tour d'argent owner

The Earful Tower

Paris and France by Oliver Gee

Tour d’Argent: The iconic Paris restaurant in 7 intriguing figures

We’ve just had lunch at the iconic Paris restaurant, the Tour d’Argent. In short: It was the best dining experience I’ve ever had. And the new renovation job is excellent.

It was a four-course Michelin meal with a view over the Seine, the Notre Dame, and the rooftops of Paris. And it was two-and-a-half hours in Parisian heaven.

We’ve collected seven intriguing facts and figures about the restaurant, which are compiled below with some practical details for your own potential visit.

The Earful Tower podcast episode

In this episode, Lina and I will take you inside the famed restaurant and you’ll hear our thoughts as we dine.

We also discuss our thoughts on the renovation job from 2022/2023. Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts, and scroll down for the facts about the restaurant.

1) 1582: The year the Tour d’Argent was built

The first incarnation of la Tour d’Argent opened in 1582 as an inn on the ground floor. The Tour d’Argent, meaning “the Silver Tower”, takes its name from from the glistening champenoise stone with which it was originally built.

In the 16th century, the restaurant catered toward royalty, aristocrats and nobility, providing a safe place for the elite to dine. Many Kings of France dined at the Tour d’Argent and legend has it was here that King Henry III first discovered a fork, which was at the time the latest sensation from Italy.

2) 1936: The year the Tour d’Argent moved upstairs

In 1922, owner André Terrail purchased and merged buildings 15 and 17 on Quai de la Tournelle, which allowed him to add a new top floor. And so it was in 1936 that the restaurant shifted from the ground floor to the top, allowing a more contemporary design including those enormous bay windows for panoramic Paris views.

3) 16: Total months for the new renovation

From April 2022 to August 2023 the Tour d’Argent had an extensive renovation. The project, led by interior designer Franklin Azzi, brought the restaurant into the 21st century.

The designers added a metallic, “kinetic ceiling”, a carpet inspired by the Seine, and expanded the kitchen into the dining room.

Artist Antoine Carbonne added a modern fresco he called “Perle”, which depicts a medieval-inspired map of Paris that blurs the lines between fantasy and history.

Down on the ground floor, where the original Tour d’Argent was located, is the Bar des Maillets d’Argent. Cafe by day and cocktail bar by night, the bar’s 1930s design pays homage to the last years the Tour d’Argent was located here. Perched on the very top floor is the Tour d’Argent’s bar Le Toit de la Tour , which is a reservation-only rooftop bar .

4) 1,179,385: The number of the duck we had

In 1890 Frédéric Delair codified the recipe for canard au sang (pressed duck), which specified preparation, sauce and service. To maintain the recipe’s longevity he decided to start numbering the ducks served. To this day, the restaurant gives clients an embossed card recording which number duck they received. We shared duck number 1,179,385.

5) 300,000: The number of wine bottles in the cellar

The Tour d’Argent is famous for having one of the largest wine collections in the world. The cellar, guarded around the clock, contains more than 300,000 bottles – with some of the bottles dating back to the 18th century. Of those wines, about 15,000 are offered to diners in the 5kg, 400-page “anthology wine bible”.

Safe to say, we’re not wine connoisseurs. When we spoke about the wine list on the podcast, we admitted to being “first pagers”, and were more than happy to go with the recommendations of the sommelier.

6) €150: Cost for one lunch at the Tour d’Argent

There is certainly a sliding scales of prices at the Tour d’Argent. For €150 (160USD and 250AUD) per person, you can have the four-course lunch (drinks not included). On the other end of the scale is the nine course tasting menu for dinner priced at €1,582 (1,680USD and 2650AUD).

Our four course lunch included scallops, sea bass, roasted duckling, and clementine meringue ( see the November menu here ). Quite simply: It was the best dining experience of my life. Pure excellence from chef Yannick Franques. You can hear more about the food in the podcast episode.

7) 1: The number of Michelin stars for the Tour d’Argent

The Tour d’Argent was once the proud owner of 3 Michelin stars, but lost one in 1996, and another in 2006. In recent years they have been on a mission to reclaim their stars.

Practical details for the Tour d’Argent

• Tour d’Argent address : 15 Quai de la Tournelle, 75005 Paris
• Peruse the menu here.
• Book a table here . 

Here’s The Earful Tower’s podcast episode again in case you missed it, with new episodes every Monday. The next one will be all about “U is for…”. You’ll have to tune in next week to find out what it is.

Do you like The Earful Tower? Become a Patreon member of The Earful Tower  here  to support this show and get extras (this week including some extra pictures from the restaurant).

Want to do a tour? Get in touch on The Earful Tower’s social media or book directly here . The music in this episode is from Pres Maxson, find his Substack here .

Interested in finding more fine-dining restaurants? Here is a list of six classic restaurants on the left bank .

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Tour d'Argent owner dies after 60 years at the top

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Claude Terrail, the owner of the Tour d'Argent in Paris, one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world, has died at the age of 88.

In almost 60 years at the restaurant, famed for its view of Notre Dame cathedral and a century-old recipe for "bloody duck", M. Terrail welcomed customers including the Queen, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill and John Wayne.

In recent years, the reputation of the 400-year-old restaurant has suffered from the loss of two of its three stars in the Michelin guide. Nonetheless, La Tour d'Argent - overlooking the left bank of the Seine beside Notre Dame - remained one of the most sought-after in the world for lunch or dinner reservations.

The restaurant numbered every "bloody duck" ordered and passed the one million mark three years ago. The secret recipe calls, it is said, for the duck to be suffocated and its carcass squeezed dry.

M. Terrail nominally ceded control to his son, André in 2003, but remained the power behind the Tour d'Argent, eating lunch and dinner there every day. The restaurant's demotion in 1995 from the ranks of Michelin "three star" restaurants after 51 years, caused shock in the French culinary establishment. Critics blamed M. Terrail's rigidity and failure to move with the times. M. Terrail retorted that the restaurant had not "lost a single booking" by losing its status. A second star was removed in this year's guide.

Among the many legends and stories associated with the Tour d'Argent is the suggestion that the fork was "discovered" there in the 1580s. King Henry III of France is said to have seen two Italian diners using pronged instruments at the Tour d'Argent and ordered them for the royal court.

M. Terrail is said to have saved part of the restaurant's wine cellar from the German occupiers of Paris in 1940 by bricking the best bottles behind a false wall.

