If you have been following my Instagram for the past week or so, I’m traveling around Paris, Nice and Monaco and eating quite well. Please note, these posts are not in any particular order (chronological or even about preference of a restaurant, hotel, etc.).
Le Meurice is a beautiful seven-story, hotel palace located between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde, it’s in the best location in all of Paris, especially for museum lovers (but beware the flood of tourists).
The opulent Restaurant Le Meurice (2* Michelin) looks pulled straight out of Versailles with its gilded moldings and rococo paintings. Le Dali, the other restaurant, where we had the afternoon tea is made to look askew in a cheeky aesthetic nod to the namesake painter, a former Le Meurice resident (most notably, the restaurant’s ceiling).
Afternoon tea at Le Dali (Le Meurice serves dinner only), is very good since this the afternoon tea menu is overseen by Le Meurice’s executive pastry chef Cedric Grolet. (You might have known him probably by his beautifully delicious Instagram feed @cedricgrolet.)
We ordered delicious tea (it’s from the famed luxury tea brand Mariage Frères) and shortly we were served slices of fresh baked kugelopf with dried apricots, currants and topped with sliced almonds. Beautifully made
The tiers consisted of fresh baked plain scones and chopped pecans and toasted coconut that were delicious paired with the clotted cream and luscious lemon curd.
The neatly pressed rectangles of tea sandwiches were freshly made and delicious with the harmonious balance of the filling to bread. My personal favorite of the four provided was the thinly dried roast beef with lettuce and cheese (the other sandwiches served were lightly curried tuna, caprese, and vegetarian.)
On the sweets end of the spectrum, they are as good as it tastes. From the tier, the chocolate fig cookie was delicious. Not just because I love fig but the soft, fudgy dark chocolate cookie almost melded to the sweet fig.
The full-sized vanilla tart tasted like a toasted marhsmallow. The chocolate peanut Paris-Brest reminded me of a Snickers bar sans the nougat filling (and I mean this in a good way of nostalgia). The white chocolate peach dessert is a beautiful fragile dessert made of a white chocolate shell airbrushed with colored cocoa butter to mimic the look of a peach and filled with whipped cream and a peach compote. The citron menthe eclair was a delicious pastry of mint and lemon with a crispy shard of flavored of lemon, which really made this pastry different.
It’s a very good experience where the food and beverages were delicious. The Le Dali is an elegant restaurant that one cannot help but stare up at the unusal ceiling and linger over cups of tea or drinks. Since time didn’t really give us time to pause, we headed over to the Louvre (and it’s barely a five-minute walk away from Le Meurice).
To view more photos of this tea, please CLICK HERE for the set of view the gallery below:
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Information:
Le Meurice
Website
228 Rue de Rivoli
75001 Paris, France
Phone: +33 1 44 58 10 10
