Ducasse Baccarat

Alain Ducasse featured once again in the pages of the Fooding Guide? Baccaramment! The ineffable chef and entrepreneur has polished up a true gem of a restaurant in the heart of this hôtel particulier from the Années folles, which is now home to the Baccarat fine crystal museum / boutique. In this neo-rococo space, Christophe Saintagne (the former chef at Papillon, Fooding France 2017 Best Coming Out winner) and Robin Schroeder (who used to work at Le Clarence) craft feasts that are as dazzling as they are delicious. At lunchtime, for a little under a hundred euros, we opted for all of the following: chestnut confit’d in salted butter and rosemary, plus a gilda and then a white bean / bottarga combo for the amuse-bouches; impressively creamy spaghetti squash cacio e pepe; a Provence-inspired composition combining an electric carrot sorbet, a tiny Nice olive, pickled kohlrabi, pine nuts and a Parmesan and charcoal crumble; generous lobster pieces in tomato water tapioca, all harmoniously held together by a rosy homardine sauce; Landes chicken prepared two ways, as a supreme with vin jaune sauce and parsley, and a thigh with crispy skin and a feverish fricassée of black trumpet mushrooms; and to round out the meal, raw milk ice cream with olive oil and a kasha crisp, followed by warm, jellified orange slivers for a bittersweet symbiosis. Such a sparkling specimen! // Angela Dolu 

FEELING THIRSTY? Fabrice Langlois pours his passion into Baccarat glassware, with around 20 wines served by the glass, and over 700 bottles in the cellar to choose from, including a Crozes-Hermitage white by Natacha Chave (€15 a glass), Le Rouge, a red blend from the Domaine des Alpilles (€25), Les Jardins, a riesling by Ostertag (€70 a bottle)… and a few classic Burgundy wines, like a Clos de Bèze chamberin from Prieuré Roch (with a very steep €1,800 price tag however). 
PRICE: : Tasting menus €90, €180 and €240.