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Hélène Darroze is a chef at the top of her game. With a three-Michelin-star restaurant at The Connaught in London, two stars at Marsan in Paris and one star at Villa La Coste in Provence, she is now about to take on a new challenge: taking the culinary reins at the legendary Royal Mansour in Marrakesh.
She will also be a Grand Juror at the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2022-23 Grand Finale, helping to crown the best young chef in the world this October in Milan, and has somehow found the time to also tell us about her favourite restaurants worldwide.
Enjoy this guide from one of the world's best chefs to the restaurants that inspire her and where she loves to eat.
Paris
Passerini
Photo: Mickaël A. Bandassak
“It's an Italian restaurant, but also he has a boutique, where he sells homemade pasta. I love this boutique.”
L’Arpège
“Alain Passard is an amazing cooker of vegetables, but also, for me, one of the best rotisseurs. For me, he has no equal [when it comes] to roasting a piece of meat or fish. And it's always entire pieces to share. He inspires so many chefs, because it's always very simple but so tasty, so delicate, very elegant. I really love his cuisine; I really love the guy.”
Mamiche
“Bakeries are very interesting to me. The bread they are cooking [at Mamiche] is really good. Also the pastries. It's not pastries like in the pastry shop. It's a lot of comfort food but it's very nice, very well done, very well executed. It's one of these places where you have to queue for half an hour. But this bakery for me has really understood the way people want to eat.”
Basque Country
Benat Artisan Fromager Affineur
“The person who provides all my cheese in London and in Paris. He’s the one who goes all over to collect the best cheese from the Basque Country. He has two boutiques – one in the market of Saint-Jean-de-Luz in Les Halles. I love this market. In his boutique, he has other cheeses, but for us, it's only the Basque cheese – most of them are French – or the butter or the cream.”
Rome
Da Enzo al 29
“[This is] where I had the best cacio e pepe ever. You have to queue, it's a very small restaurant, you eat in the street. You eat on very small tables, but very comfortably. You have amazing pasta. And the sides of course – the artichokes, all these beautiful things from Rome.”
Kyoto
Uozuya
“It's one-Michelin-star. The chef is old, you just have a counter, 10-12 people, and behind the counter there is only himself and his wife. The perfection of taste is just incredible. It’s all about the product.”
London
Kol
Photo: Great British Chefs
“I think he [Santiago Lastra] has made an amazing mix with Mexican flavours and culture, etc., but with UK products. I went there with my children and I thought it would be difficult for them because it's fine dining and it's also special products, special flavours, etc. But even then they loved this place so much, they loved the food. They were really interested to know more about the dishes.”
Mexico City
Pujol
“It was very emotional when I had lunch at Pujol. It was also the same [as Kol], the same approach but of course with Mexican products, it's like every dish tells you something. That for me is very important.”
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