Celebrating Le Bristol hotel in Paris
A hero of French cooking celebrates a series of star-studded birthdays
In the febrile world of Parisian haute cuisine, to win and then hold on to three Michelin stars for a decade at the same location is an achievement worth celebrating, with an elaborate supper at the very least. Head chef Eric Frechon joined Le Bristol, the exceptionally chic luxury hotel on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, in 1999, and was immediately awarded a star for his cooking. The second came in 2001, the third in 2009. The restaurant he commands, Epicure, is renowned as among the very finest in the city: a place of gastronomic pilgrimage. Frechon holds a fourth star, for his onsite “brasserie de luxe”, 114 Faubourg, making Le Bristol the most celestial hotel in Paris.
All of which makes it sound as if the food is the only reason for visiting. It isn’t. Le Bristol, which opened in 1925 in an aristocratic 18thcentury mansion in the eighth arrondissement, close to the Élysée Palace, takes as its mantra “l’art du vivre”, the peculiarly French art of living well. It will come as news to no one that Paris is home to an embarrassment of awe-inspiring luxury hotels: “palace” hotels, as they are known. Which one you choose as your home from home in the French capital will depend on a multitude of factors, but if you settle on Le Bristol, you’ll have chosen well.
The rooms and suites are stylish, comfortable and just the right side of grand; for all the glowing marble and the hushed air of exclusivity, there is an appealing cosiness about Le Bristol. The house cat, Fa-Raon, a handsome white Birman (the same rarefied breed as the late Karl Lagerfeld’s much-loved puss, Choupette) who has his own suite next door to the concierge desk, is permitted to preen and put on airs, but everyone else is uncharacteristically unassuming. Le Bristol has sheltered countless notables over the decades, from Charlie Chaplin and Henry Kissinger to George Clooney and David Beckham. But the glamour is low-key, rather than emphatic.
The top-floor swimming pool offers splendid views over those famous Mansard roofs. The bar is snug and forgivingly low-lit. And on a fine day, there is no better place in Paris to sit outside with a bottle on ice than the elegant courtyard garden. There is, of course,
a spoiling spa and a well-equipped gym.
But back to that elaborate anniversary supper: it’s an eight-course tasting menu consisting of all of Frechon’s signature dishes, including caviar from Sologne, mousseline potatoes and smoked haddock; gratinéed stuffed macaroni with black truffle, artichoke and duck foie gras; and the spectacular Bresse farm hen poached with wine, crayfish, sweet offal and black truffle. And if the large portrait of Marie-Antoinette overlooking Café Antonia, the most relaxed restaurant on the premises, has anything to say about it, you may also be allowed cake.
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Le Bristol Paris, 112 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, +33 1 5343 430; Epicure restaurant, +33 1 5343 4340; epicure@oetkercollection.com