Epicure
“Arnaud Faye kept all three stars after Frechon's 25 years and lightened the plates. Book Epicure to impress clients.”
About Epicure
When Éric Frechon stepped back in 2024 after 25 years and a long reign at three stars, the safest prediction in Paris was that Le Bristol would lose one. Instead Arnaud Faye, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France who arrived in April 2024, rewrote the menu in his own hand and kept all three through the 2025 and 2026 guides. It is the rare palace succession that reads as a promotion for the diner: the grandeur is intact and the plates woke up.
Faye's cooking turns the palace template toward the vegetal. Vegetable juices and extracts stand where cream and butter used to, colors run brighter, and the kitchen's forty cooks work in two dedicated teams, one for lunch and one for dinner, a scale of ambition almost nothing else in Paris matches. Tasting menus start at €380, and the six and eight course versions must be ordered by early afternoon at lunch, a house rule that tells you how seriously the pacing is taken.
The room remains one of the most beautiful places to eat in Europe: white boiserie, chandeliers and tall glass onto the courtyard garden of Le Bristol at 112 rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré. In warm months tables face the greenery and the palace noise disappears entirely. Service runs at the old standard, unhurried and exact, and the cellar underneath the hotel gives the sommeliers range that few addresses anywhere can call on.
The Room
White boiserie, tall windows and the courtyard garden doing the decorating, with tables spaced at true palace distance. In summer the glass opens toward the green; in winter the room turns golden and hushed. Jackets are expected and worn. This is the most classically beautiful of the Paris three star rooms, and the service brigade moves like it knows it.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
The score explains the kitchen. It does not tell you which night belongs here. These do.
For the client who measures rooms in generations
Palace three stars is its own language, and Epicure speaks it with the newest accent: your guest gets the chandeliers and the garden, and you get the story of Faye keeping every star after a 25 year era ended, proof the address runs on standards rather than nostalgia. Book lunch facing the garden, order the six course tasting before the early afternoon cutoff, and let the cheese and bread services do their slow, persuasive work.
For the anniversary that calls for full grandeur
Some years deserve the whole production: the courtyard garden, the white and gold room, a menu that starts at €380 and treats the evening as an event with acts. Tell the hotel the occasion when booking; palace service excels precisely at marking moments without kitsch. A summer evening with the windows open to the garden is the version people describe decades later. Arrive early for a glass in the bar so the night has a prologue.
For the signature that wants a gold pen
When the deal itself is the occasion, the Bristol's machinery is an ally: doormen, discretion, a dining room where every table assumes every other table matters. The kitchen's two team structure keeps lunch genuinely sharp, not a dinner rehearsal, and the garden room flatters both sides of the table. Reserve through the hotel, mention the business context, and the pacing will leave clean air at the right moments. Close over coffee; the mignardises outlast most negotiations.
What to order
The menu is Faye's now, and the format rewards commitment. These are the calls to make.
- The six course tasting, ordered early
At lunch the six and eight course menus must be called by early afternoon. Commit when you book and the kitchen builds your meal, not a compromise.
- Whatever leads with vegetables
The vegetal turn is the story of this kitchen since 2024: juices and extracts doing the work cream once did. Follow it rather than fighting it.
- The bread and butter service
Palace bread at its most serious, and under Faye it pairs with vegetal butters worth slowing down for.
- The garden side table at lunch
Not a dish, but the decision that most changes the meal. Ask for the garden when you book, and take daylight over chandeliers on a first visit.
Practical
- Address
- 112 rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, 8th
- Reservations
- Via Le Bristol's site or concierge
- Menus
- Tastings from €380
- Rule
- Six and eight course menus ordered by early afternoon at lunch
- Stars
- Three Michelin stars, retained under Faye
- Chef
- Arnaud Faye, Meilleur Ouvrier de France, since April 2024
- Dress
- Jackets expected
- Setting
- Garden facing room at Le Bristol
Questions diners ask
Is Epicure worth it under the new chef?
Yes, arguably more than before. Arnaud Faye kept all three Michelin stars through the 2025 and 2026 guides after Éric Frechon's 25 year era, and his lighter, vegetal leaning cooking modernized the kitchen without touching the room's grandeur. At €380 and up it is a top price ticket, priced for the occasion it serves.
How hard is it to book Epicure?
Moderate with planning. Book two to four weeks out via Le Bristol's site or the concierge; hotel guests absorb some prime slots, so weekends need the most lead. Lunch facing the garden is both the easier and, in summer, the better ticket. Confirm the long menus when you reserve.
What is the dress code at Epicure?
Jackets are expected and the room genuinely wears them; this is the most formal register in Paris dining. Ties are optional but common at dinner. Treat it as you would a state occasion with better food and the evening will fit you correctly.
What does dinner at Epicure cost?
Tasting menus start at €380 before wine, and the cellar invites spending, so plan on €500 to €800 a head fully loaded. Lunch runs the same menus in daylight with the garden view, which is why regulars consider midday the smarter luxury.