Few hotels can rival the Shrangri-La Paris for its views of the Eiffel Tower. The building was built in 1896 by Prince Roland Bonaparte, Napoleon’s grandnephew and last male descendant of the family. Many of its main rooms are classified as historical monuments, including the grand salon, modelled on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, but with Napoleon I’s gold bee emblem in bas relief visible throughout. Funnily enough, the prince’s main apartments don’t face the Eiffel Tower, because it was widely considered an eyesore at the time. Fortunately, most guest rooms have breathtaking views of it. From my aptly named Eiffel View Room I was able to enjoy the nightly tower light show, so close it felt as if I could almost reach out and touch it.
Eating and drinking
The hotel’s restaurant Shang Palace, Paris’s only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant, is another draw. It might seem strange to come to one of the world’s great culinary capitals to eat Chinese food, but what food it is. Chef Tony Xu acquired his expertise in his home city of Chengdu, China, where he also earned his first Michelin star.
We started with a selection of classic dim sum, all of which were familiar but made to a level rarely experienced outside China. Next was a revelatory ice plant salad – a vegetable from Inner Mongolia that contains natural crystals, giving it a pleasing, crunchy texture. We also enjoyed an elevated fried rice with lobster, asparagus and brown rice, taking the ordinary to the extraordinary. And, of course, don’t miss the Wagyu beef – a short rib with tofu braised until unctuous in a rich sauce fragrant with star anise.
A great way to get a behind-the-scenes look at how it is all made is to have a dim-sum lesson in the kitchen. Here you will find the best chefs from China, each a master of their own station, from the wok man and the Peking duck master to our own dim-sum teacher, who trained for 15 years before he could be called a master. We made steamed pork and prawn dim sum in a pastry dyed red with beetroot juice. The pastry itself was the most technically challenging part, with the beetroot juice having to be heated to precisely 70C to make the gluten in the wheat and cornflour become pliant enough to knead and roll out. Our efforts were less than expert and, despite the patience of chef Xu and his dim-sum master, we definitely needed the pre-prepared dough they had on stand-by.
Apart from ingredients impossible to source locally, the chefs go to great lengths to procure most of the produce from France. Across all the restaurants in the hotel they focus on using the best local and seasonal ingredients, including the Wagyu beef, which comes from a farm in Normandy – the first farm in France to produce purebred Wagyu. We visited it with the hotel’s executive chef, Quentin Testart. He cooked us possibly the best barbecue I’ve ever had with delicious cuts of beef served alongside simply grilled local vegetables, local wines and amazing bread and cheeses, including the Neufchâtel, a heart-shaped soft cheese made from unpasteurised cow’s milk and one of the oldest cheeses in France. Also with us were the farmers who, with two local vets, have spent years developing the perfect Wagyu beef cattle which are fed on a strict natural diet and are free to graze in the rich pasture.
Things to do
The hotel is in the 16th arrondissement, one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in Paris and a foodie’s dream. If you’re after more traditional fare go for lunch at Le Stella, a typical Parisian brasserie full of locals enjoying the freshest oysters, seafood platters, escargots and other classics of French fare. Another popular lunchtime haunt is Breizh Cafe, serving crepes and galettes made with organic Breton buckwheat. I had wafer-thin galettes with ham, comté, an organic egg and generous servings of Bordier butter, an outstanding freshly churned butter made with organic French milk.
If you’d like to take this butter home then just around the corner is the Marché couvert de Passy, a wonderful food market that is still used by locals rather than being overrun with tourists. Or go to La Grande Epicerie, a veritable gastronomic temple to the best produce on offer where you can find whole fridges dedicated to glorious butters, the best freshly baked breads and patisseries, alongside everything else you could wish for. Don’t miss the cellar with its selection of the finest champagnes, wines and spirits.
After all that food and shopping, returning to Shangri-La Paris was a welcome relief. Set in Roland Bonaparte’s stables is a swimming pool bathed in natural daylight thanks to the French doors leading onto the terrace. As well as a gym and fitness area there is the spa, Chi, offering massages and treatments based on traditional practices from Asian cultures reflecting Shangri-La’s heritage.
The journey
Laden down with food and drink there’s only one way to travel. Instead of the usual hell of airport travel with its endless queues and luggage restrictions, we caught the Eurostar from the heart of the city with bags stuffed with wines and other produce. Travelling Eurostar Premier means we skipped all the queues and settled into the spacious seats to enjoy the immaculate service. After 30 years, they’ve updated their food offerings with the input of a renowned sommelier, a fine French pastry chef and two Michelin-starred chef Jérémy Chan, reinventing the menu with a focus on bold flavours and a celebration of locally sourced seasonal ingredients. It was the perfect end to our gastronomic tour, travelling in comfort and ease. I can only apologise to my fellow passengers for the rather pungent bag of the finest French cheeses.
Natasha Langan was a guest of Shangri-La Paris and Eurostar