Plénitude - Cheval Blanc Paris

75001 PARIS
19/20
 Exceptional Restaurant
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© Vincent Leroux
© ilyafoodstories
© Sylvie Becquet
11 PHOTOS
Chef
Arnaud Donckele
Cooking
French | Gastronomic | Signature cuisine
Style
Elegant | Romantic
Price Indicative price per person (excl. drinks)
445 € to 480 €

Gault&Millau's review

19/20
Exceptional Restaurant This is Paris, the most beautiful city in the world. Cheval Blanc Saint-Tropez is fire and sun shining on the Côte d'Azur, in a festive and prestigious environment. Cheval Blanc Paris is all about Plenitude. There, the privateers, the barnum to be rebuilt every day, the daily challenge to seduce a clientele that may be relaxed, but has the highest standards. Here, it's Plénitude, a form of wisdom that rhymes with zenitude. Arnaud Donckele has learned to master both worlds. Downstairs, he's a warrior, upstairs a sphinx, a Buddha. Diners and chefs alike know why they're here. The view of the Pont-Neuf, the heart of Paris, the serene luxury, all combine to make the evening feel like a dream. There's the rock, here the waltz, the lightness, the pizzicato, the elegance of perfectly-tuned service, in absolutely chic outfits. And the sauces, those great sauces, which underline and underpin superb dishes presented with majesty and sobriety. The fennel-taget sardine is wrapped in "Eden velvet", escabeche fumet with lambrusco vinegar, bonito, lemon juice, Callas mustard, fennel brunoise, maniguette, the yuzu-scented sauce working a sudden miracle on the tuna ventrèche set in counterpoint... Each preparation is as magical as Asterix's potion, the result of the chef's prodigious imagination and athanor: just when you think you know all there is to know about red mullet, he comes up with another "sea woodcock", very ballsy, very rocky and yet unique, with its boulangère apples, its "rocky fault tannin" on a merlot fumet, a sabayon of vegetables, fennel, star anise, and the saffron delicacy of crocus flowers. And when a new dish appears, it's because the thirty or so previous experiments have been conclusive, as with this incredibly melt-in-the-mouth pork belly, with its "silky braise" of pig's trotter, palette broth with Albarino white wine, shallot reduction with sherry vinegar, gazpacho in concentration of grilled tomato, smoked anchovy, candied bell pepper, sweet pepper brunoise, marjoram oil, Espelette pepper, and the list goes on. So much so that, after lapping up the sauce, it's hardly surprising to see the orchestra's eighty violins unfurling to applause. However, there's no question of overlooking Maxime Frédéric's creations, as in tune as ever with a chef as Norman as himself, in the creative subtlety of rhubarb (a magnificent "child's elixir" with caramelized rhubarb water, vanilla and Muscat de Beaumes de Venise) or raspberry, an emulsion of raw chocolate beans, roasted beans and raspberry sorbet. Emmanuel Cadieu, the head sommelier in charge of everything liquid in the house, has now drawn up two menus, one for wine, the other for non-alcoholic products (tea, kefir, kombucha, mocktails...), showing everywhere erudition and depth. All the great vintages, the well-known, the cutting-edge, the indispensable, the incredible and the marvelous, are here.
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Address 8 Quai du Louvre
75001 Paris
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People
  • Arnaud Donckele
    Arnaud Donckele Chef
    Arnaud Donckele Arnaud Donckele Chef
  • Maxime Frédéric
    Maxime Frédéric Pastry Chef
    Maxime Frédéric Maxime Frédéric Pastry Chef
  • Alexandre Larvoir
    Alexandre Larvoir Chef de service
    Alexandre Larvoir Alexandre Larvoir Chef de service
  • Emmanuel Cadieu
    Emmanuel Cadieu Head sommelier
    Emmanuel Cadieu Emmanuel Cadieu Head sommelier