CORD by Le Cordon Bleu review

Le Cordon Bleu, renowned for its prestigious cookery schools, celebrates its 130th anniversary this year, marking over a century of culinary excellence. As part of its legacy, the institute also operates a number of acclaimed dining establishments around the globe, including CORD—their first fine dining restaurant in London—which opened its doors in June 2022. We headed over to their Grade II listed building originally designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for the Press Association. The main entrance is hidden next to St Bride’s Church on London’s famous Fleet Street. The lobby leads to their café on the right (which can also be accessed directly from Fleet Street) and to the left is their fine dining restaurant.   The room is stylishly decorated in soothing blues and whites, with some striking artwork and dried floral arrangements and is immaculately set for their lunch service. One side of the room is all kitchen, most if it behind large panes of sparklingly clean glass, giving the entire dining room clear views of the action, as the chefs calmly prepare your dishes. The chef’s whites are crisp, starched and seemingly uncreased and heads are topped with tall chef hats. We felt we were in for a meal delivered and cooked by consummate professionals.

CORD by Le Cordon Bleu. Image credit CORD by Le Cordon Bleu.

There is a January set menu offering but we worked our way through the a la carte selections. As we perused the menu, we were welcomed by the best looking bread basket I have seen in a long time. Presented in a gorgeous organically shapedgiant wooden bowl was copious amounts of smoked brioche, fluffy sourdough slices and a bagel shaped fennel breadserved with a choice of two perfect quenelle shaped butters: mushroom & tarragon and smoked butter. Everything appeared to have just popped out of the oven, fresher bread you will not find. I would have loved a slice of each but knowing a full 3 course menu was ahead I managed to show some restraint.

The kitchen is led by Executive Chef Karl O’Dell and the cooking shows a strong classical bent as you would expect from a Cordon Bleu restaurant. Dining here guarantees everything will arrive at your table looking like a work of art from the star shaped squid atop the lobster ravioli or the venison encroûte resting on hot stones placed on a platter resembling a mini forest.

Balsamic Marinated Beetroots presented thinly sliced and plated in a rose. Image credit MTotoe.

My dining partner began with the vegetarian friendly Balsamic Marinated Beetroots presented thinly sliced and plated in a rose on a bed of lightly whipped goat’s cheese, some pesto, rocket and a dusting of tiny cashew nut pieces. A very successful combination of flavours and textures. I have become quite partial to sea urchin over the years and ordered the Lobster & Sea Urchin Raviolo. The squid ink black raviolo stood out on the beautiful orange ginger and lemongrass bisque and the bed of spinach was the perfect foil to the rich bisque. Flavours were delicate and delicious but the sea urchin flavour was perhaps a little too mild.

For mains the Highland Venison en Coûte is quite the performance piece. Instead of venison fully encased in the pastry one receives a generous slice from a larger piece revealing a beautiful mosaic within of multiple pieces of perfectly pink venison fillets a thin layer of spinach leaves and a chicken mousse and lastly a deep red beetroot pastry served with a generous amount of venison jus accompanied by a large stuffed morel mushroom and a pear compote bringing a little sweetness to the dish. My partner had the ring of Carmelised Celeriac filled with a girolles and chestnut mixture topped with pencil shavings of raw celeriac and a tamarind jus. We were left slightly disappointed by the dish as it lacked flavour and might have benefited from some roasting or charring on the celeriac. The side of Crispy Potato Pave with Black Truffle & Comté was sensational. All washed down with a well-structured, full bodied Altano red wine from the Douro Valley, Portugal. 

Highland Venison en Coûte. Image credit MTotoe. 

To finish off our meal it would have been remiss of us to not order the soufflé, the true test of any pastry chef. The flavour combinations were a dream. The Hazelnut Souffle had hints of orange and cinnamon and came with a luscious caramel poured into its center served with a cinnamon ice cream and a nutty crumb on the side. As I devoured my favourite dessert, I lamented over the fact I have lost my full proof souffle recipe from my kitchen internship in the patisserie of a one Michelin star restaurant. Gone are the days I regularly whip up a soufflé. For the chocolate lovers do not miss out on the 70% Guanaja Chocolate Delice served with caramel sorbet, spiced hazelnuts and fluttering gold leaf, topped with a delicate chocolate feather.

As seems to be the trend, there is nothing “petit” about the petit fours in fine dining establishments these days. It seems to be the last attempt to impress the socks off you before you leave their establishment. As four little bowls of tasty treats arrived, I wished I was hungrier. But in the name of research, we endeavored to taste all of it. Starting with the perfect butnot so small pistachio madeleines. We began with a bite that was so good we proceeded to polish them off by dipping into the accompanying whipped cream just to make sure we fulfilled our calorific intake for the day. We never really stood a chance of resisting. Next was two small squares of pine marshmallow. A gorgeous green colour on the outside with a “fluffy angel” white center. The fluffy angel description is one I use regularly since my daughter described the donuts from the famous Berry Donut Van on the South Coast of NSW, Australia in this way. Lastly two shimmering pieces of chocolate with an oozing miso caramel center. Lest we slip into a food coma we finished with strong coffee and left with a spring in our step as we ventured back out into a grey London day.

The Hazelnut Souffle had hints of orange and cinnamon and came with a luscious caramel poured. Image credit MTotoe. 

Presentation and service were faultless throughout our meal except for an accidental droplet of red wine on the crisp cloth. CORD is without doubt sophisticated dining. Tables are well spaced with a comfortable looking corner booth for larger groups. The volume in the room is perfect for conversation to flow easily. Lunch time was predominantly business diners with a few couples, as you would expect in this area at lunch time but of an evening. CORD would be a wonderful date night or special occasion restaurant and with Valentine’s around the corner this would be one to keep on your radar. For corporates there is an interesting team building option as

Le Cordon Bleu hosts courses for private groups and corporate activities, ideal for team building. Followed by a meal in the restaurant or one of their private rooms

Guests can order from the à la carte menu, but we’d recommend the nine-course Tasting Menu, if you’re visiting in the evening, which caters for carnivores, vegetarians, vegans and gluten-free and is priced at £118pp.

For January we recommend the three-course set menu for just £42 including a complimentary glass of sparkling wine. In such a salubrious setting this seems to be incredibly good value. 

Location: CORD by Le Cordon Bleu, 85 Fleet St, City of London, London EC4Y 1AE. Instagram: @cordrestaurant. Website: cordrestaurant.co.uk.

Review by Natascha Milsom