Epicure — Restaurant in Paris

One of my favorite meals this year took place in the manicured gardens of Epicure Paris in Le Bristol Hotel. This was the perfect trifecta of ambiance, excellent food, and the best(!) service I've experienced thus far.

The staff absolutely nailed my core service checklist - timing, knowledge of ingredients, a clear passion for their product, and anticipation of needs. At the three Michelin star level of fine dining, I really feel like these elements are to be expected.

What took Epicure beyond was the unexpected - the jovial and almost comedic flair to the night. The maitre'd and servers had a fun rapport going, inserting just the right comments at the right moments. Even the way they tossed the rose petals for our anniversary celebration (purposefully goofy and haphazardly) put a smile on my face. I was delighted and laughing all evening.

The Bread - A delightfully buttery ham brioche was the first bite, and throughout the night we were offered an endless variety of incredible bread. The salty bacon bread stick was also a favorite.

The Butter - Oh that butter! Both the salted and unsalted varieties had a lovely depth only found in quality French butter.

Niçoise Salad - A modern take featuring a hidden tuna liver center in a ball of white tuna foam. The red pepper jelly base with olives added a burst of flavor while the tiny croutons and onion cubes provided nice texture contrast.

Stuffed Macaroni - Chef Eric Frechon's signature dish lived up to the hype with a delicious black truffle, artichoke, and foie gras filling. I thought the noodles were a tad thick, but they had great chew.

Crab from Roscoff - Perfectly picked meat, with the claw tips still distinct. The crabmeat was set in a green tomato jelly with unexpected curry notes. The colorful coral and tarragon mayo drops were a nice pop visually and for the taste buds.

Sea Bass - This was cooked in a salt crust and cut open with flair. Unfortunately the meat was over-seasoned and overcooked. However the mussels were perfectly tender and the fennel notes worked well.

Blue Lobster - This also featured perfectly picked claw meat. The claws were tender, though the tail was rubbery. I enjoyed the firm crunch of the zucchini, and the pressed lobster head juice had nice depth.

Cheese Cart - I was beyond stuffed at this point thanks to the generous portions, but how could I resist a lovely cheese cart in France? Of course, we had special bread just for this course - a walnut raisin cranberry bread that had quite the impressive crust.

Palate Cleanser - A bright orange blossom sorbet with mango jelly and lime zest.

Hazelnut from Cervione - A bird's nest of perfectly(!) crispy noodles made from roasted hazelnut foam with a decadent hazelnut praline ice cream center. This was topped with raspberry sauce. My favorite dish of the night!

Peru Chocolate - In an edible cocoa pod shaped bowl was a chocolate sorbet filling - both creamy and crunchy, with lemongrass gelee bits.

Dessert Cart - I tried three macarons - passionfruit milk chocolate, nutella, and black current. I thought the macarons had wonderful chew and flavor, though they were overfilled for my taste. The passionfruit marshmallow was the softest ever! Oh yes, I also tried the quality dark chocolate coffee discs and buttery, salted caramels.

Merci to the Epicure Paris team for making such a wonderful memory for our anniversary trip!

#finedining #michelinstar #worlds50best...

Couldn't come to Paris and go to at least one of the ten three Michelin star restaurants in the city. After doing plenty of research, I opted for Epicure as it looked like the best option. All I can say after coming here is that this is haute cuisine at its absolute finest. Michelin dining has peaked for me!

First things first, it wasn't terribly difficult to book a reservation here, probably because of the fact there are so many three stars in Paris. Obviously I was keeping an eye on when dinner reservations became available, but it was nothing like some of the impossible reservations back home in the U.S. for three stars.

Anyways, the food completely blew me away. The execution and creativity of every dish was on full display. On this particular trip, we had Tomate Ancienne, Large Langoustines, Candele Macaroni, Salmon from Scotland, and Lamb from Alpilles as our main courses. It's hard to really pinpoint what my favorite was because all of the dishes were outstanding. If I had to pick, the Large Langoustines was my favorite because of how perfectly cooked it was. The Candele Macaroni was amazing because of the black truffle mixed with mature Parmesan cheese. Salmon from Scotland was so soft that we didn't even need a knife to cut it. They even used the lamb in two different ways, to create a carpaccio initially and then cook up a roasted saddle of lamb. Oh, and the Tomate Ancienne was somehow frozen inside despite obviously being fresh. The best thing about Epicure is that all these dishes are on their a la carte menu, so if you opted to skip the tasting menu you could still have a lot of these dishes.

