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Where to go and where to stay
Gordon Ramsay © Editions Quadrille
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| As a food and travel writer, I’m more accustomed to being a critic than a referee, but after the pummeling that three-star London chef Gordon Ramsay has gotten in the French press for his two new restaurants at the Westin Hôtel Trianon Palace, I must step into the ring. Why? Because the contemporary European cooking served up at Gordon Ramsay au Trianon Palace and the brasserie La Véranda is much, much better than the tar-and-feather reviews would have you believe. If I were doling out stars, I’d give him one for his haute cuisine and recommend the brasserie as a perfect place for lunch when visiting Versailles, especially in summer when meals are served in a lovely garden.
Why did Ramsay get such a drubbing? Cocky talk about expecting to get three stars in France just as he had in London played poorly in Paris, as did a lot of crowing about an Englishman taking over Versailles. The service was prissy and flawed for the first month, and many habitués of the hotel’s former three-star restaurant Les Trois Marches were shocked to discover that the new haute restaurant had no garden view. The pretty boutique dining room faces the bar across the corridor, while the new brasserie gets the greenery instead.
The wrong-footed start aside, I very much enjoyed a €150 tasting menu that began with grilled foie gras with white asparagus in a cabernet jus and continued with a disappointing dish—sautéed scallops on rubbery octopus carpaccio—before finding its cruising speed. Roast turbot with coriander pasta and citrus sauce was delicious, as was a tiny, impeccably cooked rack of lamb with Provençal vegetables. Desserts were rather over-the-top and gaudy—metallic foils have no place at the table in my opinion—but overall it was an excellent meal. I predict the French press will eventually come to a revisionist view.
1 blvd de la Reine, 01.30.84.50.00. Gordon Ramsay tasting menu, €150, à la carte €200; La Véranda, €35
—Alexander Lobrano |
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More than any other, the 8th arrondissement is home to a never-ending succession of flash-in-the-pan fashion tables where the decor and crowd count for more than the cuisine. L’Arome, replacing a defunct see-and-be-seen Moroccan restaurant, offers lounge-bar vibes and warm, friendly service, but most importantly it delights with the sweet smell of a successful kitchen. Chef Thomas Boullault has a passion for the best quality seasonal produce—vegetables from Joël Thiébault, for example—and the signature of his delicious contemporary French cooking is the way he uses contrasting tones of acidity to create dishes that are light and bright. Boullault uses dairy products sparingly and treats oils as condiments, a calorie-wise approach that makes this pleasant restaurant a hit with professionals at noon and a lively mix of locals and international visitors in the evening. Dishes that show off his style include a delicious warm salad of baby squid, baby beets and onions, and foie gras with Corsican clementines and fresh mint. Main courses are similarly fresh and vivid, including veal cheeks with yuzu (Japanese lemon), lemon grass and Brussels sprouts, and roast lamb with bulgur wheat pilaf, green olives and Moroccan argan oil. Desserts, including Boullault’s terrific take on crêpes Suzette and sautéed bananas with passion fruit juice and coconut ice cream are wonderful, too.
3 rue St Philippe du Roule, 8th, 01.42.25.55.98. €35.
—Alexander Lobrano |
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| There are many reasons why I love the Massif Central, the mountainous center of France, including the beauty of the Aubrac, the charm of Le Puy de Dôme, and the stunningly beautiful Viaduc de Millau, the soaring bridge designed by Sir Norman Foster. The newest one, however, is Chez Camillou, an almost shockingly good restaurant in tiny Aumont-Aubrac (population 1000). Recommended to me by an elegant saleswoman in a shop in nearby Millau, the glovemaking capital of France, Camillou is an imposing gray stone hotel-restaurant, but the interior is a surprise, with sleek ivory decor as stylish as anything in New York or London. The decor, of course, wasn’t what interested me, and in fact it even worried me a bit (was that the reason the saleswoman had sent me here?) until my first course arrived—a coddled egg with a warm emerald-green sauce of nettles and crumbly cheese biscuits. Rustic but also discreetly sophisticated, it was delicious, as was the grilled foie gras in a sublime sauce of pureed quince; “pasta” (long, lightly poached ribbons of celery root) with wild mushrooms and country ham; a tender saddle of rabbit with a side dish of aligot (potatoes whipped with garlic and cheese curd); and an excellent chocolate mousse with fresh berries. I could hardly believe my good luck, and the lunch menu was only €25. Thirty-four-year-old chef Cyril Attrazic is the third generation of his family to cook in the same kitchen; after the meal, when I marveled at the way he managed to create a modern menu that was still deeply rooted in his terroir, he replied, “Good cuisine is signed by both the chef and his region.” A pretty fair definition of the best of modern French cooking.
