You can’t beat Le Bristol. This hotel is the epitome of Parisian elegance, renowned for exceptional accommodation, fantastic facilities, exquisite decor and the very best French dining. The main restaurant Epicure has three stars while the more casual brasserie-style eatery 114 Faubourg holds one star.
On a Saturday evening we arrived at 114 excited to taste the cuisine, the grand opulent room was full and busy, waiters frantically trying to attend to every table. Despite its prestigious accolades, 114 Faubourg retains a jovial relaxed atmosphere which I really appreciated. There’s something rather horrible about eating fine food in silence.
The menu is varied and tempting, well balanced dishes with indulgent ingredients. A 52 Euro set lunch offers a choice of two options per course, I can imagine there are lots of gossiping ladies who love taking advantage of this reasonable deal. After a much needed glass of champagne and some melt-in-the-mouth cheese twists, warm bread and fresh butter arrived and we tried hard to resist it in preparation for the courses ahead.
To start we chose the platter of Bellota Bellota cured ham with tomato on bread, and the pan fried langoustine ravioli with Sichuan pepper, coconut and lime emulsion. Both were beautifully presented: a generous and rich pile of ham was perfectly complemented by the crusty bread and the ravioli was a delightfully light and exotic dish topped with foam and specks of lime and pepper, it looked like a contemporary work of art. For main, we opted for the Matured beef rib-eye with grenaille potatoes to share. This whopping great dish took a while to arrive, understandably when you consider the size. The great hunk of meat arrived on a wooden board with its very own waiter and a whole tray of sides to accompany. It was a beautiful cut, perfectly marbled with a smooth almost velvety texture. The crispy potatoes were good, but it was the creamed mash and bearnaise sauce that really thrilled us, deliciously decadent. The feast of steak was overwhelming, impossible to finish, but too good to leave… I began to feel quite stressed about the dilemma, to continue eating or not?
Considering we had dessert on the way, the speciality Bourbon vanille millefeuille and pistachio ice cream with strawberries and meringue, to be precise, we set aside the steak to prepare for pudding. As we were a late sitting we had spent the majority of our meal eyeing up the neighbouring tables’ choices, deciding on our desserts well before we needed to. Pistachio ice-cream arrived in a bubbling pot of dry ice, topped with ruby red strawberries and crushed meringue, a magical looking dish which had a delicious and nutty flavour. The millefeuille is a delicate and classic French dessert, at Le Bristol they add a touch of devilishly sweet salty caramel. Immaculately assembled by the talented pastry chef, the flavour and texture was sublime.
Miniature truffles were packaged up for our taxi ride home and we waved goodbye to the exhausted staff at Le Bristol. This hotel is the definition of Paris…a place of perfect sophistication, style and romance.
More information here: www.lebristolparis.com/fr/restaurants-et-bars/114-faubourg/