FRANCE. Aéroports de Paris has opened “˜I Love Paris’ a new, upscale restaurant at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport Hall L Terminal 2E, in partnership with Elior and Parisian Michelin-starred chef Guy Martin. The outlet aims to showcase the best of contemporary French cuisine.
“I’ve spent so much time here [at the airport] that I’ve really had a chance to study it,” Martin explained. “Paris Charles de Gaulle has become a showcase for all that’s best in Paris. I realised this airport has everything – luxury goods, fashion, style – but it needed a genuinely contemporary restaurant.”
“Elior creates encounters between the art of fine food and the pleasure of getting away from it all,” observed Elior Chairman and CEO Philippe Salle. “This is what Guy Martin offers travellers at I Love Paris in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.”
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I Love Paris aims to showcase the best of contemporary French cuisine |
I Love Paris offers almost continuous service, from early morning to late at night. The Ruinart Champagne Bar takes centre stage, and is open for snacking from 9am to 11pm. There is also a fine dining area open from lunch to dinner, and a Miyou sandwich bar, which offers faster, lighter fare. “I wanted to offer Parisian cuisine that’s right for today: versatile, healthy, honest and stylish,” noted Martin. “The challenge for us and Elior at Paris Charles de Gaulle was to give real meaning to a cuisine that blends tradition with modernity.”
Ingredients are described as healthy, seasonal, environmentally responsible and exactingly sourced. Menu highlights include potage Julienne Darblay, cod aioli, steak with béarnaise sauce and fries, pot-au-feu and Blanquette de veal en cocotte, mango and blue lobster carpaccio with mint, coriander and spices, roasted monkfish and crunchy vegetables infused with star anise and fennel juice, vegetarian soya burger, sesame bread and fillet of duckling.
Designer India Mahdavi drew on the Palais Royal for inspiration, mirroring its arcades fanned out around a bar – in this case an oval shape, with black and white striped sides, overhung by two circles of golden lamps. A glass wall offers a clear view of the airport’s runways. Key materials include green velvet, leather armchairs and stone flooring.
The restaurant’s graphic identity was created by Brigitte Mestrot, and aims to evoke a lover’s note. The musical soundscape was compiled by Béatrice Ardisson.
