As the saying goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. So successful was the collaboration in 2007 between Philippe Starck and Alain Ducasse on the Hôtel Le Meurice in Paris that the legendary duo have paired up again. The goal of the reunion was a gentle spruce up of the hotel’s public areas.
At the heart of the project is le Meurice Alain Ducasse – the grand dining room once again sparkling against a backdrop of Saarinen Tulip chairs, Aristide Najean’s bespoke crystal sculpture, gloriously baroque chandeliers, a stainless steel-trimmed bronze screen, silk wall lamps, and rose copper finishes.
For Le Dalí restaurant, Starck’s daughter Ara has created an ochre-hued carpet and ceiling tapestry. Meanwhile, Bar 228 is a masculine den of deep browns, deeply comfortable leather chairs; and a contrasting brightness and pink copper and marble-topped tables make the Galerie Pompadour just the spot for cocktails and a little indiscreet gossip.
In the kitchen, Ducasse-protégé Jocelyn Herland rolls out a suitably lush menu sprinkled with exotic ingredients and imaginative pairings. For gourmands, it’s an agonizing toss-up between the organic Chioggia beets, Schrencki sturgeon caviar from China’s Amur River, and veal medallions larded with anchovies, or Normandy vegetables cooked with Himalayan salt stones, and bonito fillets smoked with birch.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
228 rue de Rivoli
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