Guy Savoy

The dining room is modern, split into several smaller areas each with a handful of tables. Service was faultless, and we even had a waiter, Gregory, who we used to know from Chez Nico in London. A nibble of duck liver pate “club sandwich” was excellent (18/20), while a further amuse-bouche of carpaccio of tuna and deep fried mushroom kebab was also excellent (18/20), while yet another of carrot soup was good but had too much aniseed for me (16/20).

We were able to have half-sized portion of starters (and could have done the same with most main courses) which is a great way to try more things.  A pumpkin soup had excellent intensity, cooked with a little black truffle (18/20). Even better was a simple risotto served with white truffles from Alba grated at the table (19/20).

Their signature dish is artichoke soup with black truffle and parmesan, served with brioche stuffed with wild mushrooms and covered with truffle butter – the soup had lovely flavour and was well balanced: the bread was a fine foil to the dish (19/20). Bresse chicken was nicely cooked, served just with strips of fennel (17/20) while sea bass was served with salsify, with a vanilla sauce and some rather tasteless shiitake mushrooms (17/20).

Cheese was excellent, a wide selection in excellent condition (19/20). My dessert was very fine: apple was pureed and served in a glass dish, on top of which was fine green apple sorbet, with cubes of cooked apples around the side (20/20). My wife had pear sorbet, caramel ice cream, vanilla ice cream and a chocolate ice cream, which were all very good (18/20). Coffee was superb: strong and dark, offered with raisins with chocolate in filo pastry, as well as a rose tuile, a little chocolate cake and wafers and finally a sliver of apple pie (19/20).

The wine list was sadly of the usual high-end Paris mark-ups, and the bill soon mounts up, with water at EUR 8 a bottle and a glass of champagne at EUR 22 a glass. For two the bill was EUR 560, though admittedly we had pre-dinner drinks and a EUR 80 bottle of Pinot Gris that was one of the cheapest wines on the list. Overall excellent, but costly.

Further reviews: 10th Apr 2018 | 22nd Mar 2013