This Le Bristol Paris Dining and Breakfast Review is from our recent stay at this iconic Paris palace hotel. All told, Le Bristol Paris holds 4 Michelin stars with its 3 Michelin Star Epicure Restaurant, as well as the 1 Michelin Star 114 Faubourg.
TravelSort Clients enjoy complimentary full breakfast for two daily served either in Epicure Restaurant or Cafe Antonia and a EUR 170 credit for food and beverage at Le Bristol restaurants, for stays of 2 or more nights, in addition to a room upgrade at time of booking and the best room in the category, as Oetker Pearl Partner benefits.
Le Bristol Paris Restaurants and Hours
Epicure Restaurant, Chef Eric Frechon's 3 Michelin star restaurant, is open daily for breakfast 7-10:30am, lunch 12noon-2pm, and dinner 7:30-10pm.
114 Faubourg, awarded 1 Michelin star in 2013, is in the style of an upscale brasserie, serving updated French classics. It serves lunch on weekdays between 12noon – 2:30pm, and dinner nightly, 7-10:30pm
Cafe Antonia is open daily for breakfast 8-11am, lunch 11am-3pm, afternoon tea 3-6pm, and dinner 7-10:30pm.
Le Jardin Français is open seasonally from May to October, when the weather permits, for lunch 12noon-5pm, afternoon tea 3-6pm, and dinner 7-10pm.
Epicure Restaurant
For a review of our lunch at Epicure, see Epicure at Le Bristol Paris Restaurant Review
On this visit, I enjoyed breakfast at Epicure in the elegant dining room, which I remembered well from our prior lunch visit.
I especially love that red roses adorn each table–so romantic.
The continental and American breakfast menus are simple, but this belies the superb quality of the ingredients.
I started with some fresh squeezed orange juice and a plate of red berries (fruits rouges):
The basket of breakfast pastries included mini baguettes (which are what most French start their day with, if they have breakfast at all), croissants, pain au chocolat, and my personal favorite, pain au raisin, with plump raisins. Raspberry, blueberry and apricot jams were offered alongside.
Yogurt is a must for me for breakfast, and France has some of the best yogurt in the world–I loved this strawberry yogurt from Jean-Yves Bordier's eponymous cremerie in Brittany.
I also ordered an omelet aux fines herbes with mushrooms and cheese, and it was perfectly cooked–moist but not overly runny as I've found eggs at some other Paris hotels to be.
The cappuccino, which had a “B” in cocoa powder, for Le Bristol, was so good I was tempted to order another, but figured I'd better wake up the rest of my family to try to get them on Paris time.
Cafe Antonia Breakfast
For a change of pace, when my husband and son were ready for some breakfast, they had a continental breakfast at Cafe Antonia, the most casual of the hotel's restaurants. While the breakfast items are largely the same as those in Epicure, there are some subtle differences in presentation and offerings.
For example, the yogurt, instead of being Le Yaourt Bordier, from Brittany, which is served in Epicure, was the more widely distributed yogurt from La Ferme des Peupliers in Normandy (also excellent–we've enjoyed it at Cheval Blanc Randheli in the Maldives and the Emirates First Class Lounge in Dubai).
The red berries plate and cappuccinos were also unadorned, so not as fancy as in Epicure, but just as good.
114 Faubourg
Since we'd arrived that morning on red eye flights, we were happy to stay at the hotel and try 114 Faubourg for dinner, given its 1 Michelin star and positive reviews. It's a wonderful luxury to be able to enjoy a great meal and then take the elevator (or just stairs in our case, as we were on the 2nd floor) to one's room.
As an upscale brasserie, 114 Faubourg is appointed in warm hues, with colorful flower designs on the walls, golden columns connecting the two-floor space, wooden floors, and comfortable partial banquettes.
We were warmly welcomed by the hostess and our server, who was spoke flawless English and was knowledgeable about the menu.
As we were there in November, the amuse bouche was a delicious pumpkin soup with creme fraiche and chestnut.
The bread basket featured both a hearty pain de campagne and a brioche type roll, both served warm, and hard not to fill up on.
Our son ordered a smoked salmon and blini appetizer that he loved:
While there was an unfortunate protracted wait for our entrees, they were delicious once they arrived. My husband ordered the chicken, which came with crispy rolls of chicken with foie gras, while I'd ordered the duck, with confit thighs, butternut squash puree and chestnuts.
We shared a cheese plate that I found somewhat disappointing for the EUR 22 price (I prefer the cheese trolley at Epicure, although it's of course more pricey at EUR 32, or even the EUR 25 cheese trolley at Pur' at the Park Hyatt Paris).
The Guanaja chocolate souffle with cognac ice cream, however, was worth the splurge.
There were also some lovely chocolate mignardises that our server was happy to pack for us to take with us, since we'd all dined extremely well and would enjoy them more the next day, when hungrier.
The Verdict
We enjoyed our breakfasts at Epicure and Cafe Antonia and our dinner at 114 Faubourg, particularly the amuse bouche, the duck with duck confit, butternut squash and chestnuts, and the chocolate souffle. The only issue we ran into at 114 Faubourg, which may have been a one-off, was a long delay to receive our entrees, even though we had an early evening reservation and were among the first to be seated.
I'd love to return sometime May-October to enjoy the beautiful garden setting of Le Jardin Francais.
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Disclosure: We paid a travel professional rate for our stay. The opinions expressed in this post are mine.
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