Hôtel Marignan Champs-Elysées is a new luxury boutique hotel in central Paris. The main restaurant in the hotel is Spoon by the fabled chef Alain Ducasse and they recently opened a “lounge”, this oh-so-trendy concept in the restaurant world today. The lounge, called 15cent15, also run by Ducasse, is a good place to have a less ambitious lunch in a relaxed and comfortable setting with a definite “club” feeling. Lunch dishes cost between 15 and 25 euro and there’s an interesting selection. For example, a wonderfully succulent salmon tartar (18 euro) or a foie gras poëlé (very quickly fried foie gras – 16 euro). In the evening the 15cent15 transforms into a tapas bar with a wide choice from 5 euro. The wine list has a few interesting wines by the glass (could be more), e.g. a white Côtes-du-Rhône from Domaine Perrin (of Beaucastel fame) that is very nice, nutty and herbal. Perhaps they could overall have been a bit less traditional in their wine selection. There are not really any nice and imaginative surprises – more safe bets. And why does a boutique hotel choose as a house champagne one from the huge co-operative Nicolas Feuillatte…?
