The world's best restaurants. Experience the flavors of Yannick Alléno's restaurant at Pavillon Ledoyen in Paris
October 3, 2021
The best restaurants in the world are places where the senses experience something unique. Here, everything must be in place – exquisite flavors, interior design, surroundings, and the experience of a unique experience itself. Yannick Alléno's restaurant at the Pavillon Ledoyen in Paris is awarded three Michelin stars for a reason, and the guide states: "This Parisian institution, housed in an elegant pavilion in the Champs-Élysées gardens, was taken over by Yannick Alléno, who began writing a new chapter in its history. The chef creates a tour de force, immediately leaving his mark. He masterfully gives haute cuisine a new face."
Since October 7, 2019, renowned French chef Yannick Alléno's restaurant has been open on the ground floor of the Pavillon Ledoyen. It boasts a shady, flower-filled terrace and views stretching across the greenery to Place de la Concorde. It has its own entrance, separate from the "3 MICHELIN France 2019" restaurant, Alléno Paris, located on the Pavillon's first floor, and from L'Abysse, the sushi bar that received a Michelin star in 2019.
The Pavillon restaurant is located in the former location of Le Cercle, a brasserie that closed in 2000 because it was "less profitable than banquets and receptions," according to its owner. This is the third culinary offering at Pavillon, another step in the modernization program that Yannick Alléno began shortly after receiving his license from the City of Paris.
His goal is to offer a venue on the Champs-Elysées where diners seeking cuisine where the ordinary is excellent and the excellent feels familiar can enjoy themselves.
Kitchen at the bar
The Pavyllon's layout serves a dual purpose. On beautiful days, customers who want to enjoy nature can sit on the terrace surrounded by a hedge. Inside, tables are arranged along large patio doors, providing direct views of the garden. Around 30 seats are located at a large central bar, facing the chefs, allowing customers to watch the dishes being prepared, literally like a participatory theater. When designing
his Atelier, in his search for clarity and simplicity, and wanting to move away from the ceremonial procedures typical of traditional restaurants, Joël Robuchon was inspired by the Japanese concept of teppanyaki, which was introduced in the United States after 1945. At Pavyllon, the bar (15 meters long and 95 cm wide) offers a clear view of the open kitchen, showing guests how the restaurant staff work. The kitchen was designed down to the smallest detail to allow the chefs to put on a true show with each service. It is equipped with
a very efficient extraction system to prevent unwanted odors from disturbing customers while eating.
"The language of truth is simple," said Boileau. For Yannick Alléno, "in the kitchen, what is simple is best." In other words, the heritage of French cuisine enriched with modern knowledge and techniques in the service of pure flavor: cold extraction, fermentation, and aging. His trademark.
Open kitchen
Seated behind the large bar, food lovers can observe precise operations that blend French influences with other culinary traditions: the lightness of vegetable tempura served as an accompaniment to many dishes, steaming or teppanyaki (metal plate) cooking, or the preparation of Scandinavian and Italian concoctions.
This open, refined style of cooking invites diners to sample small portions of creative compositions:
– Cold: chaud froid de sole contisé de truffe noire, minéralité de céleri et salinité de coquillages, pistachios (delicate salt served cold with the addition of black truffle).
– Warm: onctueux soufflé au fromage à la vapeur, foie gras croquant, Albuféra sauce, truffe blanche d'Alba (steamed cheese soufflé, crispy foie gras, Albuféra sauce, white truffle from Alba).
– Vegetables: Epinards monstrueux de Viroflay, en soupe à la scamorza, râpée de noix de muscade brûlée (spinach from Viroflay, soup with grated and roasted nutmeg).
– Ravioli and pasta take precedence: pumpkin tortelli with melted butter and parmesan in homage to Nadia and Giovanni Santini.
– Fish and meat, accompanied by tempura vegetables: Lamb, stewed la vapeur, lait fermenté et condiments (steamed catfish, fermented milk and spices); Wagyu grade 4, en vrai Stroganoff, pailles of pommes de terre fleurées au paprika; Boudin noir et côtes de cochon de lait, à la plancha, salade d'herbe folle (Stroganoff, potato straws sprinkled
with paprika; black pudding and pork ribs, grass salad).
– Tasty desserts: frozen coffee parfait, salty pistachio cream, “boudoir” sponge cake with raspberries and frozen milk mousse.
All tastes are welcome. You can also indulge in two tasting menus to discover a menu of a thousand flavors.
Open seven days a week in a contemporary space within a historic venue, Pavyllon was created by Yannick Alléno to share his modern vision of social life.
Yannick Alléno turned to interior designer Chahan Minassian, who has designed numerous spaces at the Hôtel Crillon and numerous residences around the world. He favors a luxurious and refined style, paying particular attention to the selection of fabrics and textures. A relationship of trust between the chef and the interior designer was forged from their first meeting. "Our approach is the same; his is on the plate, mine is in the spaces. We complement each other naturally, so for this project, we worked hand in hand.".
Both share the same goal: to delight everyone who comes to enjoy their moment at Pavyllon. To welcome everyone in a space where everything is cohesive and where every detail counts. To ensure absolute comfort for everyone, awakening their senses. Chahan Minassian thus created an impressive bar made of metallic wood with a bronze sheen, which is continued by
a set of colorful mirrors. This bar surrounds the kitchen, the central element where the dishes are created. Geometric patterns of enameled tiles are interspersed with small, smoked mirrors, reflecting the garden.
The seats shimmer with velvet and suede, the walls are covered with oak paneling, and matte and glossy details contrast. Everything is done in soft shades of gray and green. It's a subtle reminder of the nature that surrounds the restaurant.
The tableware has been selected to create a link between the surroundings and Yannick Alléno's cuisine: exclusive designs designed by the best craftsmen (Jaune de Chrome – glazed porcelain plates, Mepra – stainless steel cutlery with a matte coating, Sarah-Linda Forrer – sublime table decorations, etc.).
Materials harmonize with each other. Textured surfaces mingle with refined ones. Tempura is presented in a display case, and sauce coasters are made of mother-of-pearl. Every detail has been carefully considered to achieve harmony,
making the tasting experience more inviting and social.
Pavillon Ledoyen
The Pavillon Ledoyen in the Champs-Elysée gardens, acquired in 2014 by Yannick Alléno, now the only person to hold a license granted by the City of Paris for 15 years, is the most prestigious venue for Parisian chefs, where art takes center stage. The renovation and installation of a new kitchen—the first phase of which was completed in 2016—was essential given the high standards of the other restaurants, which employ around 150 people and host numerous culinary events: the Salon des Champagnes et des Pâtisseries Fines, the Salon des Vins de la Vallée du Rhône et de la Truffe, cooking classes, and receptions and banquets.
A place with history
The Pavillon Ledoyen was originally a modest inn owned by Sieur Desmazure, which opened in 1779 near Place Louis XV (now Place de la Concorde), in the Champs-Élysées ambassadorial district. On August 4, 1791, Desmazure leased the premises to Antoine-Nicolas Doyen (also known as "Ledoyen"), who expanded it and attracted a clientele from the conventicles (who frequented the Jeu de Paume in the Tuileries Gardens). Later, in 1848, architect Jacques Hittorff, responsible for the development of the Champs-Élysées gardens, commissioned its relocation to its current location near the Géorama. A century later, on July 1, 2014, Yannick Alléno, a multi-starred chef, received a license from the City of Paris and began renovating the establishment.
material courtesy of: Yannick Alléno
