Laperouse, Paris

[cabrales]

I'd appreciate members' input on Laperouse in the 6th, including decor aspects as well as current cuisine..

[Miguel Gierbolini]

This is a nice, recent account of Laperouse.

http://www.burkeandwells.com/archive/000182.php

[mogsob]

Cabrales, I too was looking for more responses here. Specifically, I was wondering how far in advance reservations are required for the private salons at Laperouse.

The B&W piece is very nice, and was actually the article that sparked my interest in dining at Laperouse in the first place. It is interesting that none of the usual Parisian suspects have failed to weigh in here. Telling, perhaps?

[admajoremgloriam]

Lunch at Lapérouse a few days ago.

Starter was a consommé of wild mushrooms with scallops, main was a hachis parmentier of boar in a foie gras based sauce and desert a soufflé with chocolate and raspberry sauce.

The meal was nice enough. The place is gorgeous, overlooking the Seine and with an inside décor to match the location. Two-star material here. As for the food, the 30 euros lunch menu with no choice as to dishes is a very good deal. The amuses are ok and the service pleasant enough It is a great way to see Lapérouse and decide whether you want to go there again. For me the decision is clear: I would not go there again, not even for lunch. This has nothing to do with the food (not sensational but nothing to run away from: very fresh, plump scallops, nice bread, interesting signature soufflé). It has everything to do with service, which I found very unsatisfying: they did everything you would at least expect them to do but nothing nothing more. No extra smile, no asking whether you enjoyed the dish, whether you want to know the name of the wine they gave you by the glass (and did not even pour at the table). In a nutshell, everyone seemed to be so proud and satisfied with working there that the clients seemed a bit redundant. The only one who smiled was the chef, as I briefly saw him downstairs when leaving.

I wish he were better supported.

[BigboyDan]

Sounds like you need some lovin'. Haven't called Mom lately?

"The meal was nice enough. The place is gorgeous, overlooking the Seine and with an inside décor to match the location. Two-star material here. As for the food, the 30 euros lunch menu with no choice as to dishes is a very good deal."

Enough said.

[Bux]

I'm a food man myself. I'll put up with some terrible decor and quite a bit of inferior service to get at really good food, but Lapérouse is about dining as much as it is about just food. Service is part of fine dining and there's no reason it shouldn't be mentioned or featured in a post especially if it's the overriding consideration to the poster and the food was not sensational.

I'd be far more upset with a recommendation that "the 30 euros lunch menu with no choice as to dishes is a very good deal" without the caveat about the service. It's always best to go with reasonable expectations. What I don't quite understand is the comment "the service pleasant enough" in conjunction with the later comment that the service was "unsatisfactory." The first implies service of at least average quality or better and the latter of less than average quality.

[admajoremgloriam]

A bit of a language issue here, my first mention of service in "Service was pleasant enough" referred to what is called service in French but what I should have referred to as porcelain ware.

Bux, I agree with you to some extent, but the food there was far from "really good". I mention the lunch menu for being a very good deal mainly because it lets you see how nice the place looks without having to spend much for Café Marly-quality food.

As for the rude comment, all I have to say is that a restaurant is a place where you have an experience, and in Lapérouse this experience is one of participating in French tradition of gastronomy.

To me decor and service are less important than the food but are expected to be perfect so that you enjoy the food. If you have to think about the way the food is served, then you cannot properly focus on the food. It's "service" to you as much as it is to the food.

There are plenty of places in Paris where one can have "nice enough" (and "nice enough" might be enough for some but is not satisfactory for me) food in gorgeous decor. I like places where people care about what they serve and whether it is enjoyed, not places where people feel good about themselves just for being there. But then again, some do like to be snobbed and consider it part of a fine dining experience.

Edited February 16, 2004 by admajoremgloriam (log)

[Bux]

Thanks for the follow up. I think I understand your message a lot clearer now.

[Lesley C]

The big thing at Lapérouse is to dine in one of the beautiful private dining rooms upstairs. You can even lock the doors, and the waiters knock before entering.

I'm sure some randy types head straight upstairs in order to grope their dining companion over the potage, but I was there with a newborn and it was nice to have some privacy with a sleeping baby by our side. Yet I'm sure the occasional crying fit put off some of the activity in the neighboring rooms.

Besides the intimate dining offered on the second floor, I can't see anything this establishment has over any other upscale restaurant. I certianly wouldn't call it two stars, or even one (by Michelin standards).