L'Arpège

75007 PARIS

Gault&Millau Academy's member

5 PHOTOS

Chef Alain Passard

Price Indicative price per person (excl. drinks)

185€ à 520€

Gault&Millau's review

Gault&Millau Academy's member "What a magnificent dish!" exclaimed one guest in front of this majestic plate. It's Alain Passard's new "chimera", those unlikely hybrids he invents every year, marrying animals that never imagined would one day be brought together, like pigeon and lamb. The former is prepared as a crapaudine, the latter as a square, the former enveloping the latter and then sewn together before being cooked - for cooking times and the magic of assembly, see the alchemist. The result is stunning, presented as a tournedos on a "lion" sauce, with port and chocolate, shiny as a lacquer. A few vegetables embellish an enchanting and delicious plate. Alain Passard is not just a man who whispers in the ear of cauliflowers in his kitchen garden near Nonancourt, but an artist of unspoiled genius, combining the improbable with mischief and always terribly sharp in expressing the right taste. Such as this year's minestrone with cockles, smoked eel ravioli and Corsican bottarga, full of flavor, balance and sweetness, or the famous "cueillette" of vegetables of the moment with Jura sailing wine, or this seemingly simple yet marvelously well-executed composition, sweetbreads in whole apple and bouchot mussel on a light, aromatic jus, at once iodized and earthy. Yes, Alain Passard's cuisine, complex and dazzling, confoundingly obvious, is still one of the finest in Paris, at the very least unique, justifying at each service a very chic assembly from all over the world and filling with delight a very lively room, with brilliant and efficient new faces, notably in the sommelier department. Desserts not to be missed, including profiteroles with herbs and flowers and steaming "caramiel", or the imposing and delightful flat peach millefeuille with fig leaf ice cream. The wine cellar is not as huge as in a palace, but selected and enhanced with haute couture foreign beverages by the new Italian head sommelier.