So, what's a trip to Paris without going to a 2 Michelin star restaurant and getting the full experience? Enter Le Cinq, located inside the Four Seasons Hotel George V off Champs Elysees. Random fact that Greg found out: The hotel has a flower budget of something in the ball park of one million euros a year. In case that doesn't impress you, the rest of the decor will.
To take some of the sticker shock off the experience, we scheduled to have lunch instead of dinner here the day before we left Paris. To be clear, that DOES NOT mean you get anything less from a quality or service perspective.
As seen in most of these traditional and upscale places, you should come dressed appropriately. That means, guys need to be wearing jacket, and women shouldn't be dressed for a Las Vegas club. This was also the first time I've ever been in a restaurant where they bring over a small stool for your precious French handbag to sit on while you dine in luxury.
You're greeted immediately by about 3 people before the sommelier comes over and asks if you'd like to start off with a glass of champagne. Don't confuse this with the free table bread that comes when you sit down at places, the champagne glasses we ordered showed up on the check. We selected the 3 course prix fixe option and I fully accepted the likelihood that I would need to be rolled out of the restaurant by the end of our meal. Here's what went down:
Dish #1: A beautiful bread basket came around and with it came two options for butter: traditional and seaweed-infused butter! The seaweed butter was a little strange, but absolutely worth trying. We had to pace ourselves, otherwise I would have asked to try each bread option in that basket.
Dish #2: Palate cleanser that came with prawns three ways: the head served up as a crispy chip, the body that was served cold with a light green sauce, and a lobster mousse with fruit at the bottom. Yes, strange, but incredibly delightful. Greg wasn't too keen on it, but I thought it was amazing.
Dish #3: As my first appetizer, I selected the Marennes Oyster variations, which meant that I got oysters four ways: in a sorbet, 3 raw on the half shell, in a curry foam, and oysters in a prawn soup. My favorite: the 3 raw on the half shell was absolutely incredible. Especially the raw oyster with the green apple and wasabi. This all literally blew my mind.
Greg opted for the poached foie gras with hibiscus. The foie gras was LITERALLY a steak-sized slabs. They were HUGE! Greg thought eating that much foie gras in one sitting was a little too much, so in order to conserve stomach space, he had to resist finishing the dish. The hibiscus really added to the dish since we don't see that combination in SF (actually we don't see foie gras) at all.
Dish #4: Iberian Black Pork Pressa with chantrelle mushrooms, cabbage with ginger, and browned onion. This definitely falls into the category of one of the best things I've ever had. Both Greg and I are HUGE fans of Iberico pork and consider it one of our favorite types of pork of all time. Everything on the dish got eaten. Yes, even the garnishes got eaten. It was one of the best dishes I've ever had!
Dish #5: A little palate cleanser that was a citrus sorbet in lychee type sauce. Much needed after that pork and in prep for dessert!
Dish #6: I had the As A Russet Apple Tart Tartin served with Provence quince marmelade and saffron sorbet. Greg had the Grapefruit cocktail with vanilla, which came with pineapple carpaccio, rum and tonka bean ice cream. My dessert was literally the cutest thing I had ever seen! Greg thought his dessert brought on a whole onset of feelings: light but rich, refreshing but heavy, and most importantly, delicious by all standards.
Finally came my favorite part: Black Forest Water and the dessert cart! By this point, it was getting ridiculous. I couldn't really put down much more, so I asked for a cappuccino to aid the digestion process. Then, the dessert cart showed up. We had a few types of chocolate, a mini cake, a lemony pastry and some other randomly delightful things before saying "non merci" when that cart came around.
Service here was absolutely outstanding. I know you expect good service when you throw down money, but the service here was the best I had ever experienced. Everyone was incredibly polite to us, helped us understand each dish when it was presented, and even made some small talk along the way during our 3 hour adventure. I sincerely hope we make it back here when we come back to Paris, it was one of the best treats I've ever had on vacation. read more