Openings: Helene Darroze @ the Connaught, London
Ken Scrudato
May 30, 2008
Just a girl from the Provinces, Helene Darroze did a spell in Monte Carlo under Mssr. Ducasse himself, then proceeded to charm her way into the Parisian-chef boys club with her stylish eponymous restaurant in the 6th. Now the newly legendary culinary wizard takes on London, which is, bizarrely, the most competitive food city on the planet at the moment. She’ll get a good head start in taking those Gordons and Jamies and Fergus’s (more boys, of course) by taking over the restaurant at the recently chic’d up Connaught Hotel -- still basking in the glittering glow of a glorious $70 million makeover.
Darroze’s new foodie temple, opening in June in a swish new contemporary-classical interior by British designer India Mahdavi, will introduce Brit epicures to her haute but fervently authentic cuisine inspired by her native Southwestern France. It’s almost poignant, at a time when the two EU stalwart nations seem at endless diplomatic loggerheads. It may not end all that shameful British-French bickering, but we’re quite sure it won’t hurt.
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