7 rue d’Aguesseau (8)
Tel: 01-53-05-00-00
AMBIANCE/DÉCOR
Diary policy is a restaurant cannot become a “Favorite” on the basis of a single visit. Policy honored, but the risk is Le Grand Restaurant will no longer offer an 80€ lunch, or that its 30 or so seats will become impossible to book. You’ve been warned, assuming you would consider this seven month old Michelin 2-Star, surely determined to become more. Its chef carried his previous stars with him from the 7th, now in a beautiful modern space of his own.
Open kitchen in front with a window on the small rue d’Aguesseau steps from the American Embassy. If you cannot book, look through the window. 10 cooks led by Jean Francois Piege, reportedly there for every service.
The size and refinement leads to comparison to Astrance, but the food, while also modern, is less intellectual and more derivative of a three course meal (expanded to 5 or 6, or more with extras).
So good at lunch in May, we returned for a birthday dinner in October. 195€/person for a magnificent dinner, plus wines. Appropriate for a very special occasion. Post-terrorism, seats available. A modern take on classic high-end food, service, helpful wine selections for the price-conscious.
FOOD
The lunch allows a choice, fish (yellowtail) or meat (roasted sweetbreads), preceded by three exquisite bites, a first course of roasted celery root slices which on the plate resembles a baked apple, in morille sauce, followed by three desserts, followed by a chocolate surprise which you must be there to experience. Plus extensive a la carte and two tasting menus.
In a city populated by numerous high-end restaurants, this merits real distinction.
SERVICE
Formal, friendly, gracious, bilingual, completely friendly.
PRICES
80€ becomes 238€ for two with three glasses of wine and overpriced coffee and tea. Two hours but not three, and worth the experience.
(2x) (2016)