CORD: Le Cordon Bleu launches 'click and collect' takeaway service at London hub

The world-renowned Parisian cookery school Le Cordon Bleu is to embrace 21st-century food technology with a “click and collect” service at its new London dining hub.

The 124-year-old institution, which gave its name to a classic French cooking style, revealed today that its restaurant, cafe and teaching complex will be named CORD by Le Cordon Bleu. It will launch in April at 85 Fleet Street, the former Reuters building by Sir Edward Lutyens.

To entice busy City workers to its cafe at lunchtime, CORD will abandon high-end Parisian service for a click-and-collect option via an in-house app. Customers will be able to review the menu, order, and set a time for pick-up. The app will offer regular users discounts and free croissants.

CORD’s 90-seat dining space will be the institution’s first London restaurant. André J Cointreau, Le Cordon Bleu president, said guests will experience an “evolving culinary art form”.

The restaurant will offer a “relaxed setting” in pastel colours, offering tasting menus alongside a £25-per-head “accessible” set lunch menu served in a 90-minute slot.

Internationally-inspired dishes will be made using British seasonal produce and include poached Dover Sole and lime presented with leek, rate potato, wild garlic and seaweed. To accompany, wines from all over the world will be served, with an unsurprising focus on French vineyards.

From the restaurant kitchen, master chefs the Bloomsbury cookery school will offer “corporate short courses, ideal for team building”, followed by a meal in the restaurant for City clients.

Mr Cointreau said: “This year is a milestone for Le Cordon Bleu as we celebrate 125 years of excellence in teaching around the world and prepare ourselves to launch CORD by Le Cordon Bleu onto the London restaurant scene in April.

“Drawing on our unique heritage, the concept behind CORD was borne out of a desire to create an environment where quality and excellence are second-to-none.”