The restaurant's reputation as a favourite with Hollywood stars was created partly by M. Terrail's first marriage to Barbara Warner of the Warner Brothers film-making family.

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Interview: David Ridgway, La Tour d’Argent

Words by Barnaby Eales

Photography by Thomas Renaut

David Ridgway, head sommelier and wine buyer at La Tour d’Argent in Paris, has spent more than 35 years transforming the legendary restaurant’s cellar into a veritable library of the finest French wines.

Home to 300,000 bottles, the cellar includes up to 40 vintages of the greatest wines of France. Prices range from €60 for entry-level wines to €20,000 for wines like 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and 1982 Pétrus. The rarest and most expensive wines, held on the cellar’s first floor, are protected by wrought iron gates and walls reinforced with battleship-grade steel.

The cellar temperature is controlled to within half a degree: 13 ° C in summer and 11.5 ° C in winter, allowing wines to mature at the optimal rate, and providing Ridgway (whose office is in the centre of the cellar) with the cool head he needs for making decisions on his annual wine buying budget of €1m.

You once described La Tour d’Argent’s cellar as a paradise of wine, saying you would never wish to work elsewhere. What have you enjoyed most about your 38 years there?

There is the beauty of tasting the finest wines on earth, of tasting the wines that you have laid down for 15 or 20 years. I have tasted the last 40 vintages of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti . They imbue you with a unique feeling of wellbeing; they transport you to a higher plain. At vineyards in Burgundy and elsewhere, I have developed relationships with three generations of vintners.

Earning the respect of customers and winemakers is very rewarding, as is the constant sharing of opinions with chefs at the restaurant. This combination, together with the exceptional view of the Seine and Notre Dame, has created a unique atmosphere at La Tour d’Argent.

You expanded La Tour d’Argent’s wine list from 100 pages with 1,000 wines in 1981, to today’s 400 pages with 15,000 wines. How have buying decisions changed of late?

I like to spend money. It is always been a bit of a problem, discussing budgets with the accountants and the restaurant owner, but now we are buying less as customers are drinking less. In Paris, we sell a maximum of 15,000 bottles a year in the restaurant, which, on average, represents close to a quarter of a bottle per person per meal. 75% of reservations are now for two people, many of whom order wine by the glass.

Customers now have a tendency to drink younger wines. We buy up to five or ten cases directly from about 40 to 50 producers. Buying wine on allocation from producers now means that if you don’t buy one year, the wines may not be available to buy the following year. The very high prices of the most recent Burgundy and Bordeaux vintages make buying them more difficult, but you can still find a Bruno Clair for €180 a bottle, for example, which shows how some red Burgundy can be relatively cheap, considering its rareness and quality.

What are customers at La Tour d’Argent drinking?

We are selling more red Burgundy than ever, but less white Burgundy. In the restaurant, most people ask for Burgundy, the Rhône and the Loire Valley.

Which celebrities or heads of state have you served there?

Mick Jagger, Prince, Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, to name but a few. Woody Allen has a keen interest and knowledge in wine; his taste has evolved from Bordeaux to Burgundy over time. Elton John, who ordered a bottle of Louis Roederer’s Cristal , was extremely charming. In just one week, we had a visit from Bill Clinton, who drank a 1988 Château Margaux, and from Boris Yeltsin, who drank a 1990 Chambertin Clos de Beze. Of the two, Yeltsin drank the most.

In just one week, we had a visit from Bill Clinton and from Boris Yeltsin. Of the two, Yeltsin drank the most

Some French sommeliers complain that restaurants in Paris mark up wine by as much as five or six times the buying price…

Managing prices is a difficult daily task. We try to keep prices down, but it’s hard to explain why we are selling wine cheaper than they could be sold at auction. Some customers ask to buy a case of wine to take home with them, but I know it’s not to drink themselves – it’s to sell them on at higher prices.

I gather there was an accident with an 1811 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, which was once the oldest wine in La Tour d’Argent cellar. What happened?

A cellar assistant was up a stepladder and knocked the bottle to the ground, smashing it. He didn’t  have to pay for the wine, but I had great difficulty explaining the damage to Claude Terrail [Tour d’Argent’s then owner]. The 1811 vintage from the Year of the Great Comet was known to be a wine of exceptional quality. I daren’t think what it was worth [so-called Comet Vintages occur after comets are seen and in winemaking lore are reckoned always to be exceptional: 1811 is one of the most legendary. In 2007 a bottle of 1811 Lafite fetched €36,000 at Christie’s Los Angeles].

You joined La Tour d’Argent in 1981 after moving to France from Britain .  The management initially kept it quiet that you were British. Having now lived in France longer than in Britain, do you feel more French or British?

Until now, I never really wanted to obtain French nationality. There was no need. But now [with Brexit] I am dying to do so, but it has become a very lengthy process because so many people are applying for French nationality.

The word is that you are about to retire. Is this true?

I no longer do the restaurant service – I am rather bored of people spending the whole evening on their smartphones rather than talking to each other – however, there is no date set for my retirement.

If you had to choose five favourite wines and their vintages what would they be?

The pleasure of wine lies in its diversity. Choosing wines depends on what you are eating, your mood, where you are, how you feel and the atmosphere. If I had to, I would choose reds or whites from my go-to region, such as the 1985 vintage Côte de Beaune in Burgundy. Any Champagne from the Grand Cru villages of Chouilly and Cramant, aged 10 years in the bottle, would be marvellous. As Claude Terrail always said: ‘There is no party without Champagne.’

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The Epicurean's Atlas: La Tour d’Argent

T he name translates as the Silver Tower: suitably mythical for an establishment that is not so much a restaurant as a legend. Located in Paris’ 5th arrondissement with a spectacular view of the River Seine and Notre Dame Cathedral, it is said to be one of the oldest eateries in Paris: an inn stood here from at least 1582, and France’s King Henri III was supposedly introduced to the latest technology here: a three-pronged eating implement known as a fork. Whether or not this story is true (and Henry’s queen came from Italy, where forks were already in use), it fits well with La Tour d’Argent’s reputation as a place at the forefront of gastronomic innovation. The duck press created by 19thcentury owner Frédéric Delair, along with the elaborate ritual of carving it by the table, implements flashing and the bird never touching the plate, was so successful that the dish is still on the menu. In an inspiration that may have been even cleverer than the press itself, Delair numbered every duck. Edward, Prince of Wales ordered number 328 in 1890; his great-granddaughter ate the dish in 1948 on her first official trip abroad after her wedding, four years before ascending the throne as Queen Elizabeth II. (She also tasted an 1848 port that was said to have crossed the equator five times). President Roosevelt ate number 112,151; Marlene Dietrich 203,728. The restaurant celebrated its millionth duck in 2003.

