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Alain Ducasse Restaurant
Following up from their earlier design work for the bar of the Plaza Athénée, Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku went on to design the Alain Ducasse Restaurant at the illustrious hotel for the third time. I invite you to discover their vision of the restaurant from their perspective as architects.
Let’s talk about the dining room of Alain Ducasse Restaurant. How do you create a room that is at once different and as remarkable in the morning as it is at night? How do you show that it is different depending on the time of the day?
It’s the same space, but it gives off a different vibe. It was a complex challenge. We decided to create a room that was brighter and much more open. We thus removed the partitions and drew back the curtains. The goal was to make our clients feel good from the moment they arrive. We thus created silver bells in a spirit of airiness and magic, and we worked with historic monuments to evolve a former service corridor at the back of the restaurant. We created a cabinet of curiosities in this space, which is only visible at night. What we wanted was for our clients to feel as if they were in Alain Ducasse’s home to take part in his passion for kitchenware, crystal glasses, and copper objects.
The former Alain Ducasse Restaurant from 2001-2013
The former restaurant of the Plaza Athénée before 2001
How have you overturned the codes of traditional dining?
We’ve reworked the tables of the restaurant to move toward a more natural,purer, and more sensual setting. There are no longer tablecloths; instead, you’ll find a wooden surface. When you place your hands on the table, you will hear the spirit of the 400-year-old wood. Over the course of the meal, the tableware is truly thought out to correspond to what is on your plate. You might find, for example, a lacquered bowl or a wooden spoon. You’ll find a work of great sensitivity and personalization around the plates and the tableware.
A table at Alain Ducasse Restaurant
Discover my other articles on the Plaza Athénée:
The Art of Coming Together at the Plaza Athénée
Chatting with the Head Bartender of the Plaza Athénée
The Living Spaces of the Plaza Athénée
Update
After the departure of multi-starred chef Alain Ducasse from the Plaza Athénée, Jean Imbert will succeed him at the head of the kitchens of the palace since July 2021. Revealed by the cooking show Top Chef broadcast on M6 in 2012, he is in charge of the hotel’s six restaurants, namely the Table Gastronomique, the Cour Jardin, the Galerie, the Relais Plaza, the Montaigne terrace and the Bar. More recently, at the end of 2020 and during 2021, he has begun several collaborations with the luxury house of Dior.
Laurent Delporte, an editor and conference speaker, is a strategic expert in the sector of hotels. A visionary, he brings his unique look on hotels in service to the decision-makers in the industry, whether to enhance the development of new projects or strategic visions.
Laurent has visited and audited over 350 hotels across the world and also participates in mystery visits to provide quality control for the world’s finest hotels.
