helene Darozze is without doubt the full package.

I had the line caught calamari, followed by crusted hake rounded off with a mouth watering rhubarb compote. This was washed down with a glass of white and a glass of red selected by a much more amiable sommelier. The famous jars of petty fours where wheeled over with the tea and coffee and it was as much as we could do to control ourselves from asking for the lot!

So what do we make of a restaurant such as this. The ambiance lets dinner down badly. Yes, dinner is expensive, especially when you add in the wine, water and coffee but the food is that good. However the evening service team could learn a lot from the lunch team in terms of creating a warm friendly dinning atmosphere. My recommendation would be to go for lunch and then decide if you want to go the extra mile for dinner. The three courses and two glasses of wine for £42 is great value, especially when you consider the quality of the food and the location. The atmosphere is nice and relaxed and there is none of the stuffiness associated with dinner. Lunch is the real deal, if they can emulate the ambiance created at lunch in the evening this restaurant is a serious contender for best in the city.

Angela Hartnett's Murano

Another entry about Italian food this week courtesy of my trip to Murano in Mayfair on Saturday afternoon.

I had been wanting to sample Murano for a while now, but for one reason or another always seemed to not quite make it.

Its a small, intimate restaurant just off Curzon Street with a discreet and almost unassuming entrance. If you weren't going there for lunch or dinner you would probably not even notice it. We arrived rather early for our 13:30 reservation but where shown to our table without fuss. The interior is a soothing combination of crisp white linen tables, olive green leather armchairs and an array of elegant freezes on the walls.

The menu choice actually surprised. The tasting menu, full a la carte and set lunch menu were all available. We opted for the fantastic value set lunch menu. It contains a good selection of dishes and the price included appetisers, amuse bouche and pre dessert as well! All this and three courses for just £30. A great offer in anyones book, and lets face it who can face an eight course extravaganza or full a la carte session for lunch anyway. Especially when temperatures outside are pushing 30 degrees.

A starter of confit chicken ravioli, followed by a glorious main course of roasted cod with parisienne gnocchi, was finished off with a nice rich hot chocolate brownie and coffee ice cream. Of course you expect the food to be beyond reproach when you eat at a venue such as this. However, I am increasingly of the view that well prepared food is not just enough anymore. I like to feel the experience of eating as well and in that regard Murano delivers perfectly. The food, presentation and the general relaxed but smart atmosphere deliver a refined dinning experience without the overly stuffiness of some other famous restaurants nearby.

The wine list, as you would expect from one of Ramsey's flag ship eateries, was long and complete. A decent choice by the glass actually led us to enjoy a couple of glasses white burgundy, 2006 Meursault "Les Corbin" Vincent Dancer, despite the heady list of Italian bedfellows in the wine list.

With the closure of Foliage at the Mandarin Oriental, Murano could become my new favourite lunching venue. I shall be returning again soon. Only next time it will be for dinner and to sample the great a la carte menu!