There have been other firsts: when the Michelin Guide introduced the third star to Paris in 1933, La Tour d’Argent was among the few to be honoured and held the accolade for more than half a century. Even the dining room broke the mould: owner Claude Terrail decided to build a sixth floor so his restaurant could take full advantage of its superb location, but Paris buildings were not permitted to be over five stores in 1936: Terrail had to take his case all the way to the Assemblée Nationale. His son André, owner since his father’s death in 2006, remains aspirational in every sense: in April 2022, the restaurant closed for renovations, reopening in June 2023 with, among other improvements, a brand-new seventh floor.

Today, the only sight more impressive than the majestic view may be the cellar that Englishman David Ridgway oversaw for more than 40 years, which contains upwards of 300,000 bottles. Ridgway and his successor Victor González are continuing a proud tradition: by 1867, a guide to the pleasures of Paris was noting that, at La Tour d’Argent, “one eats very well, especially if one takes the trouble to order a leg of lamb ‘à la Gasconne’ and a flask or several of Volnay or Coulanges.” Nothing has been allowed to harm this magnificent collection, not even the German invasion in 1940. Before going off to fight, Claude Terrail carefully disguised his cellar. The senior Nazi who commandeered the building never discovered its secret and the hidden wines stayed safe until the liberation.

“Here, France’s King Henry III was introduced to a three-pronged eating implement known as a fork”

The cellar is no longer bricked up, though its walls are reinforced with battleship-grade steel. The array of bottles includes multiple vintages of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (“They imbue you with a unique feeling of wellbeing; they transport you to a higher plain,” Ridgway has said of these worldfamous Burgundies). Nonetheless, the Head Sommelier has an annual buying budget of €1 million to top up supplies of wine and other beverages. Ridgway’s decades in the job meant many vignerons were the grandchildren of the proprietors he first met. It will be for González to continue those relationships and ensure that the allocations of the world’s finest and rarest wines continue to flow into the cellar by the Seine.

Whether diners choose one of La Tour d’Argent’s traditional dishes or a more modern interpretation by Yannick Franques, who has overseen the kitchen since 2019, they will be guided to the part of the wine list that gives them the most pleasure. This goes both for style and for size: the cellar features an impressive number of half-bottles, much kinder to the wine than any serving by the glass, since bottles left open can’t help but come into contact with more oxygen.

Perfection is the aim: in the décor, the menu, the staff whose quiet efficiency doesn’t prevent them from chatting or joking with customers. Nothing disturbs the calm of the dining room, unless it’s a flamboyant tableside performance, such as the deboning of that famous duck or the Left: The entrance to the building of La Tour d’Argent, located on Quai de la Tournelle, Paris. Above: A sommelier chooses from more than 300,000 bottles in the restaurant’s cellar expert flambéing of Crêpes Mademoiselle. The menu no longer features heron pâté, as it did in the 16th century, or the entire cow that the Duke of Richelieu arranged for King Louis XIV and his courtiers in the 17th century. Today’s guests are more likely to be tempted by langoustine in a yuzu bisque with smoked milk tartare, or duckling sausage with truffle juice. Nonetheless, the delicate equilibrium between tradition and innovation is maintained. The numbered duck is a fixture. There is caviar – how could there not be? – and cheeses from La Tour d’Argent’s own farm. The new roof features a Champagne bar, in accordance with Claude Terrail’s stated belief that “there is no party without Champagne.”

Dining at this restaurant, which is the pinnacle of French cuisine, may be a serious matter, but nobody at La Tour d’Argent has forgotten that eating out is also meant to be fun. After all, as Claude liked to say: “There is nothing so serious as pleasure.”

Photos by Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images, Martin Bureau/AFP via Getty Images, Alamy/HJBC

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In Paris, Two Family Affaires

By Florence Fabricant

• Jan. 26, 2010

HOW do you refresh a legend?

André Terrail, the third generation of the family that has owned La Tour d’Argent since 1910, tried one possible response in December. He auctioned off 18,000 bottles of wine and spirits, including some rarities, from the 428-year-old restaurant’s legendary cellar. At one stroke, the sale added more than 1.5 million euros (about $2,100,000) to the bottom line and brought in a global blitz of publicity.

Across the city, another third-generation heir to a beloved, long-established fixture on the high-end dining scene has a different answer. At Taillevent , near the Arc de Triomphe, Valérie Vrinat d’Indy hopes that by maintaining the style of the deluxe town-house restaurant she inherited two years ago she can ensure its future.

“In taking over these restaurants, Terrail and Vrinat are faced with the same sorts of problems — how to keep them going without compromising,” said André Daguin, president of the French hotel and restaurant association. “But they are going in opposite directions. Terrail is trying some new things and Vrinat is sticking with tradition.“

Indeed, these newly minted restaurateurs must now walk a tightrope above a flimsy net. A worldwide economic crisis cannot help places where dinner, without a sip of Champagne or a drop of grand cru wine, can easily run $250 a person or more. And tourism to Paris was down at least 10 percent in the first half of last year as terror threats, the ordeal of air travel and the strength of the euro put a damper on the fancy European dining itineraries that were once popular.

And then there is the delicate matter of Michelin. For decades both places had been three-star restaurants, but in recent years the red guides downgraded Taillevent to two stars, and La Tour d’Argent to a mere one.

Whether the demotions were justified is a matter of debate here. In the latest Zagat guide, Taillevent’s food is ranked first in the city, and in December, the critic Gilles Pudlowski named both restaurants as among the “great tables” of Paris.

“I’m still a huge fan of Taillevent, but I’ve heard other people say they don’t feel that way,” said Yves-André Istel, an international banker from New York who goes to Paris several times a year and often dines at Taillevent. “It’s the luxury, the food, and also the superb, well-priced wine list that still attract me. My Parisian friends still like to go there.”

Others, though, have more or less written off the city’s grand restaurants. “It’s still not worth the money,” said David Liederman, a former New York restaurateur and frequent visitor to Paris. “On a price-quality ratio, you eat much, much better in New York.” He said his French friends rarely went to these places, except for a special occasion.

Like Mr. Liederman, American gastrotourists, even those who visit Paris regularly and stay at the Ritz or the Bristol, seem more intent on finding the latest $30 three-course bistro in a remote neighborhood than in digging into the world-famous numbered ducks at La Tour d’Argent or the saddle of lamb at Taillevent.

