Overall Impression Le Bristol’s elegant dining room, well trained staff and delicious dishes made it a natural for a return visit. In addition to Chef Eric Frechon’s creations, the dining room was elegant and inviting, and the wine menu offered many affordable and desirable choices. With 80 staff members in the kitchen and another 13 in the dining room, we wanted for nothing. We appreciated the wine steward’s selections (from wine cellars of more than 30,000 bottles) and the pastry chef’s talents which provided a worthy ending to a well prepared lunch. Favorites included the scrumptious varied pre-appetizers and delicately flavored turbot and oxtail, with steamed fois gras enveloped in cabbage leaves, main courses.
Assistant Chefs Arnaud Bignon, Fabien Caboy, Yannick Franques and Franck Leroy
Executive Chef Eric Frechon
Handicapped Access there was wheel chair access
Head Sommelier Jérôme Moreau (Estelle Touzet assisted us during our visit)
Location in the lobby of Le Bristol hotel
Owned Oetker Hotels Group (Dr. August Oetker)
Pastry Chef : Gilles Marchal, a Lorraine born pastry chef who joined Le Bristol team in 1999. Prior to joining Le Bristol he worked as pastry chef at Jean Bardet, Chateauroux, small cakes and desserts department manager at Monsier Pit Oberweise in Luxembourg, assistant pastry chef at the Hotel du Crillon, pastry chef at the Prunier Traktir restaurant, and pastry chef at the Plaza Athénée. He teaches sweet culinary art at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Patisserie at the Chateau de Montbarnier at Yssingeaux. His first book Fraise was published in October 2003 (Les éditions Agnés Vienot)
Restaurant Director Raphaël Courant
Size Seats 50
Type Of Restaurant Modern French
About The Executive Chef In charge of the Le Bristol’s kitchen since 1999, Normandy born chef Frechon was awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France title at the young age of 36 (in 1993). He began his career as commis chef at La Grande Cascade Restaurant in Paris . He worked at Le Bristol (1981-83) and Taillevent (1983-85) in Paris and then in Spain at the Hotel Byblos Andaluz (1985-88). Upon his return to Paris he worked at the Tour d’Argent and Les Ambassadeurs restaurant (Hotel du Crillon). By 1995 he had opened his own restaurant, La Verriére d’Eric Frechon. His style of cooking emphasizes France ’s changing culinary culture.
DÉCor-Ambiance : The Winter Restaurant, where we had lunch, is usually open October 1st to April 30th. The oval shaped room, formerly a private theater, featured 18th century decor, with six Baccarat chandeliers, a noteworthy 18th century tapestry from Manufacture de Lille, Hungary wood panels walls, and a gold leaf ceiling.
Cellars Wine And Alcoholic Beverage Selection there were 30,000 bottles from over 1,000 estates and châteaux (wine producing castles) in temperature controlled storage. Collectable items included a bottle of champagne from 1865 that was found during the Liberation of Paris and now kept as a memento, a Château Petrus 1959 and a Mouton Rotshild 1958.
Meal We began our lunch with well chilled Laurent Perrier non-vintage rose champagne. Shortly after we sat down , the servers brought delicious finger food p re-appetizers, bite size morsels of breaded mussel, cod balls, tiny tomato tarts, potato crisps with cheese and a cheese filled crunchy “cigarette.” After they took our order we chatted in the comfortable dining room where we had ample space in between tables for private discussion. Our carefully selected appetizers arrived a few minutes later: chilled sea urchin, langoustine with coriander and lemongrass seasoning and a langoustine head sauce, fois gras and truffle cannelloni.
Special Menus Grande Carte, changed every quarter to offer seasonal products. There was also a Menu de Saison changed every three weeks for 70 euros excluding beverages.
Other : During the winter (October through April) the restaurant is at the wood paneled Regency oak room. The remainder of the year it is housed in the canopy glasshouse surrounding the magnolia gardens. The china, linen and silver were custom made. A children’s menu was available on request .
Date Of Review December 2004
Service Service staff were vigilant and efficient. Hardly any time passed before our glasses were filled, our bread replaced, or a minor order mishap was rectified.
Would You Dine There Again-Recommend It? Yes
