Cover Celebrity chef Hélène Darroze (Photo: Nicolas Buisson)
Celebrity chef Hélène Darroze (Photo: Nicolas Buisson)
1 / 1
The decorated chef, who has run her Michelin-starred Hélène Darroze restaurants in London for 16 years and in Paris, tells us how she calls the shots in her long career
I couldn’t spend a Friday afternoon any better. I am talking, of course, of lunch at Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, in the heart of London’s plush Mayfair. Here, I am comfortably ensconced within a curved banquette panelled with dark oak walls, with two Damien Hirst paintings directly in my line of sight. It is bright and sunny—a rarity in the capital—so sunlight streams into the main dining area, where unique shapes complement traditional finishings. Sixteen years this restaurant has stood, and it is a well-oiled machine, from the precise and warm service to the intricately-crafted plates that come in quick but leisurely succession.
Darroze, the woman behind it all, has the tricky job of running other highly acclaimed restaurants across France. In Paris, there is her bistro concept Joia, alongside her signature two-Michelin-starred restaurant Marsan, a tribute to her hometown of Mont-de-Marsan; in Provence, there is her eponymous concept at luxury hotel Villa La Coste. This year, the 57-year-old also celebrates 25 years of her culinary presence in Paris, a feat that cannot be understated in a cutthroat industry.
“My cooking philosophy is very personal, inspired by my emotions, travels and encounters, while using the very finest ingredients,” Darroze tells us. If the core of her cuisine is French, the food at each of her restaurants necessarily reflects their locales. Her Provence restaurant, for instance, enshrines the ingredients of the region; the same is true of her London restaurant, which also possesses a British sensibility touched by global inspirations. A signature dish remains the lobster with tandoori spices, a nod to the Indian culinary influences present in Britain.
Pregnant with anticipation, I hope her London restaurant lives up to everything I have heard about it. In short, it does. The first course—a take on French onion soup with Cévennes onion consommé, with slices of toast shaped into a rose and studded with Ibérico pork—is both comforting and elegant. The Devon duck, topped with a spelt crust and served with an anchovy emulsion, duck jus, and puntarelle, is perfectly balanced. For dessert, I have the signature baba, where sponge cake is sliced in front of your eyes and drizzled with a generous serving of Darroze’s family’s armagnac, topped with forced rhubarb and cream. It is soft, boozy, sweet, and tart all at once, and though I want to finish all of it, the weekday three-course lunch menu—which sounds pithy on paper, in comparison to its seven-course tasting menu—has done me in.
Don’t miss: The top 5 French restaurants in Singapore, according to veteran chef Bruno Menard
Above Cévennes onion consommé
Above Foie gras served at Hélène Darroze at The Connaught
Cévennes onion consommé
1 / 2
“What motivates me every day is to give joy to my guests,” Darroze says. “I have chosen to cook with instinct, generosity and emotion and forget technique a little. I am not in my restaurant to showcase specific skills; I am just here to give pleasure to people.” Here, in this corner of Mayfair, pleasure is a given.
How do you describe a chef like Darroze? One need only look to the character of Colette in the Pixar film Ratatouille for clues. Yes, really—to develop the headstrong chef in the film, the production team spent a lot of time in Darroze’s old restaurant to study her mannerisms. In the film, Colette commands the respect of an otherwise all-male brigade by being the “toughest cook” in the kitchen; in 2015, Darroze claimed the title of the World’s Best Female Chef in 2015 by World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Talent, determination, and success—and to think that Darroze originally did not want to be a chef. As the fourth generation of a family of chefs, “food is in [her] DNA”.
“My mother told me that I understood how to taste before I could even walk. I started to cook when I was very young and began with cakes like most children,” she says. But she was more interested in running restaurants than cooking in them, which led to a business degree at L’école Supérieure de Commerce in Bordeaux.
It was in Monaco, however, where Darroze got her start in the kitchen at Le Louis XV, that institution of French fine dining at the luxurious Hotel de Paris, helmed by the world-famous Alain Ducasse. A recent graduate aged 24 at the time, she started working in Ducasse’s office before he saw something of a chef in her, inviting her to work part-time in the kitchen. “When he saw my passion, he encouraged me to work as a chef,” she says. “To this day, I have never regretted my choice.” That was in 1990.