Both Mr. Terrail and Ms. Vrinat say that wealthy Parisians who enjoy the culinary traditions, and the ceremony that goes with them, are there on a regular basis. Taillevent tends to attract business people while La Tour d’Argent appeals more to tourists. Both restaurateurs report that Russian moguls and South American tycoons can also be counted on to buy an old Bordeaux to drink with dinner. At dinners on a couple of evenings in early November, this reporter saw very few empty tables in either of the restaurants.

“There are still plenty of affluent people out there,” said Eric Fréchon, the executive chef at the Bristol’s restaurant, which was awarded a third Michelin star in March. “Last year was challenging, but things have now picked up,” he said. “About 90 percent of our customers at lunch are Parisians, and about 70 percent at dinner.”

Without three stars, Mr. Terrail is trying some subtle moves to adjust to the economy. Over the last year he has scaled back the days the restaurant is open and reduced the number of seats in its historic sixth-floor dining room with its magical panorama overlooking the Seine, although he said he would increase the seating if the demand were there. He said he had also passed on to customers the savings when the value-added tax, included in restaurant prices, was reduced last year. Lunch went to 65 euros from 75 euros (to about $92 from $106), and a tasting menu at dinner dropped to 160 euros from 180 (to about $227 from $255).

The wine auction, the first such sale in the restaurant’s history, suggested to some that there was ominous handwriting on the wall — though what was sold, including Cognacs from 1788 and hundred-year-old wines, represented a mere 4 percent of the restaurant’s astonishing 450,000-bottle cellar.

“There were many old, rare bottles, but also a lot of overstock we needed to sell,” said Mr. Terrail, who chose the auction items with his sommelier, David Ridgway. “And of course I’m not complaining about the money. It will permit us to increase the diversity of what we offer, and to take care of some needed repairs.”

Mr. Terrail’s father dictated his career choice. In 2003, at 23, and just out of business school at Babson College in Massachusetts, he started working at La Tour d’Argent, in the same building where he was born and raised. His father died three years later, at 88, after having run the restaurant that he inherited from his own father for 59 years.

For Taillevent as for La Tour d’Argent, it was to be expected that the next generation would keep the place going. The French treasure historic restaurants and rarely permit them to suffer the sad fate of a Lutèce or Café des Artistes in New York. When an owner retires or dies, family or an outside restaurateur can usually be counted on to step in. “Great restaurants are part of our patrimony,” Ms. Vrinat said.

A new executive chef, Stéphane Haissant, started working at La Tour d’Argent in 2003, hired by Mr. Terrail with his father’s approval. The chef is “respecting the classics yet adding his own touches to the menu,” as Mr. Terrail put it. For La Tour d’Argent, “it’s dangerous to be trendy,” he said.

Patrons would no doubt be dumbfounded if the restaurant ever stopped preparing haute cuisine classics. Though pressed duck and other duck dishes may still be the restaurant’s signature, olive-oil-poached scallops with changing seasonal garnishes might become one for Mr. Haissant.

Mr. Terrail said he was also trying to give the atmosphere a more relaxed feel. Neckties are no longer required, for instance, and he has also set up an informative Web site for the restaurant. And he believes that as long as a fine restaurant is not pretentious it can attract younger customers. “This place still means a lot to them, and the fact that I’m here helps,” he said, referring to the younger customers.

Mr. Terrail has, indeed, become a reliable presence at La Tour d’Argent, just like his commanding father, and as Jean-Claude Vrinat had been at Taillevent before he died. (Mr. Vrinat took over from his father, André, who founded Taillevent in 1946.)

Mr. Vrinat’s daughter, however, does not like to work the room. She said she is in the restaurant, but not the dining room, every day, and that her father, whose genial though exacting presence at Taillevent secured the restaurant’s reputation for finely tuned service and elegant haute cuisine, “had trouble understanding how my family was my priority.” She is 44, and married with three children.

Ms. Vrinat did not plan to work in the restaurant at all. She finally became involved in 1987, running Taillevent’s wine shop, and was instrumental in the opening of L’Angle du Faubourg, a more casual spin-off nearby. But she had not anticipated having to assume her father’s mantle so soon. He died two years ago at 71 after a seven-month battle with lung cancer.

Unlike Mr. Terrail, she is not breaking new ground. “Vrinat is holding on, letting Jean-Marie run the show, keeping the place as traditional as possible,” Mr. Daguin said. He was referring to Jean-Marie Ancher, who has been the maître d’hôtel of Taillevent for the past 30 years, and whose approach to service was always as warmly correct as that of the late Mr. Vrinat. “For now, I have postponed my retirement,” Mr. Ancher said one evening last fall.

But Ms. Vrinat is tinkering a bit around the edges. She has added wine classes led by the restaurant’s sommeliers, who open treasures from the restaurant’s cellar. She is also planning a special menu for fathers and sons on Father’s Day to attract a new generation.

The chef, Alain Soulivérès, has been in charge since the restaurant’s three-star days. His cooking, which features some Mediterranean touches, is not as creative or avant-garde as some others in Paris, but Ms. Vrinat said it’s what her customers want. “It’s about evolution, not revolution,” she said.

For Taillevent, Michelin is the elephant in the room. “It’s hard to talk about Michelin,” Ms. Vrinat said. “I walk on eggs. As a matter of fact when we lost the third star in 2007 people came to show their support for us, so there was not much impact.”

Like Ms. Vrinat, Mr. Terrail is reluctant to discuss Michelin. “Right now we only have one star,” he said. “My father was offended, wounded. But I am convinced we will come back. It’s just a question of time.”

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The heritage of elegance and excellence, passed down for four centuries. The name "Tour d'Argent" means "silver tower" in French. Its story begins in 1582, during the reign of Henri III. The restaurant's four centuries of history since then have been upheld by the passion and pride of generations of skilled artisans.

The Silver Tower on the Banks of the River Seine

Tour d'Argent Paris stands in the same location it was built more than 400 years ago. At first, it was an inn built on the banks of the River Seine, across from Île Saint-Louis. From that inn, one had a view of a majestic silver tower ("tour d'argent" in French), that was much like something straight out of a fairy tale. The tower was part of the rampart surrounding Château de la Tournelle, the King's residence while His Majesty was in Paris. The King frequently dined at this inn, and favored it so much that he granted to it the name "Hostellerie de La Tour d'Argent" and an emblem depicting the silver tower.

