Alain Ducasse’s restaurant at the Hotel de Paris’ Louis XV has a new menu inspired by the Riviera. Recipes, products, flavours and colours pay tribute to the unique region.
Chef Dominique Lory describes blending flavours of the Mediterranean with seasonal products from the Riviera. The Riviera Menu currently includes, for example, red piedmont squash and black truffles which come from Var. The red squash season is coming to a close and it is a beautiful entré for the Riviera Menu.
Appetizers offered by the restaurant set the tone for the meal: a selection of five sustainably sourced fish, each one decorated with a different condiment (olives, capers, basil) all impressively presented. The appetizers are as succulent as the main course: grilled Mediterranean bass dressed with grapeseed oil, paired with fennel and citrus fruits from Menton.
Second and third courses include cold fennel puree, grilled lamb with gravy and spiced spelt. The restaurant also approached the best wine and spirit producers, to help highlight the subtle flavours of the Riviera dishes.
All the splendour of the Riviera is presented in the menu. The meals hark back to simple, essential and effective flavours. Lionel Léoty, journalist for Le Petit Lu Gourmand, summarizes the Menu as perfect cooking, with distinct flavours and without any superfluousness. The Menu offers pure products garnished with a few subtle herbs, highlighting the essence of the ingredients. With the first bite, one may think that the dishes are simple, but they’re not. The courses are sincere and convey the essence of the products and the region. Mr. Ducasse and the Chefs have succeeded in creating an extraordinary Menu.
