Literary
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PSST, want to skip the queue at the Eiffel Tower? You can, but you need to be
prepared. First, you must wear your most fabulous frock and highest heels,
or best suit.
And you must be one of the 120 people to book lunch or dinner at the new Le
Jules Verne restaurant, perched on the second floor of the monument built by
Gustave Eiffel for the World Fair in 1889.
Only then can you saunter past the freezing, wind-lashed people in the long,
winding line, and head straight into your private elevator, to be whisked up
125m. Unlike most of the seven million people who visit this lasting
monument to the greatness of France each year, you are about to experience
what France's greatest chef/entrepreneur, Alain Ducasse, calls “the very
essence of French cuisine”.
Behind the 1,000-bottle wine rack, a white-hatted chef in the central kitchen
chops a mountain of chocolate with the precision of a machine.
Ducasse, a handsome, slightly rumpled 51-year-old in Harry Potterish specs,
says that he has long dreamt of having a restaurant in the tower. “I used to
look up at it all my life,” he says, over an espresso, “until one day, I
thought ‘why not?'”
But even the holder of 15 Michelin stars, with 22 restaurants, five hotels,
and three cooking schools around the world, found it tough going.
After two years of planning, the entire installation had to be completed in
four months, before the official opening date of December 22.
Not only did everything from the ovens to the carpet have to be brought up in
a single lift and reassembled on site, it all had to be weighed, so it
didn't exceed the limit deemed safe for the 119-year-old structure.
“It was very difficult. I had to build a second kitchen under the ground,
where we can prepare all the food,” says Ducasse, pointing down to the Champ
de Mars, the park at the base of the Eiffel Tower. “Now everything is
brought up by lift in special temperature-controlled trolleys, to be cooked
to order.”
Almost £3.7 million later and Ducasse and his chef, Pascal Feraud, look
pleased with the result. “If you have but one meal in Paris, it should be
here,” he says. Feraud nods quickly. “We use technique to lighten and to
concentrate,” he says. “In that way, the cooking replicates the structure
and lightness of the tower itself.”
Returning that night for dinner, I find it quite surreal to be floating above
the City of Lights, with Paris spread out below like a picnic rug. The
clean, minimalist lines of the three dining rooms, designed by Patrick
Jouin, are deliciously dressed in shades of milk and dark chocolate, and
everywhere you can see the workings of the hydraulic lifts, the lacy iron
girders and the sky.
And the food? An average meal will set you back about £223 for two (food
only), but nothing here is average. Everything is rich, but wonderfully
light, especially a velvety pumpkin velouté with black truffle, crunchy with
fresh chestnuts, and a fricassee of Bresse chicken and crayfish linked with
the lightest, sweetest cooking juices. The famous “L'Ecrou” dessert from
pastry chef Jean-Baptiste Priolet is unbelievably rich: a witty, dark
chocolate “bolt” with a metallic sheen filled with a liquid chocolate “nut”.
Had the entire tower been hit by lightning just then (as it was in 1902), I
would have done everything I could to save it instead of my husband.
The price is no more than any top Michelin-starred experience in Paris - and
nowhere else has this once-in-a-lifetime view.
NEED TO KNOW
Le Jules Verne, on the second
floor of the Eiffel Tower, is open seven days a week. Dinner: a five-course
menu costs about £115. Reservations are taken two months in advance. Best
bargain: Three-course set lunch menu costs £56.
paris is a wondreful city
hailey, calgary, canada