King Henry III Discovers the Fork

On March 4, 1582, King Henry III and a group of lords stopped by at the inn after a hunt. He noticed a group of noblemen from Florence at the next table dining in a peculiar fashion that the King had never witnessed before, using a small unfamiliar instrument. The French people at that time, whether rich or poor, normally picked up their food using their fingers. The Florentine gentlemen explained that the pointed device was a new invention that just arrived from Venice. The King was so excited with this new style of eating that he decided to introduce this custom in his court, although at first, the decision was met with much frustration because it was so troublesome. Still, the forks gradually made their way onto tables throughout France and have become an indispensable tool for a formal Western meal.

The Marriage of France's Two Culinary Giants

Tour d'Argent as we know it today derives its roots from two acclaimed restaurants in 19th century France. One was the aforementioned Tour d'Argent, and the other was restaurant Café Anglais, the stage center of epicurean and social worlds in France at the time, also known as the venue of the historic dinner of the three emperors. In 1911, the children of the then owners of these two restaurants married, and when the building of Café Anglais was removed in 1914 due to Baron Haussmann's renovation project of Paris, the two restaurants became one, bringing together the gastronomic heritages as well as the wine cellars of these two great establishments.

The Dinner of the Three Emperors

It was during the Paris World Exhibition, on June 7, 1867, that Alexander II, Czar of the Russian Empire, the Czarevitch and future Alexander III, Wilhelm I, King of Prussia and future Emperor and the Prince Otto von Bismarck came to Café Anglais after a night at the opera. The Czar wished to have foie gras, which was a seasonal item at the time and only available during the colder months of the year. Claudius Burdel, the illustrious owner of Cafe Anglais, promised to offer the most exquisite foie gras the next winter, which were indeed delivered to Russia. The dish is known today as Foie Gras of the Three Emperors, one of Tour d'Argent's signature menus. The Czar, impressed with Burdel's personality and hospitality, later entrusted to him the selection of wines for the Russian imperial palace.

The Distinguished Ducks (and the Celebrities Who Devoured Them)

In the middle of the 19th century under the helm of Frédéric Delair, headwaiter turned owner of the Tour d'Argent, the restaurant achieves fame with its ducks. The recipe of the "pressed duck" as we know it today was created, and Delair, so certain of the durability of his endeavor, decided in 1890 to give a number to each duck served. On June 21, 1921, then Crown Prince and later Emperor Shōwa of Japan, during his first foreign visit, dined at Tour d'Argent Paris. The duck served to His Majesty was #53211, which led to the numbering of the ducks served at the restaurant's first and only branch location, Tour d'Argent Tokyo, starting from the next number, #53212. Of course, numerous celebrities of Europe and from around the world dined at Tour d'Argent Paris: among them are Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Queen Ingrid of Denmark and her daughter Princess Margrethe, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Eva Perón, the Rockefellers, Christian Dior, Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dalí, Maria Callas, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart... and the endless list continues.

The Opening of Tour d'Argent Tokyo

The Japanese Emperor was so impressed by his dinner at Tour d'Argent Paris that he visited the restaurant again 50 years later, this time with Her Majesty the Empress. Many known figures of the Japanese political and business world dined at the restaurant thereafter, and the establishment gained recognition in Japanese high society as the place to go during a visit to Paris. In 1984, Tour d'Argent opens its first and, to date, only branch location in Hotel New Otani Tokyo, on the hotel's 20th anniversary. With a view of the hotel's 400-year-old Japanese garden, Tour d'Argent Tokyo has thus become the ambassador of French culinary culture in Japan.

I ate lunch at one of the oldest restaurants in Paris that's loved by royalty and world leaders, and the Michelin-starred meal transported me back in time

• La Tour d'Argent claims to be the oldest restaurant in Paris, serving diners since 1582.
• The restaurant is a Parisian institution, and was reportedly used as inspiration for " Ratatouille ."
• I ate lunch in its dining room overlooking the Notre Dame and was enchanted by its service.

La Tour d'Argent claims to be the oldest restaurant in Paris, and has been serving diners since 1582.

Translating as "the silver tower," La Tour d'Argent is a Paris fine-dining institution, and has been visited by everyone from King Henry IV, to Queen Elizabeth II , according to Time Out.

With a Michelin star — it previously had three until 1996, as noted on the Tour d'Argent website — the restaurant remains one of Paris' most revered destinations, steeped in history and tradition. 

However, its Michelin Guide demotion prompted the restaurant to announce its largest-ever renovations earlier this year, aiming to "bring the restaurant into the 21st century," according to the website.

Ahead of its nine-month closure in May, I went to eat lunch in its historic dining room.

The restaurant is located near the center of Paris, in the city's 5th Arrondissement.

The building sits just beside the Seine river, and is about a 20-minute walk from major central train stations Gare de Lyon and Chatelet Les Halles.

The restaurant is so iconic, it was reportedly used as inspiration for the Pixar classic "Ratatouille."

As the restaurant has been operating for so long without changing its classic ways, elements of it were used by the movie studio to help craft the image of the fictional restaurant "Gusteau's" , according to Lonely Planet.

When I first stepped inside the downstairs waiting area, it was like immediately being transported back a few centuries.

From the preserved wooden paneling to the old cushioned furniture, it was clear from the start that this place was not going to be similar to any dining experience I've ever had.

While I've had the fortune of eating at a few fine-dining restaurants with Michelin stars, none of their interiors felt as traditional or classic as this.

From the downstairs area, we were escorted through a hallway toward a private elevator to the dining room on the sixth floor.

The doorman and staff were quick to show us through the narrow hallway toward the elevator that would take us up to the dining room.

However, it very was easy to get distracted and slowed down by the decorations on the wall.

The walls leading up to the private elevator are lined with portraits and pictures of famous diners, including Queen Elizabeth II.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip visited the restaurant in 1948 as their first official trip outside the Commonwealth after marrying a few months prior, according to writer and historian Lauren Kiehna's blog, the Court Jeweller.

Other notable former patrons include US presidents and world leaders.

Alongside Her Majesty, US presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon could be spotted in photographs, as well as former USSR and Russian leaders Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin.

After taking the elevator to the sixth floor, I was immediately taken aback by the spectacular dining room.

The floor and tables were all incredibly detailed, enhanced by the floor-to-ceiling windows that fill the room with natural light.

Everywhere you looked, blue and gold dominated the room, with tiny detailing on every surface.

