The Hotel de Crillon is one of the finest hotels in Paris, if not the world. So you would expect the restaurant inside it to be of the same quality. Housed in what used to be the Count of Crillons ballroom, you can imagine the kind of place we’re talking about here.
Well it’s all that and more. Think of the best of French Louis XV architecture, decoration and furniture, mixed with the calm ambience of a French restaurant, throw in jaw-dropping features, gold everywhere and you have an idea of Les Ambassadeurs.
Starter consisted of la Saint-Jacques de Normandie and L’Asperge verte de Senas. The Saint-Jacques was Normandy scallops with carpaccio, oysters and Parisian mushrooms. The scallops were fragrant, juicy and perfectly cooked, the oysters were fresh, and had that sheen that only perfectly prepared oysters has. The mushrooms were earthy and rich, and brought a reality to the whole dish.
The L’Asperge was green asparagus with smoked duck breast and crispy onion. It was equally as good. The asparagus gave a satisfying crunch and worked well with the much richer duck breast. The crispy onion gave a sharpness to the dish that was welcome.
"The best French Louis XV architecture, with the best food to match"
Main course was La sole de Saint Guenole and le Carre d’Agnelait. The Guenole was fillet of sole with sea urchins, potatoes and leeks. The sole was white, meaty and still had a slight taste of the ocean. Sea urchins are a new one for us, but they were utterly delicious!
The Carre d’Agnelait was rack of baby lamb wrapped in crispy angel hair noodles with quinola and eggplant. The lamb was succulent, juicy and the perfect shade of pink on the inside. The angel hair noodles were lightly prepared and gave a welcome texture so the soft meat.
Dessert was tarte aux fraises gariguette and passionnement chocolat. The tarte was a strawberry pie with a lemon cream frosting. The strawberries were perfect. Sweet with that hint of tartness on the palate. The lemon cream frosting echoed it.
The passionnement chocolat was a hazelnut biscuit with Jivara chocolate mousse and passion fruit sorbet. The nutty taste worked with the rich chocolate mousse to delight the senses. The fruit sorbet provided a light relief from the richness of the dish.
Les Ambassadeurs is the pinnacle of dining as far as we are concerned. The ambience was perfect, the service great, and the food sublime.
The Bill: £150 per head