10 route de Languedoc, 04.66.42.86.14. Lunch menu €25.
—Alexander Lobrano |
Domaine du Colombier © C. Grilhé
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The whole world may have discovered the Luberon valley east of Avignon, but the pretty, quiet Drôme Provençale remains the south of France at its most wonderfully confidential. This southernmost area of the Rhône-Alpes region is a land of vineyards, lavender fields and olive trees. The delightful town of Nyons produces some of the best olive oil in France, and Montélimar is best known for its famous nougat, soft almond-studded candy. Among the Drôme’s most appealing villages, along with Grignan and Dieulefit, Malataverne is an ideal stopover on a drive between Paris and the Riviera, and the delightful Domaine du Colombier is the perfect base. Not only are the hotel’s handsome Provençal-style rooms reasonably priced, but the young chefs who run its restaurant, Julien Gleize and Cyril Fressac, are rising stars who more than merit a detour. I stopped by for their good-value €29 lunch menu and enjoyed a delicious and original parsnip bouillon with chestnuts and tiny ravioli stuffed with oxtail and tomato; a perfectly cooked filet of marbré (striped sea bream) with spelt risotto; and a sublime rhubarb tart. The seasonal menu is more expensive at dinner, but portions are so copious that, if you’re two, you can easily order just a main course—maybe John Dory with baby artichokes, tomatoes and clams in a light lemongrass sauce, or the Charolais beef with sweet potatoes and spinach in a jus of Châteauneuf du Pape, and then split a dessert or cheese afterwards. There’s a nice selection of reasonably priced regional wines, and a terrace for outdoor dining when weather permits.
Route de Donzère, 04.75.90.86.86. Lunch menu €29, dinner menu €58. |
Hotel Windsor
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| Hotels billed as ‘design experiences’ often turn out to be rather soulless affairs, but Nice’s Hôtel Windsor—only a few blocks back from the Promenade des Anglais on the stunning Baie des Anges—is full of eccentric charm. The majority of the rooms are decorated with murals or one-off works by contemporary artists including Raymond Hains, Jean Le Gac and Ben. Intrigued by the concept of actually sleeping in an artwork, I considered Claudio Parmiggiani’s minimalist gold cube, Palestine Charlemagne’s kitsch “Alter Room”, dedicated to both Babar and the Indian elephant divinity Ganesh, but finally plumped for something less conceptually challenging: François Morelet’s “Rayon de Sommeil”, a delightful white-on-white room in which an errant yellow sunbeam (or “sleep beam”) ricochets off floor and walls. In summer you can breakfast in the garden amid tropical palms. Until the end of March, there’s a special “pampering package” which includes a massage, sauna and access to the Windsor’s quirky attic steam room.
11 rue Dalpozzo, 04.93.88.59.35. “Forfait bien-être” €80 per person sharing double room. Doubles from €90 low season (Nov 1-Mar 20), €120 high season (Mar 21-Oct 31.) www.hotelwindsornice.com.
— Julie Street |
© Brise Marine Hotel
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| Brise Marine, an ochre Italianate villa set back on a hill above the narrow road that winds around the Cap Ferrat, is an easy-going family-run 18-room hotel surrounded by lush terraced grounds planted with bougainvillea, palms and olive trees—a surprising, low-key hideout in one of the most glamorous locations on the Côte d’Azur. The rooms may be sparsely furnished but all are air-conditioned and have satellite TV and minibars. My favorite is the spacious rose-walled room 10, which has a sweeping sea view from a huge, curved terrace with old-fashioned sky-blue balustrades. Prices vary according to size—rooms 3, 16, and 18 also have terraces—but all are astonishingly good value in this superwealthy enclave. After a copious Continental breakfast (a large basket of flaky croissants, pains au chocolat and freshly squeezed orange juice) served on the garden patio, wander down to La Paloma beach, a lovely pebbled cove only a 5-minute stroll away.
58 ave Jean Mermoz, 04.93.76.04.36. Doubles from €150. www.hotel-brisemarine.com
— Lanie Goodman |
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