I was surprised by the unimpeded views over Paris, including Notre Dame, which remains under reconstruction.

Having been owned by the same family since 1911, the restaurant's dining room was moved up to the sixth floor to maximize its views over Paris in 1936 , according to Condé Nast Traveler. 

The sixth-floor room gives unparalleled views over the city and Notre Dame.

However, due to the fire that destroyed much of the cathedral , it remains mostly covered by scaffolding while they repair the building. This is on track for completion in 2024 , according to The New York Times.

At the table, we were first greeted with a huge silver plate, engraved with the restaurant's name.

While impressive, it was shortly removed after we sat down, and was clearly just there to be decorative.

The menu items were the epitome of traditional French haute cuisine, or "high cooking," but mine didn't have any prices listed.

Our menu was very traditional, including dishes like quenelles — a technique of creating perfect three-sided ovals — as well as hake and snails for starters. Mains included scallops or guinea fowl. 

It felt a little stereotypical to order snails in France, so I chose the hake. 

But since I didn't make the reservation, my menu didn't include a price. This was a deliberate decision implemented by the owner centuries ago, according to our waiter, due to social traditions at the time.

Our three-course set lunch menu was 105 euros at the time of visiting, or around $115. A six-course menu is also available for triple the price, as well as a la carte options with mains ranging from 95 euros to 125 euros each, or $100 to $130.  

While the food menu isn't extensive, the wine list is the opposite, weighing over 15 pounds, with over 320,000 bottles to choose from.

The restaurant prides itself on its selection of wines, claiming to have one of "the most technically perfect cellars" in Paris, as noted on the Tour d'Argent website. 

The cellar is so prestigious and valuable, that while under German occupation during World War II, the owner flew across France for one night to brick up the entrance to protect its contents before flying back , according to Bonjour Paris.

The silver tower logo of the restaurant was on everything. It was even stamped on the butter.

It's clear that the restaurant is very detail-oriented, as I struggled to find an item on the table that wasn't personalized with the logo and founding date.

Once we ordered the wine, it arrived with its own trolley and basket.

Every element of service felt well-considered, with the smallest of touches helping to make the hospitality here extraordinary.

The wine basket is used for transportation up the dumb waiter from the cellar, where a worker located the bottle among the hundreds of thousands of bottles stored.

Each dish that arrived was a clear display of French fine-dining techniques.

From the hake to the scallops, and chocolate souffle to finish, all dishes were made by chefs who were very technically proficient, with each dish beautifully presented, utilizing advanced techniques rarely seen outside of fine dining.

But despite all that, we weren't blown away by our meal.

On top of the decor, the dishes felt as though they'd also remained untouched since 1936. While that's often one of the key drawing points for visitors, I've eaten far more interesting meals for less money, such as wildly creative 20-course tasting menus that include Wagyu beef fat fudge.

However, I've never eaten anywhere with this level of high-quality service.

After lunch, a quick visit to the restaurant's attached bakery and deli was the perfect final touch.

The separate bakery on the opposite corner of the building was only opened in 2016.

From the adjacent location, customers can now buy the bread used in the restaurant as well as a range of viennoiseries — leavened pastries such as croissants and pain au chocolat — according to the Tour d'Argent website.

You can also buy a range of items such as preserves and wines under the Tour d'Argent name.

Browsing the shop after our meal was a perfect way to end the experience, and further demonstrated the attention and care the restaurant gives to its branding.

It's clear from our trip that the restaurant aims to provide a whole experience for its diners, as opposed to just providing a good meal.

Particularly in an age where service in fine dining restaurants seems to be becoming increasingly casual — which isn't a bad thing, in my opinion — this lunch was certainly a memorable one.

Despite service at the restaurant being faultless, I can see why they feel the need to modernize.

My experience at La Tour d'Argent was one I'll never forget. I really enjoyed my time here as it gave me an insight into luxury I wouldn't be able to experience elsewhere.

As the restaurant closes to modernize itself and its menu, I can understand why. While I really enjoyed my lunch, the restaurant's devotion to upholding the past also seemed to limit the menu. 

It will be interesting to see how the restaurant plans to change while preserving itself, but I'm glad I came here when I did to get a once-in-a-lifetime taste of classic French luxury.

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On 5th October 2023, the 1,178,727th duck was served at the Tour d’Argent . It was a Challans duck which, like all the others since 1890, comes from the Burgaud family. Loyalty is a key word in this house, where they are continuing the legacy of Frédéric Delair, the maître d'hôtel who became owner of the Tour d'Argent and made pressed duck the restaurant's speciality. He refined the serving, cutting the duck at the end of a fork, without it touching the dish. He had the brilliant idea of numbering the ducks served, a tradition kept to this day by the Terrail family, who bought the restaurant in 1911. They are also faithful to historical recipes, such as The Three Emperors' foie gras, first served in 1867 during the Universal Exhibition in Paris, to three emperors: William I of Prussia, Tsar Alexander II and his son – the future Alexander III – as well as Chancellor Bismarck.

The change in tradition:

Chef Yannick Franques, who has been in the kitchen at Tour d’Argent for four years, is not content with perpetuating history, but rather intends to bring the restaurant into the present day: “The recipe for the pressed duck has remained intact. The duck is cut in mid-air, with very precise movements, at the table, by the maître d'hôtel, then presented in two courses: the supreme with blood sauce, served on a plate specially made by ceramist Sylvie Coquet. Then during the second course, you can enjoy the confit leg, on a small skewer, with a piece of duck pudding. Today I use – as best I can – all parts of the duck, to respond to current concerns about limiting waste. I have also twisted certain dishes, like the pike quenelle, which I also prepare with pike perch. "I'm working on lightening some sauces too, and have created new dishes like the 'mystère de l’œuf' and plantain gyoza. We studied the restaurant archives a lot and took out recipes from the boxes, such as 'the lobster of the three maharajahs'. I work with ingredients that we didn't use before like yuzu, or certain spices which I find at Ankhor, which sources its produce in France. I also wanted to rethink the first course, by offering – on the Christofle silver presentation plate – a Parisian parfait on a zabaglione  which changes every season."

