Focus On Paris: fine dining

Showing posts with label fine dining. Show all posts

21 April 2026

Tasting Tuesday

A very special evening with very special friends.

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Paris dining can be a gamble - even at revered Michelin-starred spots where atmosphere and reputation sometimes mask uneven execution. Their clientele, often made up of passing tourists, mostly from the U.S. and drawn in by rave reviews, can leave feeling shortchanged and unlikely to return. When complaints surface, the response is often swift but superficial: a polished, formulaic apology (typically in French - “Nous sommes désolés pour votre expérience, nous espérons vous revoir bientôt”) - followed by a bit of digital stagecraft. Suddenly, pristine photos of the very dishes in question appear online, looking nothing like what arrived at the table - or what showed up as an Instagram video when a celebrity chef just happened to have stopped by - paired with a fresh wave of glowing reviews ready to lure the next round of hopeful diners. - BPJ

May newsletter: Spotting the right spots

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“If you have two stars or three stars in Michelin then you have a duty to your customers to be behind your stove. I was always behind my stove for every single service because that’s what you’re paying for. Why would I want to go to a three-star Michelin and the chef whose name is above the door is in America? I’m not paying for his sous-chefs. I want the individual. It’s as simple as that.” Marco Pierre White

13 March 2024

Wine Wednesday

That magical moment between lifting glasses for a first toast and waiting for the food to arrive.

22 December 2022

Throwback Thursday

3 hours (or less) from Paris:

London, a skip and hop from Paris, makes a perfect Christmas getaway.

Above: reminiscing and fond memories of The Chelsea Wharf Restaurant

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Eurostar

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Reprint from "Throwback Thursday" 11/4/2021

Lobster and prawns Eggs Benedict on a Sunday morning

Hardware Société
(Paris-Melbourne)
10 rue Lamarck 75018 Paris

[Posted November 4, 2021] - The setting was 80's London, and Michael Alexander, who I've written about before on this blog, had opened a restaurant, The Chelsea Wharf, to much local fanfare in the media and otherwise, right on Chelsea Harbour.

In no time at all it became the talk of the town. In the cuisine was enfant terrible now celeb chef Marco Pierre White, the sole person, it's been said, who "made Gordon Ramsay cry in the kitchen." With regulars such as George Michael and Boy George streaming in one would think its success was guaranteed, but it wasn’t. Sadly, it was short-lived. Lax management let a party atmosphere take over and, as Michael would mention more than once over the years with a sigh, he was, after all, a writer, not a restaurateur.

Sunday mornings saw a gathering of "friends and allies" - those dearest and nearest to him - occupy a very long table for breakfast. As Billy Churchill swayed away on piano and a soft light seeped in through gothic windows, we'd regale in bad jokes and good champagne.

Just across the Thames was Saint Mary's Church and almost everyone would order Bloody Marys and the house Eggs Benedict - or rather, as it appeared on the menu, "Eggs Benedict Arnold," so named for the notorious traitor of the American Revolution buried there.

The first - and last - time I pointed this out I was swiftly berated.

“Traitor? From our side of things, Benedict Arnold was a hero!” - BPJ

15 March 2022

View from a table

Le Grand Véfour, another classic I'd written up for USA Today, is not that different from the days Napoléon and Joséphine played footsies under the table.

Excerpt:

Hopelessly romantic. Spectacularly beautiful. Brilliant food. This ultra elegant Michelin star makes a perfect "last night in Paris" - for USA Today... - BPJ