Read more: Secrets Of A Superchef: Alain Ducasse On Pursuing Perfection
Above Hélène Darroze plating a dish at her restaurant in London
Hélène Darroze plating a dish at her restaurant in London
1 / 1
In 1995, she returned to her family’s restaurant in Villeneuve-de-Marsan, where she refined her culinary skills before deciding to make a name for herself. Thus came Restaurant Hélène Darroze in 1999, which quickly became the favourite of celebrities and ministers alike. In 2019, she rebranded the restaurant to Marsan by Hélène Darroze, a clearer distillation of her culinary upbringing in her home region of Les Landes.
“I am Basque-Landaise, and this plays a vital role in who I am and what I create. I am made from that family and that soil,” she says. “When I was younger, maybe I tried to free myself more, but over time, I found myself going back and returning home. With Marsan, I wanted to create a restaurant that said everything about me.”
In fact, Darroze makes sure that all of her restaurants reflect her identity and her convictions strongly. “I have never tried to be someone other than who I am. I have never followed trends, I have just delivered experiences that I believe in, that speak about me and that I would love to have,” she insists. If the speed in which she racks up awards proves anything, the efforts have clearly paid off—her Paris flagship won its first Michelin star only two years after opening, with its second in 2021. In 2010, she was invited to take over the kitchens of Angela Hartnett at The Connaught. Six months later, she bagged its first Michelin star while the prized third star came recently in 2021.
“[Getting] the third star has been the most emotional moment in my professional life,” says Darroze, who is also a Chevalier of the Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur. “Since childhood, I have always admired these chefs, and suddenly I join them in this small world of three-Michelin-starred restaurants. I was so happy and proud of the team. Three Michelin stars is the holy grail for a chef.” But she is quick to clarify that the journey is not over. “I now say to the team; we need to invent the fourth star and look towards the future. For me, nothing is won or maintained. I believe that every day is a new day where we have to start from scratch.”
Darroze’s longevity is exceptional for any chef at this level; with systemic barriers to women breaking into professional kitchens, it is even more notable. She is quick, however, to say that she personally has never “experienced misogyny or sexism” in her career. “That is not to say it doesn’t exist, I just didn’t face it,” she says. Women around the world are often asked to handle the difficult balancing act of professional and domestic life, one that is even more tenuous in the restaurant industry with its demanding working hours. As a mother of two adopted children, Darroze has previously spoken at length about this. But if she is certain about anything, it is this—“women play an integral role in the gastronomic scene.” Her advice to female chefs? “Be yourself, be a woman; embrace your femininity; and cook as a woman.”
In case you missed it: International Women’s Day 2024: 7 women-led restaurants and bars to support in Singapore
Above The chef’s table room at Hélène Darroze at The Connaught
The chef’s table room at Hélène Darroze at The Connaught
1 / 1
These days, she is occupying herself with her most recent challenge: taking over the culinary direction of La Table and La Grande Table Marocaine at the Royal Mansour Marocaine in Marrakech, a post previously held by celebrity chef Yannick Alléno. Darroze, who already splits her time between London and Paris, now also frequently travels to the Moroccan city, where she is learning as much as she can about the flavours and ingredients of the region. It is a challenge that she is perfectly suited to, given that travel has defined so much of her cuisine.
“I can learn something new every day. Every country has its own culture, its own techniques, and ingredients, so there’s always something new to discover,” she says. “Surprise is part of the magic of food. As long as you’re surprised in a good way, it's part of the success of the dish.” Challenge, of course, is welcomed, but with a caveat: “It has to be self-reflective.” Emphasising again the importance of “happiness” for her guests, Darroze says that she speaks with her team “everyday” about how to improve the experience of every customer who walks into her restaurants.
“We have to put ourselves and our work to question. That’s the only way we can achieve what we want, the only way we can improve and do better,” she says. As for the secret to her longevity? “Be open to everything, it’s all inspiration. Follow your passion and be yourself.”
One more thing. Just after the first course, the waiters arrive with a surprise dish I have not seen on the menu. It is a little quadrant of foie gras, topped with black and white sesame and served alongside alternating slices of Yorkshire rhubarb and beetroot. A few spoonfuls of a koji-infused sauce finishes the dish. The restaurant always offers a surprise plate, I am told—an extra something for guests to remember the happy moment. By all measures, it has done its job.
Topics
About
Ethan is a dining writer with Tatler Singapore. Trained in literary arts and filmmaking, their work has previously been published in Esquire Singapore, Men's Folio, and with the Asian Film Archive and the Singapore International and Film Festival, across a wide range of interests from gastronomy to fashion and arts criticism.
Work
Ethan writes about exciting news in the F&B industry, specialising in fine dining, exclusive spirits launches, and new restaurants. They are always looking for riveting voices to bring something fresh to an already-dynamic industry.
Follow them on Instagram at @faustiangourmand.
