Burgundy is in the blood at Bar Boulud

 
French connection: executive chef Dean Yasharin, from New York, has teamed up in London with Daniel Boulud
10 April 2012

Letters to a Young Chef by Daniel Boulud (Basic Books, $22.50) is a fascinating and engaging short read even if you are not a raw commis or, indeed, an old restaurant hack. In completely unaccented language — thanks to nearly 25 years spent living in the US, mainly in New York — French chef Daniel Boulud dissects the passion, humility and hard graft it takes not just to become a good chef but, almost more interestingly, a successful restaurateur.

Having left school at 14 to find work as an apprentice chef in his hometown of Lyon, Boulud deliberately went on to increase his learning in the kitchens of the big beasts of the day, Roger Vergé, Georges Blanc and Michel Guérard.

At 21, following his own advice to himself to see the world, he went to cook in Copenhagen. How prescient was that, what with Copenhagen’s Noma now voted "best" restaurant in the world? But what is telling about Boulud and an undeniable factor in his authority and influence is how he has stayed true to his Burgundian and Lyonnais culinary roots, which still penetrate the top layer of New York sassiness. He also acts and looks — and I believe sometimes cooks — every inch the chef, unlike men in suits such as Ducasse and Robuchon (perhaps more vestment than a suit) who also head up international restaurant chains.

Bar Boulud’s arrival in London has opened up hitherto unused space at the Mandarin Oriental. Its own entrance, marked by a disquieting photograph of the eponymous owner with oyster shells for eyes, helps to establish it as not-the-coffee-shop, as does the dominance of a long seductively curved bar (open until 1am) in the first of two main rooms. New York-based designer Adam Tihany tackled the challenge of windowless space by invoking — so we are told — a wine cellar. The use of oak, cork, zinc and the colour red bears out the claim but it is on the menu where excitement lies. And let’s not forget that Tihany also designed the distressingly named Foliage restaurant (soon to be commandeered by Heston Blumenthal) in the same hotel.

As befits a brasserie — which it isn’t quite — various menu sections, including one titled NY Burgers, invite flexibility and remove any unspoken obligation to go down the three-course route. Unless you don’t eat meat it would be a grievously wasted opportunity not to order the Dégustation de Charcuterie. Pâtés, including one en croute, rillettes, terrines and various saucisson are prepared in-house under the direction of Paris charcutier Gilles Verot.

A small or large board (£14 or £28) for sharing is accompanied by salads of beetroot with horseradish, celeriac remoulade, carrots with coriander and mushrooms à la Grecque — the classical French hors d’oeuvres given the Carrie Bradshaw treatment. The charcuterie is fabulous. Even items that had me worried such as Tagine d’agneau — terrine of slow-cooked spiced leg of lamb with aubergine and sweet potato — were gloriously vindicated.

After that I tried Boudin Blanc from the Sausages section, which was good but not as feather-light and juicy as Bruno Loubet’s version at his Bistrot in Clerkenwell. From more verdant pastures — the list of Entrées — I chose Asperges et Oeuf Poché and Chop-Chop Salad without the optional extra of half a lobster, which added £15 to the basic £6.50 cost. The egg, cooked mollet rather than poached, had a coating of crisp crumbs and "soldiers" of asparagus both white and green. It was gentle, agreeable. The salad based around Cos, or as they would say Romaine, lettuce had layers of texture and perky ginger-soy vinaigrette. The executive chef is American Dean Yasharian, who comes from working at Bar Boulud on Broadway. Those Yanks have a way with salads and their dressings, which seems to elude us here.

Two main courses that stole my heart were Coq au Vin, so regularly traduced elsewhere — how sensible just to use chicken legs — and The Frenchie, one of three burgers offered that don’t include the original DB Burger made with braised short ribs, foie gras and black truffle. Finding the perfect burger is not my holy grail but this dense patty of beef cooked medium rare served with aromatic Morbier cheese in a peppered brioche bun with crisp confit of pork belly (Frenchie for bacon?) and a tomato-onion compote came close to ultimate satisfaction. Even the chips had significant potato flavour.

Incidentally, The Frenchie appears on the terrific-value £20 lunch/early evening three-course menu.

Ile Flottante with poached rhubarb and lemon curd and Coupe Peppermint, where the main thrust is chocolate in varying textures including a jug of sauce, kept up the momentum. Service led by Stephen Macintosh, previously at The Wolseley, has had plenty of staff thrown at it. The process of booking is tedious and the insistence on a two-hour time slot out of keeping with the essence of the place, which I think can be summarised as A Big Step Forward.

Bar Boulud
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in