Paris Apartments

Le Meurice Paris

1st arrondissement - Tuileries - Yannick Alléno the chef

228, rue de Rivoli

01 44 58 10 55

by Shannon Bennett A Personal Guide to the City's Best

SEARCH PARIS APARTMENTS

Shannon: My favourite recent dining experience would have to be Le Meurice, because of its opulence. When you walk in the dining room, it is like entering another era. You don't realise until you begin eating, from all the minute details, that it is actually 2008. Philippe Stark's touches highlight the best of the two centuries that the dining-room has been open.

The people-watching was just amazing: these were modern Parisians, with obviously busy lives, who had taken three or four hours out of their day to eat three-star food. It was as enjoyable as watching the theatre provided by the staff. Whatever stress there may have been in the kitchen, they were very calm in their presentation of the food. The dishes were taken to the table, on trays the young staff carried on their shoulders; the dishes were passed to the chef de rang, who then delivered them to the maître d'hôtel, who introduced the dish. Il was really spectacular old-style service, backed up with Yannick coming out and meeting everyone at each table, and to us honestly and openly. He has a great personality.

The restaurant has had a chequered history as far as the food is concerned. Yannick Alléno has done an amazing job in turning around its réputation, particularly in its style of cuisine - great produce with touches of French technique and Oriental flavours. The food had a modern feel - there was no cream anywhere in the meal - and the portions were perfect.

My most vivid memory was of one of the fist courses, a little miso soup served with crunchy radishes dipped in French butter. The butter had been thickened with some ingredient - perhaps seaweed extract - and set hard, like an icing, after the vegetables were dipped into it. The dish was complemented beautifully by a little curry spice and sea salt.

I tried the foie gras - simply pan-fried and served with poached cherries - and thought it exceptional. There was a red-mullet dish that I felt was beautifully put together with the tiniest of mussels: I remember a clean white plate with the perfectly cooked mullet on it. I had shoulder of lamb, accompanied by a little bit of loin, which was pretty mind-blowing with its extraordinary almond sauce.

The little pre-dessert came out with a lot of theatre. The dessert wasn't my favourite dish, but it was intriguing and the presentation superb. It was a fig that had been hollowed out and stuffed with a quite spicy mixture that included nuts, and was then shaped into a ball and dipped in white chocolate. It was served with a light mascarpone cream. The chocolates at the end of the meal were perfection.

I can't say there was any dish that was the most memorable I have ever tasted, but the balance of the meal was amazing: eating here is about the whole experience, and anyway the menu changes regularly. I would sum up the experience as sophisticated, clean and seasonal, with beautiful présentation.

There is a certain stuffiness at Le Meurice, but it's the kind you want when you go to Paris. Waiters were so polished they didn't understand our sense of humour when we tried to have a bit of fun, but it was balance by the maître d'hôtel who picked up on it and indulged us. We felt very confortable.

I walked in with long daggy hair, in a suit I had brought that day from CoSTUME NATIONAL (a label I had heard of before, but which one of my trendier mates, Adam, had convinced me to buy). I probably looked "not the part", but they accepted me straightaway. They never spoke down to us and I liked that. At some other three-star restaurants, I have felt inhibited because the maître d'hôtel let us know implicitly but in no uncertain terms that this was an expensive, upmarket restaurant where we didn't seem to belong. French restaurants are renowned for this kind of attitude and, while you expect a certain degree of hauteur, you do want to feel accepted. You need to book at least a month out, if not two. That's really important.