The cloakroom attendant at Paris’s renowned La Tour d’Argent seemed almost as pleased to see us as we were to embark on our long-anticipated celebratory family dinner in this famous restaurant looking down on the Seine.
But while our focus was the menu and, in particular its ‘caneton d’argent’ (literally silver duckling), her eyes were only for our elegantly attired but un-tied 20 year-old son who had barely enough time to take off his coat before she pointed him towards a rack with eight dark ties waiting for similar offenders and ordered him to put one on.
En route from the entrance to the lift my son’s equilibrium was immediately restored by spotting a photo of Ronaldo, the great Brazilian footballer, taken in the cellars of the restaurant underneath an autograph of Pele which stirred my own, longer-held memories of what is now referred to as ‘the beautiful game’.
By the time we had reached our table at the far end of the restaurant and next to the bay window all thoughts about dress code had vanished. What lay in front of us was a wonderful tableau of a restaurant still evocative of a stately bygone era.
Although it is the restaurant’s panoramic views which so many remember, the view back across the dining room is almost as impressive. The restaurant is on a split level joined by three broad steps which allows the whole room to take on the aspect of a late nineteenth century painting with the waiting staff in bow tie and tails definitely a match for the equally elegantly dressed clientele.
Everyone seems to have their precise station in this moving still life. Over on the right the genial man in charge of the restaurant’s famous duck press (he has a counterpart in the restaurant’s other section by the front door) seems to smile every time he receives an order (written on paper, of course – no computer terminals, or pin numbers, here). The rail at the stairs provides a suitable vantage point for the 87 year old but still ultra-proud owner Claude Terrail to pause after he had been introduced to the host of every table to watch the scene unfold, one that has not significantly changed for decades. And just to reiterate that this is France, there under one table is a dog, small, pampered and silent.
In the middle of the room a plump, confident man walks to and fro with an enormous book clasped to one cheek in the manner of a supremely confident barrister. But these are happily not briefs but rather one of the most extensive and heaviest wine lists I have ever come across, a huge telephone directory of between 12 and 13,000 wines which the English sommelier David Ridgway has so assiduously put together over the past 20 years. With a list as long as this, he presumably needs the memory which enabled him to recall the exact circumstances of our last visit in the late 1980s.
While Le Tour d’Argent’s reputation rests on its long culinary tradition, which dates back to 1582, and in particular its kitchen’s way with ducks and desserts, it is in fact the wine list which holds the key to maximising your pleasure. In preserving this tradition the kitchen still offers a relatively limited range of dishes which are, however well cooked, unquestionably rich in both content and presentation.
It is important therefore to find some balance in the choice of wine and to bear in mind that as this list has been slowly and scrupulously accumulated the prices of the older vintages are therefore remarkably gentle for a restaurant of this standing. We drank a delicious 1990 Faller Schlossberg Riesling (95 euros) and a 1991 Gevrey Chambertin Abeille from Ponsot (109 euros), both less than the least expensive wine on the list at the three star Michelin Arpège across town. And even the Japanese couple next to us chose well despite spending 1,400 euros on a bottle of 1991 La Tâche. This wine can easily cost 850 euros retail.
Our Riesling acted as an excellent foil for their signature starter, quenelles of pike with a mushroom duxelles, a dish that will evoke happy memories for those readers who can remember the era, 25 years ago and more, when this dish was obligatory on the menu of any aspiring classical chef. And as though to prove how tastes change, the one younger person to choose this dish and who has grown up with stronger flavoured dishes did find this dish somewhat bland.
There is no doubt that their ‘caneton d’argent’, in two services with the breast and a sauce from the blood of the duck and then the leg with béarnaise sauce and a salad (which certainly could have been more interesting), is extremely rich – but opting for a relatively peppery version of the sauce countered the richness without overpowering the red burgundy. And while it may not be too critical not to be disappointed in a dish that has been on the menu since restaurants began, what was impressive was the execution of the other dishes: a fillet of brill with a rosé champagne sauce; noisettes of lamb with haricots verts; and beef with an unctuous macaroni stuffed with diced foie gras (quite flavourful enough for younger palates).
My bill for six came to 1,030 euros, £753.34 or just over £125 a head, considerably less than I had paid for a far less satisfactory experience at Arpège, to which Michelin awards three stars to La Tour d’Argent’s two.
But what was most impressive was the lasting impression this restaurant left on our party which spanned three generations and an age difference of 67 years with more than one commenting that this was the best experience that they had ever enjoyed in a formal restaurant.
In a world where lists, points and tables are regrettably ubiquitous it is a pleasure to recommend a restaurant which is quite simply in a class of its own.
La Tour d’Argent, 15-17 Quai de la Tournelle, 75005 Paris, 01.43.54.23.31
Closed Monday and Tuesday lunch.