Paris restaurant: Guy Savoy

For the past 6 years or so, my husband and I have done all we could to avoid anything with "Savoy" in the name. I am sure that our terrible experience at one of the top hotels in Madeira could have been avoided if we'd just done some research before booking a week's holiday in a delapidated 5* hotel, spending a (compulsory) New Year's Eve dinner (at a whopping £75 each) with English pensioners in their hundreds (in terms of the numbers present AND their average age), but our second encounter, with what once was once the London Savoy's foremost chef at that infamous wine tasting cum gourmet dinner still has a very bad aftertaste, even though it's been over a year.
Biting the bullet to please thepassionatecook and theevenmorepassionateeater, Chris went through a lot of effort to book a table at Guy Savoy - postponing the weekend twice until finally both the restaurant and the hotel of his choice could accommodate us, and it was definitely worth all the sweat.
Although it's one of Paris' top tables and sports the prestigous 4 Gault Millau toques (19/20 points, if you need the detail), Guy Savoy is a remarkably unstuffy restaurant. None of the 17th/18th century pomp you find at Alain Ducasse's Monaco branch or the stucco-laden ceilings and elaborately wood-panelled walls at other expensive etablissements in Paris (and which would add a touch of grandeur to any meal) - this is an altogether different affair.
The décor is rather clean-cut, though not cold - dark wood, extensive use of dark red make it more sensuous than you might think, and a very clever concept behind it: most of the walls move, so the space can be tailored to the demands of the day. Groups can easily be accomodated in their own, private dining room and in the regular set-up, I didn't see any room (or "compartment", if you wish) with more than 4 tables - making for a very intimate atmosphere, I thought, almost like being in your own dining room.
But on to more important things! The food was simply perfect. Whenever I go to places like that, I don't really need to look at the menu. Well, I usually have a look just to see what's there, only to end up going for the "menu dégustation", allowing us to sample a great variety of what the kitchen does best. In this case, 11 courses in succession (and that's not counting the various "clins d'oeil" or "greetings from the kitchen" plus, let's not forget, the selection from the dessert trolley on top of our 3 dessert courses... but who can resist mousse au chocolat, crème caramel and the like, especially when spooned out of clip-top jars?).
Every single dish we had was cooked to perfection. The very best ingredients, prepared by assured hands. They're not venturing too far, nothing is too risqué, you can see that it's an establishment that serves the rich and beautiful, but not necessarily over-adventurous eaters. No bacon & egg ice cream, no snail porridge... but definitely not run-with-the-mill food either.
There are unusual pairings like in the pineapple & avocado sorbet, the caramelised red pepper tuile with your lobster ceviche or, indeed, a savoury crème anglaise and a layer of spinach accompanying the most luxurious caviar. But he's playing it safe, I think, he's not doing it to impress or to shock, he does it because he know it works. Amongst those dishes that completely bowled us over were the afore-mentioned "colours of caviar", the lobster cooked/uncooked (ceviche and cooked tails, served with the red pepper tuile and especially a course of foie gras... I am a sucker for foie gras, when consumed in managable portions. I like it seared, I like it as a paté, and have mostly eaten it the traditional way, served with toasted brioche and some sort of fruit confit - figs, pears, pineapple, mango... the list goes on. This is the first time I've had it savoury, and of an outstanding quality as well. It was served seared, in a bowl with some jerusalem artichoke purée gently wrapped in savoy cabbage, with a most delicious red cabbage reduction on the bottom - unusual, amazing and nothing short of perfect.
In a nutshell: we had a great evening. Perfect food in very pleasant surroundings - and company! (Roberto Benigni ("Life is Beautiful") literally bumped into Chris when he was coming out of the restrooms.) Although not something I would (or could) afford to do every day - £600 for an evening à deux is a very rare and special treat - I definitely think that we got our money's worth. After 4 hours of eating and drinking, I rolled back to the hotel, no, hang on, I must have been crawling. Our hotel was no more than 10 minutes from the restaurant on a scenic walk involving the Arc de Triomphe, but we took at least 30 minutes to walk back - and not because we were admiring the views!
The name Savoy is finally cleared in our books... and all it took was one dinner!

Guy Savoy
18 rue Troyon
75017 Paris
France
Tel: +33-(0)1-43804061
PS: Watch this space for more affordable dining in Paris - I'll shortly be writing about Georges, Mon Vieil Ami and L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon!

Comments

[Anna]

You lucky lady you! I look forward to reading about your other Parisian dinners.

[Jeanne]

I just have to add that Johanna texted me during this meal to say the foie gras had reduced her to tears. So yes, it was *that* good!! Thanks for your marvellous detailed description of this fabulous meal, Johanna!

[cyrille]

you should try restaurant in lyon too..great restaurant by the way