Oh, and for that cheese and dessert course at the end? They have so many cheeses on hand, and they offer three...but I'm sure if you requested more you could totally have more. After the main dessert, they offer chocolate and macarons. And if you REALLY wanted it, you could have every single chocolate and macaron they offer. If it wasn't for the fact that we were completely stuffed by the end of the meal, I may have taken them up on that.

Service...well, I have no words. I mean, this is truly the pinnacle of service right? A place like this could make you feel like they are too good for you, but they don't do that here at all as everyone is super welcoming. Epicure has an army of waiters here and they are on it like a machine. Every little detail was attended to. Every request we had was fulfilled, including getting our menus signed and taking a kitchen tour. Even got to talk to the head chef for 10 minutes, which is how I found how they made a jelly out of red peppers and that the salmon was actually cooked in a sous vide. Hell, you couldn't even go to the bathroom without someone walking you there. I have been spoiled for service at fine dining establishments, but Epicure is on a level on its own.

Ambience is pretty amazing. Even though the inside dining room looked amazing, we decided on sitting outside considering it was a nice summer night with a very late sunset. The garden area is a great place to have a nice dinner! Bathed in evening light. Even when it got darker, the lighting was perfect to keep the right atmosphere.

There's three stars, and then there's three stars in Paris. A truly wondrous experience and unquestionably the best dinner I have ever had. Best part is that they do have an a la carte menu, so I can still come back and opt for something cheaper. Absolutely...

#98 in my Michelin Stars Challenge in Paris (follow me to see the rest). You can’t go wrong.

It was the third 3 stars in 3 days for my birthday. I already published the ones from the days before (le Cinq and Arpège). You could think that one would be nub to any form of luxury after that. But no. No because, even to those who have seen a lot, Epicure (and the Bristol) is still a pleasure. Ok, so what’s extraordinary here? It’s a 3 stars, it got to be. Well, it’s also a palace. So what’s extraordinary here is that it cannot go wrong, you’re in a Palace, everything is there for you to have a perfect time. I’ll just focus on a couple of things, even though there’s a lot more to say. The service here is really the perfect (more than perfect) international 3 stars exemple. The perfect distance. The friendly smiles to put you at ease but respectful enough to preserve your intimate bubble. Have a look at the videos. You’ll understand. And then of course, you have the glasses, the plates etc… very classical but perfectly so, with a dash of modernity. I m a big fan of the plates where you can see the “biscuit “ (one part is glazed, the other part is not). At first glance they could look normal, classical but they aren’t. Which brings me to the gastronomy, at first glance, it’s very classical and very high end. My wife had the truffle cooked in a salt crust (cf videos). It’s the epitome of a 3 stars palace dish. Where else could you have a whole truffle cooked just as a dish? The answer is nowhere. Yet, the chef will add his subtle touches to respect this monument (of opulence to be honest) and balance it, complement it and even complete it. This subtle attention to the detail that may not be fully perceived goes very far. You may not realize but the bread you’re eating is not only made here, no that would be so 1%, we are way beyond that! Its flour is grounded in a mill just a few floor below you. Yes, that right, there’s not just a bakery dedicated, there’s a mill! And I guess you understood by now that the wheat is not just some premium one… But the craziest of all is that it’s not even to show off or brag about it. Of course, they ll mention it, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to have a perfect bread. Because the goal is to have a perfect meal without you realizing the effort that went behind. We had the chance to visit the infrastructure, let’s just say that the dining room doesn’t account for half of the footage. It can’t go wrong because there’s a huge amount of work, infrastructure and skills involved. You can’t go wrong picking up Epicure. It’s a solid three star.

Ps: and yes, there’s a cat in the Bristol, Socrate, a sacre de Birmanie, which makes it at least two philosophers in the building...