Rating impossible, Les Ambassadeurs, 10, place de la Concorde (thus in the Crillon), 01.44.71.16.16, closed Sundays and Mondays, is one of those iconographic places that has seen the comings and goings of so many famous chefs, some for short and others for longer stays - Bonin, Constant, Bouchet and Piege - and has had Christophe Hache at the helm for about a year we figure; Hache himself went through the houses of Briffard, Senderens and Frechon picking up some of the folks who staff the kitchen and salle now, many of whom my eating companions knew well.
Three of us ordered exactly the same choices on the summer lunch menu (at 68 E.) usually a major error but probably not a bad idea here. However, we had so many extras along the way, six if I'm counting correctly, it hardly seems worth describing each dish, from the first raddish in cibolette to the last chocolate, so instead here's a gallery of photos:
Everything was very good but the standout items (by me) were the chunk of room temperature sashimi-quality salmon with broccoli & cauliflower emulsions/mousses/concoctions and the most delicate/tasty/moist pintade I've ever had with teeny tiny small wild mushrooms and petit pois.
Our bill, with one, count it 1, glass of champagne, a bottle of "mystery" wine (which the wine expert among us guessed the origin of within 100 km I figure), 2 Chateldons and three expressos was - ah here we return to J.P. Morgan's or at least his apocryphal reply to the inquiry about the cost of maintaining one of his (many) yachts - *"If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it." But I'm a blabber-mouth so I'll blab - 348 E for three, thus 216 E a couple.
Go? OK, it's an experience not a meal. An evening at the ballet is 138 E, a R/T TGV to Geneva 172 E and a primo match at Wimbledon 100 pounds. Has to be done every decade especially if others pay.
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