Looking to the future:

This legendary restaurant opens itself up to the future just as its bay windows open onto the Seine and Notre-Dame Cathedral, or rather the latter's lengthy reconstruction project. “Contrary to what we thought, the work on the cathedral does not put off our customers – it even constitutes entertainment for them. At night, the site is entirely illuminated,” explains André Terrail III, President of the establishment since the death of his father Claude in 2006. After 18 months of work, the Tour d'Argent reopened its doors. “The 6th and 7th floors have been completely rebuilt,” explains Virginie Guyonnet, Communications Director for the Tour d’Argent group. The renovation, including the facelift of the gourmet restaurant's dining room, was entrusted to architect Franklin Azzi. The kitchen has expanded and now opens onto the room, allowing customers to watch an impressive procession of chef's hats as the team complete the theatrical dishes in full view; you can watch, for example, as the livers are crushed and mixed with Madeira and Cognac, then the carcass is put in a majestic silver press. Three new spaces have been created for the building, from the ground floor to the roof: the Bar des Maillets d'Argent, open from breakfast; the Toit de la Tour, on the 7th floor, for a drink at the top of the Tower; and the Apartment, the former home of the Terrail family, today open for an exceptional stay.

The experience at the heart of La Tour:

“All the developments made over the past 10 years at the Tour d’Argent are at the service of the table, of the gastronomic experience offered to our customers. So Le Boulanger de la Tour, our bakery, works above all for the restaurant; Kévin Derpierre, our Baker, offers a specific bread with each dish. At L’Épicerie de la Tour, you can find produce from our suppliers. On the ground floor, the Bar des Maillets d'Argent opens from 9am to midnight and extends the gastronomic experience with a cocktail or digestif. We are also working on a cigar offering on the terrace,” explains Terrail. “The cellar, today managed by Victor Gonzales who succeeds David Ridgway, still has nearly 300,000 bottles. This exceptional choice of wines is obviously also part of what customers come for at the Tour d’Argent,” he adds. While their name might translate to silver, it’s a gold medal finish for La Tour d’Argent and the team continuing to bring excellence to France’s gastronomic scene.

Hero Image: Matthieu Salvaing

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Srn member links, thieves steal $1.63 million in wines from legendary paris restaurant la tour d’argent.

More than 80 rare bottles went missing from the Grand Award winner’s cellar, perhaps during recent renovations

• Suzanne Mustacich

The owners of La Tour d'Argent , the legendary Parisian restaurant and Wine Spectator Grand Award winner, filed a complaint with police last week following an inventory taken of their extensive wine collection. More than 80 bottles, worth $1.63 million (€1.5 million), are missing from the cellar, including bottles from Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée-Conti . There were no signs of forced entry.

The theft came to light following an extensive renovation, when the restaurant was closed, between April 2022 and September 2023. The 83 missing wines were taken sometime between 2020 and January 2024, when the most recent audit of the cellar was conducted.

La Tour d'Argent is synonymous with French gastronomy. Located on the Seine at 15 Quai de la Tournelle, the restaurant is known for a stupendous view of the river and Notre Dame Cathedral from the sixth-floor dining room. The atmospheric wine cellar, two floors underground, houses some 300,000 bottles totaling an estimated $27 million.

La Tour d'Argent’s long history begins in 1582, when it first opened as an inn where King Henry III's nobility could dine. The restaurant soon was among the most fashionable places to eat in Europe.

It was rebuilt after the French Revolution. During the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867, when countries showcased their finest inventions and products, Russian Czar Alexander II, the future Czar Alexander III, King Wilhelm I of Prussia and Prince Otto von Bismarck dined at the same table. In the 1930s, the building took the shape it has today, when the owners moved the kitchen and dining room upstairs to take advantage of the breathtaking views. During the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1940, the restaurant's then-owner hid his most prized wines behind a fake wall.

Normally, the wine cellar is under tight security. The bottles are numbered, making resale on the open market difficult. In recent years, though, several top restaurants have been struck by knowledgeable wine thieves , who are suspected of selling to private collectors.

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Paris restaurant La Tour d’Argent ‘loses’ more than £1.25m worth of wine

The one-star Michelin restaurant sits on the banks of the Seine and boasts sweeping views of Notre-Dame Cathedral.

La Tour d’Argent, which provided the inspiration for the film Ratatouille , is renowned for having one of the world’s greatest wine cellars.

The tightly-guarded cellar is home to more than 300,000 bottles, and the collection’s worth has been conservatively estimated at £24m.

Staff recently conducted their first inventory since January 2020, and they discovered that 83 bottles had vanished.

They could have gone missing at any time during the past four years, a sommelier at the 422-year-old restaurant told Le Parisien .

Prestigious wines from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti are among those missing, according to the sommelier.

La Tour d’Argent has filed a complaint to the French police. No evidence of a break-in was discovered but the Third Division of the Paris Judicial Police is investigating the disappearance of the wines.

The restaurant has been an icon of Paris ever since it was founded in 1582. It was frequented by King Henry IV, and it has gone on to welcome famous diners from around the world.

Queen Elizabeth II was the guest of honour in 1948. Other famous visitors include Theodore Roosevelt, Charlie Chaplin and Bill Clinton.

Guests will see pictures of the famous diners when riding the elevator up to the restaurant, which is located on the sixth floor of the Quai de la Tournelle in Paris’ 5th arrondissement.

The wine list is an enormous book, which is so heavy that it needs to be wheeled out on a cart to each table. It specialises in old wines, with vintages dating back to the late 19th century, and it houses back vintages of almost every top wine from Burgundy , Bordeaux , the Rhône , Alsace and the Loire .

La Tour d’Argent is also famous for late owner Claude Terrail’s quick thinking in 1940, when he hid his most prized bottles behind a fake wall as the Nazis prepared to seize the restaurant.

Yet for many people around the world, the restaurant is primarily known as the inspiration for the hit Pixar animated film Ratatouille , in which a young rat with heightened senses of taste and smell takes over the kitchen and wows Parisian society with his culinary creations.

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A high-society address from the start, Louis XIV, Mme de Sévigné, Philippe d’Orléans and the Duke of Richelieu had their favourite tables by the windows. In 1890 chef Frédéric Delair created the recipe for Duck Tour d’Argent and decided to number each bird, a terrific marketing ploy.

In 1890 Edward VII Prince of Wales ate number 328, in 1921 Thomas Rockefeller No. 51,327, in 1979 Roman Polanski enjoyed 554,711 and more recently Bill Gates No. 1079006. The millionth duck was eaten in 2003, the year Claude Terrail’s son André took over the restaurant. No. 500,000 was launched from the roof with a tag on its leg that offered the finder dinner for two. And last week Buzz ate No. 1089170.

