The Plaza Athénée was as soon as the flagship restaurant of chef Alain Ducasse. It held three Michelin stars and featured for a short second on the World’s 50 Finest Eating places listing. After a large redesign and reopening in 2014, the restaurant reoriented its delicacies round fish, cereals and greens. The quinoa didn’t come low-cost right here: lunch for two folks was greater than 1000€.
Amongst all of the three-star Paris eating places I examined that 12 months (and I examined all of them), this was my very least favourite. Ducasse left the Plaza Athénée in 2021 and handed the reins to Jean Imbert, who received High Chef France (extra particulars at Jean Imbert au Plaza Athénée).
OUR PHOTOS OF LE PLAZA ATHÉNÉE
IN OTHER WORDS
Patricia Wells (2014) “Ducasse pledges a brand new definition of luxurious, making an attempt to show each component right into a radical, minimal, expertise. Once more, an thought to be applauded, if it really works. At this level, to this diner and critic, it doesn’t… Throughout the identical week, eating in varied Paris institutions, I had higher, brighter, less-tortured greens, sampled in modest bistros, newcomer star eating places, and competing grand tables.”
David Lebovitz (2014) “I went with the Légumes des jardins du château de Versailles, a beautiful piled of just-picked greens from Alain Baraton… Every vegetable with completely and exactly cooked; tiny turnips with the little leaves nonetheless connected, slender fennel bulbs no bigger than my pinky, silky caramelized onions, and tender beet leaves. The greens have been so good that they didn’t want the marginally wealthy, contrasting sauce on them.”
Libération (2014) “Lorsqu’un shopper dîne à une desk où la be aware comportera trois chiffres, à quoi s’attend-il ? Sans doute à un défilé de mets raffinés, mais aussi à faire bombance. Or, pour la réouverture du restaurant du Plaza Athénée à Paris, fermé dix mois pour rénovation, Alain Ducasse a choisi une formule surprenante en proposant un néologisme culinaire : la «naturalité», through un repas composé de graines, de légumes et de poisson. Ce qui, sur le papier, ressemble plus à un menu Weight Watchers qu’à un festin de roi.”
L’Specific (2014) “Vu la sincérité méticuleuse et la précision diabolique que son chef exécutif, Romain Meder, déploie dans chacune de ses assiettes, on serait plutôt tenté d’y déceler une nouvelle étape dans l’avantgarde gastronomique: celle d’une frugalité exquise, saine et vertueuse. Le Ducasse du siècle? “
