Cord: Le Cordon Bleu launches first ever London restaurant

Le Cordon Bleu, the culinary institution that has schooled everyone from Julia Child to Yotam Ottolenghi across its 127-year history, will open its first ever London restaurant in June.

Cord, which will finally arrive on Fleet Street after making initial plans to launch in the summer of 2020, will comprise a fine-dining restaurant, a cafe and a branch of its teaching operation.

The 90-cover restaurant will open from Monday to Friday, offering a daily a la carte menu, a weekly-changing set lunch and a variety of tasting menus at dinner. Dishes will range from hand-picked crab meat, cucumber, rhubarb and radish marmalade with herb toast, brown crab dressing and watercress oil, to marinated sea bream, corn guacamole, confit lemon, grilled corn and marjoram.

For dessert, diners can expect the likes of warm steamed Muscovado sponge with spiced cherries, fig leaf ice cream and green pistachio, or candied ginger panna cotta with rhubarb and rose meringue, served with strawberries and mint, shiso espuma and buttermilk sorbet.

The wine list — which is set to broaden its catchment area beyond France’s vineyards and into Spain, Germany, Italy and the Americas — will be utilised for a range of by-the-glass offerings, as well food pairings. Teetotallers can opt for tea pairings with their food, instead.

The daytime cafe, set to open from 7am to 5pm on Monday to Friday, will welcome guests to dine in, as well as offering takeaway. French patisseries and viennoiseries — croissants, peach and raspberry tarts, apricot brioche crumble and more, all baked fresh on site — will be available alongside light snacks from sandwiches to homemade soups.

Master chefs from Le Cordon Bleu’s London institute will be on hand to lead a series of gourmet short courses in worldwide cuisine, food and wine pairings, and patisserie.

Le Cordon Bleu CEO and president, André J Cointreau, said: “At Cord we aim to deliver savoir-faire and quality, bringing together unique techniques and the freshest, best-in-season ingredients across worldwide cuisines.

“Our guests will join us on a voyage to experience first-hand the exceptional level of skills delivered by our talented chefs at the same time receiving a warm and expert service level in a relaxed setting.”

Cord by Le Cordon Bleu will open at 85 Fleet Street, EC4Y 1AE in June 2022. Visit cordrestaurant.co.uk and follow @cordrestaurant for more information.