It’s a spin on the original recipe by Laurent Delarbre, La Tour d’Argent’s new young Executive Chef. It came in two services, the breast’s fragrant sauce made with the blood and bones, passed carefully through muslin, exquisite.

If Laurent Delarbre’s worried about comparisons he’s keeping cool and if a recent tasting was anything to go by, he and La Tour are on their way to the stars. Delarbre remembers working at La Tour for Manuel Martinez (now chef/owner of the excellent Louis XIII) in 1993 as a commis. Now 39, he’s MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) and has done time with great chefs, so he’s got a solid technical background at The Ritz, with Guy Legay and Michel Roth, then back with Martinez at Louis XIII, the Astor Saint Honoré and Café de la Paix as weli as The Intercontinental Paris Opera.

The wine cellars, created in 1582, the year William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, were bricked up during WWII to save the contents from Hitler. Those lucky enough to be invited down are met by a blue-uniformed flunky and escorted through double-locked iron gates into the damp, musty warren of alleyways where 450,000 bottles of the world’s rarest and costliest French vintages lie. The Master of all he surveys is suave English Head Sommelier David Ridgway. Made in England, Ridgway is one of the world’s top wine mavens, so when he suggests the Rully 1er Cru who’s going to argue? I ask Ridgway about his favourite wine. “The one I’m tasting tomorrow; wine is really just a product made for drinking, we mustn’t make a religion of it ”, he warns. And if he could be a bottle? “Oh, something white”.

When owner Claude Terrail died in 2006, having run the restaurant for sixty glorious years, his son André took over. A tall, handsome, intense young man, André Terrail shut the restaurant for three months and gave it a €4 million facelift. “We concentrated on the kitchens, the offices and re-designing the menus. We feel that what goes on in the ‘coulisses’ (backstage) is just as important as the front of house”, he explains, showing me over three floors of state-of-the-art steel-and-glass spaces where there’s a special cold-room just for the ducks, bred organically at the restaurant’s farm in the Challans region. There are flat-screen TV’s; perhaps the ducks will try to escape? To check if Michelin Man’s in the building (the restaurant had 3 stars; it has 1 at the time of writing) or someone’s stealing ashtrays? “They do, they do, all the time”, confirms the gentleman in the Tour’s Comptoir boutique opposite. Once a solid silver duck tumbled out of a customer’s mink coat. “Don’t know how that happened”, she said.

Terrail’s latest schtick is urban beekeeping, and with the advise of bee-maven Nicolas Géant six  beehives now grace the roof of La Tour d’Argent. The honey, pesticide free because they’re banned in the city, is sold in the Tour’s boutique (12€ a pop) and used by Delarbre and chef patissier Guillaume Caron to concoct divine desserts.

The tough part is going back into the real world after an experience at La Tour d’Argent, down in the memorabilia-lined lift, escorted by a white-gloved flunky to the ground floor, which is now a museum, the main exhibit a table beautifully set as it was in 1867 when Tsar Alexander II and the King of Prussia dined together. Elsewhere, cabinets spill over with memorabilia and photographs punctuate the walls; there’s a charming one of HM the Queen and Prince Phillip (duck No. 185,397) leaving the restaurant in May 1948. They know that special feeling. Go there to experience the history and glory of French gastronomy—because you’re worth it.

La Tour d’Argent ,

15 & 17 Quai de la Tournelle, 5th

Metro: Maubert Mutualité/Pont Marie

T: 01 40 46 71 27

Lunch 65€ + wine

Tasting Menu or Menu Surprise 160€ + wine

Or A La Carte

If you’re coming to France (or for that matter anywhere) you can  reserve your hotel here. To rent a car, Bonjour Paris recommends  Auto Europe . With their exclusive selection of handmade French chocolates, zChocolat will redefine what you consider to be chocolate.

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By margaret kemp.

Born in Hampton, Middlesex, UK, Margaret Kemp is a lifestyle journalist, based between London, Paris and the world. Intensive cookery courses at The Cordon Bleu, London, a wedding gift from a very astute ex-husband, gave her the base that would take her travelling (leaving the astute one behind) in search of rare food and wine experiences, such as the vineyards of Thailand, 'gator hunting in South Florida, learning to make eye-watering spicy food in Kerala;pasta making in a tiny Tuscany trattoria. She has contributed to The Guardian, The Financial Times Weekend and FT. How To Spend It.com, The Spectator, Condé Nast Traveller, Food & Travel, and Luxos Magazine. She also advises as consultant to luxury hotels and restaurants. Over the years, Kemp has amassed a faithful following on BonjourParis. If she were a dish she'd be Alain Passard's Millefeuille “Caprice d'Enfant”, as a painting: Manet’s Dejeuner sur l’herbe !

La Tour d'Argent

Paris , france.

"The pillowy quenelle, a pike-perch dumpling native to Lyon and environs and one of my favorite classical French dishes, was simply brilliant in an impeccably deconstructed sauce Nantua (crayfish sauce) that was a richly flavored as it was astonishing light. Ornamented by a little ring of tiny girolles mushrooms, baby peas, and fragile leaves of salad burnet and woodruff, the quenelle was very beautiful, too."

Recommendations

David Lebovitz

"The other starter I’ve liked was the baked pike quenelles, two mousse-like ovals sitting over a bed of duxelles of mushrooms, blanketed in cream sauce. They’re quite delicious…and filling."

Alexander Lobrano

François Simon

"A gastronomy muséified but disarming like these beautiful dumplings in their powdery and silky abstraction."

Elizabeth Auerbach

"Gorgeous quenelles which had a feather-light texture and a lovely intense pike flavour."

The Mighty Rib

"And now, the actual appetizer – a bowl of Pike dumplings or “Quenelles De Brochet” which are served on a bed of mushrooms duxelle and covered in Mornay sauce. I thought they were perfect. Very light and fluffy but extremely rich with that creamy, cheesy Mornay sauce."

Georgie Bailey

"Entrée – quenelle, traditionally Lyonnaise a big fluffy fish dumpling. This one a celebration of pike. Delicate, pretty and not at all fishy this dish is gorgeous."

"These pike dumplings were the highlight of the meal. The quenelles were soft and flavorful, with a rich, thick sauce."

The Snowlady Chronicles

"Anyhow, I loved the pike quenelles, although it was filling. Really, it could have been a main dish."

Antonio Galloni

"For one, I absolutely loved the old rendition of the quenelle de brochet façon André Terrail and wondered what new twists might lead to in revisiting old classics. The new version is undoubtedly lighter and airier, just as good as the old rendition, only different."

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