Dining Inside the Palaces

Paris hotel dining has changed. Twenty years ago, the hotel restaurant was where you ate when everything else was full. Today the reverse is true: some of the most difficult tables in the city sit behind palace revolving doors, and the kitchens attached to these five addresses hold nine MICHELIN stars between them.

The map

Star awards follow the annual MICHELIN Guide France selection and menu prices move each season. Confirm both with the restaurant at the time of booking.

Le Cinq: the benchmark

Christian Le Squer's three-star room at the George V is the most conventionally magnificent dining room in Paris: Grand Trianon proportions, sea-foam green panelling, tables set far enough apart that conversation stays private. The cooking is technically extreme but never cold — the spaghetti with black truffle and aged Parmesan has become a modern Paris classic. Expect four hours at table and a wine list that runs to several hundred pages.

The naturalité experiment at the Plaza

The Plaza Athénée's gastronomic restaurant pursues a deliberately austere philosophy: fish, vegetables and cereals, minimal fat, minimal sugar, almost no red meat. It divides opinion — some diners find it the most modern cooking in any Paris palace, others miss the butter. What is beyond argument is the room, with its 10,000 crystals suspended from the ceiling.

The smartest lunch in Paris: L'Orangerie at the George V. One star, a bright glass-roofed room, and a tasting menu roughly half the price of the building's three-star sibling.

The best-value table in each hotel

• Four Seasons George V — L'Orangerie at lunch. One star, ~€120 for the shortened menu.
• Hôtel Plaza Athénée — Le Relais Plaza. No star, enormous charm, and the room Parisians actually book.
• Le Meurice — Le Dalí afternoon tea, under Ara Starck's painted canvas.
• Ritz Paris — Bar Vendôme lunch in the Grand Jardin, or an École Ritz Escoffier pâtisserie class.
• Shangri-La Paris — Shang Palace's set lunch: a starred Cantonese menu at brasserie pricing.

Booking, dress and etiquette

How far ahead

Three-star rooms open reservations 60 to 90 days out and fill within hours for Friday and Saturday dinner. One-star hotel restaurants are usually obtainable two to four weeks ahead. If you are a resident, use the concierge: houses hold a small allocation for guests, and this is the single greatest practical advantage of staying inside the building.

Dress code

Jacket for men is expected at Le Cinq, Restaurant le Meurice and Table de L'Espadon; ties are no longer required anywhere. Smart casual is fine at Le Relais Plaza, Le Dalí, La Bauhinia and Bar Vendôme. Trainers and shorts will be refused at the gastronomic rooms regardless of label.

Timing

Lunch service in Paris runs 12:30–14:30; dinner from 19:30, with last orders around 21:45. Tasting menus at three-star level require the whole party to order the same menu and should be booked for no later than 20:30.

A three-day eating itinerary

1. Day one — Lunch at L'Orangerie, an aperitif at Bar Hemingway, dinner at Le Relais Plaza.
2. Day two — Pâtisserie class at École Ritz Escoffier, afternoon tea at Le Dalí, dinner at Shang Palace.
3. Day three — A slow lunch in the Ritz Grand Jardin, cocktails at Le Bar Botaniste, dinner at Le Cinq.

Further reading

• The Palace Distinction Explained
• When to Book Paris: A Month-by-Month Rate Map
• MICHELIN Guide — Paris restaurant selection