Le Meurice

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Room That Sets the Stage

Inside Hôtel Le Meurice on the rue de Rivoli, the dining room draws its inspiration from the Salon de la Paix at the Château de Versailles. Antique mirrors, crystal chandeliers, bronze, marble and frescoes establish the classical frame, while Philippe Starck's intervention introduced pure lines, contemporary materials and singular furniture pieces that keep the space from feeling frozen in time. The large windows open onto the Jardins des Tuileries — a view that quietly anchors the entire experience in the heart of Paris.

The Philosophy of the Essential

"Before cooking, there is nature," Alain Ducasse has said, and that conviction is the engine of everything at Le Meurice. The kitchen's ambition is not to impose technique but to let it serve the produce — to preserve authentic flavour until it reaches the plate. Each dish is built around a single ingredient whose truth it is meant to express. This is French haute cuisine stripped to its core, where complexity is real but deliberately kept out of sight.

That approach earned the restaurant a place among the World's 50 Best Restaurants on multiple occasions, recognition that reflects not a fleeting moment but a sustained standard.

The Team

Executive Chef Amaury Bouhours arrived at Le Meurice after formative years at Le Louis XV in Monaco and Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée. Ducasse describes him as embodying "a youthful outlook and fresh approach to Essential Cuisine, with a passion for authentic flavours and the excellence of contemporary French gastronomy" — a precise summary of what the kitchen delivers.

Pastry Chef Cédric Grolet brings an equally serious pedigree. Raised near Saint-Étienne, decorated as a young apprentice, and trained at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Pâtisserie, he joined Le Meurice in 2011 and rose to lead the pastry programme. His work is as considered as the savoury courses that precede it.

On the floor, Restaurant Manager Olivier Bikao leads a service culture described as "fluid, almost innate" — hospitality that feels genuine rather than performed. Chief Sommelier Gabriel Veissaire, drawn to organic and biodynamic producers and their natural expression of terroir, completes a team that treats the dining room as seriously as the kitchen.

The Table Itself

Even the tableware carries intention. The presentation plate — silver-bordered, flower-shaped porcelain — was designed by Japanese designer Shinichiro Ogata and manufactured in Arita, in the Kyushu region, a city that has been the cradle of Japanese porcelain for nearly four centuries. At Le Meurice, the object on the table and the dish placed upon it are part of the same conversation.

For a closer look at the kitchen, the Chef's Table accommodates four to eight guests for lunches and private dinners, by reservation only — one of several ways this address adapts to the people it receives.