Le Laurent

Overall impression : At this traditional French restaurant, we heard magic words from the chef. The precious setting, the marvelous location just off the Champs Elysees , the eager and attentive staff, the eminently French clientele, the knowledgeable wine stewards and the succulent dishes made Le Laurent a great find.  

A well balanced menu offered seafood and landlubber options including wonderfully prepared French specialties such as pig’s feet and wild hare. These dishes with character were certainly for adventurous epicureans. Although we were a bit intimidated at first, we chose some of the bolder menu options and were pleased with our selections.

We encountered a local business crowd of bankers, radio and television personalities and executives in this historic building dating back to the 1800’s. Though servers struggled to accommodate us in English, they were welcoming, helpful, compliant and vigilant whenever we needed them. We were impressed to hear serving and kitchen staff monitored the preferences and styles of regulars and first time diners. The chef’s magic words? “The customer is king. We go out of our way to please our guests. We cook for their pleasure.”   And so it was during our meal. Until we meet again, we propose a toast to the chef and staff!    

Location:   on a small side street just off the Champs Elysees in the tony 8 ^th arrondisement

Established/renovated: in the early 1800s and most recently renovated in 2001

Owned:   the building is owned by the City of Paris and leased by a private company, Société Européenne des Grands Restaurants, S.E.G.R.

Director: Philippe Bourguignon who has held positions of wine steward and chef, main butler and director at different times in his career. In 1978, he was recognized as “ Meilleur Sommelier de France 197 8” (best wine steward of France ). A member of the French Wine Academy , he is the author of several books including “ L’Accord Parfait ”

Executive chef:   Alain Pégouret

About the executive chef: Prior to joining Le Laurent, chef Pégouret worked at the Hotel Nikko, Jamin with Joel Robuchon, Les Ambassadeurs at the famous Hotel de Crillon and Le Violin d’Ingres.  

Assistant chefs: Daniel Frandin and Thierry Piriou

Pastry chef : Grégorie Sermon

Head Sommelier:   Patrick Lair

Head Butler : Bernard Trouchaud   

Décor/ambiance :   the building was a Louis XIV pavilion redesigned by the German architect of the Champs Elysées, Jacques-Ignace Hittorff . The decorative style when we visited was Directoire.

Major renovation was done by the architect Le Maresquier, and the new interior decoration was undertaken by Gérard Gallet and Anthony Little.

Handicapped access:   Le Laurent was able to welcome handicapped guests in the main dining room on the ground floor (without any stairs). Bathrooms were not adapted for wheelchairs.

Size: the terrace seated 150 and the main dining room 110

Cellars, wine and alcoholic beverage selection:   Diners had 30,000 bottles of wine to choose from with the assistance of the able steward.

Meal : Champagne and marvelous smoked fish amouse bouche were followed by delicately flavored scallop and cucumber ( Saint-jacques marinées dans un lait crémexu au gout fume, folichonne de concombre et radis noir ) and crab ( Araignée de mer dans ses sucs en gelée de cepes, champignos verjutés ) starters.

Next we enjoyed hearty and tasty breaded and fried de-boned pig’s feet with mashed potatoes ( Friands de pied de porc croustillants, purée de pommes de terre ), duck liver ( Canard et foie gras cuits aux quatre épices en fine gelée de cepes, champignons verjutés ); and heady wild hare ( Lievre a la royale et rable rote au genievre, tagliatelles ), which included rare portions of meat as well as slow cooked skin and blood sauce with purple onion and butter flavored tagliatele (a perfect contrast to the strong hare flavors). A course of sharp aged (our request) cheeses accompanied us on our journey to dessert.   We were unprepared for the masterful combination of dessert flavors including a chocolate and cardamom ice cream and a knock-your-socks-off chocolate pastry with cocoa sorbet and cardamom flavoring. Coffee and mignardise (post dessert sweets) completed a memorable meal.

Service: Staff were willing and vigilant. We wanted for nothing during our meal.

Special menus: A four-course lunch and dinner Menu du Pavillon was a good value at 70 euros. There was also a seasonal (autumn when we were there) five-course set menu for 150 euros per person; to select that option everyone at the table had to order that menu. We also thought that was a good value since it included three main courses, two seafood and one game. There were also fixed price menu choices for 110, 130 and 200 euros.

Languages spoken:   French, some English and Italian

Other:   Le Laurent was named for one of its former owners a Mr. Laurent. There were five private dining rooms with seating ranging from six to 60.

Would you dine there again/recommend it?   Yes

Date of review:   December 2004