Le Louis XV - Alain Ducasse à l'Hôtel de Paris

98000 MONACO

Gault&Millau Academy's member

BOOK

7 PHOTOS

Chef Emmanuel Pilon

Cooking French | Gastronomic

Services Disabled access | Private parking lot | Valet parking

Price Indicative price per person (excl. drinks)

230€ à 420€

Gault&Millau's review

Gault&Millau Academy's member Should we concede it? The most glittering representative of French gastronomic prestige could well be in Monaco. At the Louis XV, you'll find the greatest and most beautiful service in this sumptuously styled setting, with its XVIIIᵉ canvases and cherub-painted ceilings, the most inventive and perfected cuisine, palatial service with controlled details, the absence of faults of taste on the table (no paprika butter, no truffle oil...), a kind of absolute model! The actors in this vertiginous performance are without doubt the best at their jobs: Claire Sonnet is the ideal manager, warm and human, personalizing her relationship with each table, yet inflexible and totally demanding for the success of the moment, while Emmanuel Pilon, under the combined benevolence of Dominique Lory, the executive chef of all the hotel's catering (see also the Grill) and Alain Ducasse himself, grows a little more each year. Indeed, it seems that this gifted lieutenant has become a captain, demonstrating an agility, technique and imagination that lead to some great new dishes: an enticing composition on cucumber among the flurry of appetizers, the subtle and inventive coupling of red mullet and burlat cherries, preserved for a year in beeswax, which mingles with the red mullet liver in a marine and fruity dimension, spiced up with almond milk sliced with citrus oil, a remarkable plate, a chef's work... A little later, after the beautiful work on the artichoke and sea anemone (the Kristal caviar that falls into the hot juice is perhaps superfluous) and the zucchini saint-pierre in a very successful declination, sweet and velvety with a touch of acidity, here is a surprising and grandiose creation, a trompe-l'oeil and a palate more than delightful : civet d'eggplant, without fat and without wine, yet suggesting both, a powerful, bold dish with a dark, strange aspect, totally to the glory of the product. Of course, we can't forget the always extraordinary desserts by Sandro Micheli, who deserves all praise for his apricot dessert, soufflé moelleux pistou de tagète, fine textures, evocation of the skin, with ice cream and grated macadamia, in an overall understanding of the fruit that reveals as much sensitivity as knowledge. The last word goes to the discreet but highly efficient Maxime Pastor, a sommelier of the highest calibre, who looks after a cellar that's no slouch, and who naturally draws up a panorama of the national guard without lagging behind the youngsters we're talking about (Myrko Tepus, Cibonne, for example, in the region). Some extravagant prices, but a fairly logical ensemble, including champagnes from winemakers (Chartogne Taillet, Bérèche, Agrapart...).

Plan