Faced with the rare prospect of a completely childfree weekend with a big birthday coming hot on its heels, my husband at I immediately start making plans. Self-confessed foodies, a special meal is our go-to when it comes to treating ourselves – preferably at a restaurant where there is no children’s menu, and where there are wines to accompany every course. Having read the many glowing reviews, we’ve both been wanting to visit Yannick Alléno’s Pavyllon London – all the more so since it was awarded its Michelin star earlier this year – and this feels like the perfect opportunity. “I’m just not sure I can be bothered to go into town on a Saturday evening,” my husband muses; I have the perfect solution…
Widely regarded as one of the world’s finest chefs, Yannick holds 16 Michelin stars across his 17 restaurants around the globe. Bringing his refined neighbourhood dining style to the Capital, Pavyllon is his first venture in London, set within the prestigious surrounds of Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane – offering a British expression of his signature modern French dishes, it opened last summer and was awarded its first coveted star in this year’s awards. In celebration of this accolade, the hotel has introduced a special one-night Gastronomic Getaway package, which includes a six-course dinner at Pavyllon, with a signature cocktail beforehand at Bar Antoine, and breakfast the following morning. There’s no denying that it is an indulgence, but we don’t often splash out on ourselves.
Arriving with overnight bags, we are struck with the novelty of being tourists in our own city – because we’ve both lived here for over twenty years, we have never actually stayed in a London hotel. As we are swept through the grand revolving doors by the doorman and shown to the concierge desk, we feel a thrill of excitement. Our home for the night is to be one of the hotel’s Executive Conservatory suites. It is vast, with a long, catwalk-like marble hallway leading to a plush lounge area and from there through to the bedroom, where doors open on to a huge private terrace, cleverly planted so that it feels utterly private, and furnished with comfortable outdoor seating. The interiors are fresh and bright, flooded with natural light thanks to a wall of conservatory-style windows. The sleek bathroom is stocked with pampering Floris products and features a luxurious double vanity unit, a large walk-in shower and a deep soaking bath tub, there’s even a separate dressing room. It will do very nicely indeed.
The hotel might be perfectly placed to explore everything that Mayfair and the West End have to offer, but none of this is new to us. Far preferable is the opportunity to sit and revel in the glorious fact that we have nothing to do. Perched as it is above the traffic and crowds on Park Lane and Hyde Park Corner, our terrace is surprisingly peaceful – we sit and read, soaking up the sunshine and enjoying a celebratory drink. Later, we retire inside; while my husband settles himself on the sofa to watch the football, I run a bath, playing music from my phone through the Bose speakers set in the bathroom ceiling. It is utter bliss.
Later still, dressed for dinner, we head downstairs, and are shown through to Bar Antoine’s sunny al fresco terrace for a pre-dinner cocktail. The bar is Alléno’s first bar concept and is poignantly named after his late son. Here, the cocktail list has been curated by the chef himself, alongside head mixologist, Michele Lombardi, with drinks featuring extractions, foams, fermentations and fruits. For me, a Soulful Sip, a gorgeously punchy, summery mix of gin and vermouth with grapefruit and rice milk, and for my other half, an Ume Negroni, made with plum wine and Campari; both are excellent.
Drinks finished, we are shown through to the restaurant. The interiors here were overseen by acclaimed Parisian designer Chahan Minassian and the space is elegant and modern, with a calming, light blue colour palette. There’s a quiet buzz, with diners sat around low, dark marble tables. A dark wooden bar commands the room, surrounding the open kitchen; here, very special places at the chef’s table are set. We are led to one of these prized seats and consider ourselves lucky indeed to have such an intimate view of the talented team at work.
We are dining on the six-course Immersive Mayfair menu, and, eyeing the beautiful dishes making their way out to the restaurant, we are impatient to get started. We are not left to go hungry though – delicate amuse-bouche quickly arrive, accompanied by warm bread and a dish of the creamiest butter we’ve ever tasted. We’d love to ask for seconds, but hold back, knowing that there is so much more to come.
The first of the courses is Obsiblue prawns, served with white bean puree and chorizo oil. Presented in the centre of a stunning, oversized iridescent dish, they look like a work of art, and, exceptionally tasty, they live up to their appearance. Next up, an exquisite Comté souffle, topped with a striking green watercress coulis and a decadent sprinkling of foie gras. We are in heaven.
Red mullet, cooked on the plancha grill, is served with a tomato extraction with saffron, lemon and basil. Yannick is acclaimed for his revolutionary extraction technique, which sees ingredients cooked in a vacuum to a highly specific time and temperature in order to harvest their purest flavour, before being cryo-concentrated to capture their very essence. While enhancing the taste, this also results in the final product being lower in sugar, salt and fat. We can’t quite get our heads around the wizardry involved, but the results are suitably out of this world. The final savoury dish of the evening is a perfectly pink duck Magret, served with delicious, sweet, marinated daikon. We round off the meal with strawberries topped with a cloud of verbena espuma, followed by a wickedly tasty hazelnut praline ripple ice cream with a punchy coffee and cardamom sauce.
As we sip on a fresh mint tea afterwards, it is the greatest of pleasures to recall that we need not make the journey home tonight. Instead, we stroll to the lifts and head back to the suite, falling gratefully into bed, feeling deeply appreciative of the crisp cotton sheets and soft, downy pillows. We sleep like the childless, and wake late the next morning, making ourselves Nespressos from the in-room machine to take out on the terrace, where we enjoy the early sunshine, before heading down to breakfast in Pavyllon.
By the light of day, the restaurant feels bright and relaxed, and we settle into the cushioned bench seating at one of the low tables in the window. There’s no buffet here, everything is à la carte, as you would expect. I order shakshuka eggs while my husband chooses eggs Benedict, and neither of us are disappointed. Had you asked us beforehand, we might have declared ourselves too full still for a cooked breakfast, yet neither of us leave even a smear of sauce on our plates – it would be criminal not to finish dishes that are quite so delicious, after all.
