Executive Chef Helena Puolakka will be launching a brand-new menu featuring modern British dishes to riverside restaurant, Skylon from 25th February. As well as the new menu, Skylon has refreshed their interiors to bring a more open and contemporary feel to the restaurant following Puolakka’s arrival in September 2018.
Puolakka’s new menu will serve the restaurant as a whole, rather than in split sections as previously, and will continue to focus on innovative British cuisine, bringing diners expertly-sourced produce from around the UK. Starters will include the likes of; Slow cooked Chichester wood pigeon, beetroot crème fraiche, chestnuts and kale (£11) and North Atlantic halibut carpaccio, Lilliput capers, fennel, lemon dressing (£12). Another new addition to the menu, is the Cobble Lane Cured charcuterie platter, featuring the highest welfare British meats cut, cured and smoked in Cobble Lane Cured shop in Islington.
Main courses will range from comforting classics including; Pot au Feu of Ox cheeks, slow cooked winter roots, horseradish tartar (£21) and Free-range chicken breast, fingerling potatoes, lemon rosemary salt (£19) to those with more delicate flavour profiles such as Warm smoked Var salmon, potato mousseline, cucumber caviar velouté (£22). Touches of European influence will also be evident with the grill options with the likes of Rib Eye Steak, with 42 days aged Café de Paris (£34) and Grilled native lobster with smoked potato salad and lobster bearnaise (£21/£42). There will also be sharing dishes including the showstopping Highland venison wellington with braised red cabbage (£54) and Chateaubriand with slow cooked endive, Roscoff onions, sage with madeira sauce (£64).
At lunchtime, there will be a separate menu filled with casual dining options to choose from, such as; Chef’s steak sandwich, truffle mayonnaise, barbecue shallots and seeded sourdough (£11) and Dorset crab roll, crispy celery apple salad, Marie Rose sauce (£15). Desserts will continue to celebrate Great British classics with Sticky toffee pudding with salted caramel ice cream and Burnt lemon meringue tart, all priced at £7.50.
The décor has been updated to bring a more laid-back feel to the space, whilst continuing to boast the spectacular views over the River Thames through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Situated on the first floor of the Royal Festival Hall, the interiors will echo its style and architecture but now in a more casual environment.
Executive Chef Helena Puolakka, originally from the south-west coast of Finland, has worked with some of the world’s most renowned chefs in their kitchens, including Pierre Koffmann at La Tante Claire. Puolakka continues to take inspiration from the traditional skills she learnt in French cooking in her dishes at Skylon, whilst also using Scandinavian produce alongside British ingredients to create unique flavours. She also remains Chef Patron at D&D London’s Aster in Victoria, where she continues to focus on combining French and Nordic cooking styles.