Le Clarence
“Two stars survived the handover: Andrea Capasso now cooks the house's freewheeling sequences in the Dillon mansion. Book it to impress clients.”
About Le Clarence
The mansion belongs to Domaine Clarence Dillon, the family firm behind Chateau Haut Brion, and Prince Robert of Luxembourg built the restaurant inside it like a private residence: salons on the second floor, fireplaces, oak and silk, a cellar drawn from the family's own vineyards. Since opening in 2015, Le Clarence has behaved less like a business than a house that happens to feed you, at 31 avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt, a few steps off the Champs Elysees.
The kitchen changed hands in September 2025, when Christophe Pele left after a decade and passed the stoves to Andrea Capasso, his lieutenant of six years, thirty years old and trained at Lido 84 on Lake Garda and at Pavillon Ledoyen. Michelin settled the succession question at the 2026 ceremony by confirming both stars. The house style survives: no long printed carte, just sequences that collide land and sea, quail with oyster, sweetbread with squid, decided by the morning's produce.
Formats stay simple. Lunch from Tuesday to Friday runs three sequences at €150; dinner brings five sequences at €280, with a carte blanche stretching further for tables that give the kitchen full control. The wine list reads like a family album, Haut Brion and La Mission in depth across great vintages, and the sommeliers pour beyond Bordeaux with real curiosity. Book two to four weeks ahead through the restaurant's site; the salons hold few tables and Friday goes first.
The Room
Second floor salons in a Second Empire mansion: parquet, fireplaces, paintings that belong to the family rather than a decorator. Tables are large, spacing is residential, and conversation stays private without hush. Jackets fit the room; ties are optional. Ask for the salon overlooking the courtyard when booking; small parties get the fireside tables in winter.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
Le Clarence is not a general purpose luxury. It has specialties among occasions, and they are these.
For the client who owns a cellar
Bring the guest who talks Bordeaux. The list runs deep into Chateau Haut Brion and La Mission across decades, poured in a mansion owned by the same family, and that provenance impresses more surely than any tasting menu marathon. The sequences keep the meal moving while you talk. Ask the sommelier to build the evening around one great bottle; the kitchen will cook toward it.
For an anniversary that wants a house, not a restaurant
The second floor salons feel borrowed from a wedding you wish you had attended: fireplaces, silk, a table that is yours for the evening with no second seating pressing behind it. Five sequences at €280 give the night shape without trapping you for four hours. Say the word anniversary when booking and the house treats the table like family guests; the courtyard salon suits two people best.
For terms agreed over a €150 lunch
The weekday lunch is the discreet power format of the 8th: three sequences at €150, ninety minutes if you ask for pace, and salons private enough that numbers can be said aloud. No menu negotiation interrupts the real one, because the kitchen decides. Book the smaller salon, put your counterpart facing the window, and let the house's quiet confidence do the framing.
What to order
The kitchen decides the plates, so your decisions are the format, the salon and the bottle. These are the calls that shape the evening.
- The carte blanche at dinner
Give the kitchen full control and the sequences stretch to their true length. Capasso's cooking argues best when nobody interrupts it.
- The land and sea collisions
Whatever form the quail and oyster or sweetbread and squid pairing takes that week, it is the house signature; do not trade it away.
- One great Bordeaux over a pairing
This is the cellar of the Haut Brion owners. Pick a vintage with the sommelier and build the meal around it.
- Lunch as the entry point
Three sequences at €150 buys the same kitchen and the same salons for close to half the evening ticket.
Practical
- Address
- 31 avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt, 8th
- Reservations
- Restaurant site · two to four weeks ahead for dinner
- Menus
- Lunch €150 · dinner €280 · carte blanche beyond
- Stars
- Two Michelin stars, confirmed 2026
- Chef
- Andrea Capasso, since September 2025
- Wine
- Haut Brion and La Mission in depth
- Dress
- Jackets expected, ties optional
- Nearby
- Grand Palais and the Champs Elysees
Questions diners ask
Is Le Clarence worth it?
Yes, and the 2026 guide settled the doubt: both stars survived the change from Christophe Pele to Andrea Capasso in September 2025. Lunch at €150 is the honest test, dinner at €280 the full argument, and the mansion setting has no equal in Paris at this price. Wine drinkers get the most from the address.
How do I get a reservation at Le Clarence?
Book direct through the restaurant's website. Dinner tables in the salons go two to four weeks ahead for Thursday and Friday; lunch, served Tuesday to Friday, usually opens within the week. Parties above six should email the house, since the private salons absorb celebrations that the main rooms cannot.
What is the dress code at Le Clarence?
Jackets suit the house and most men wear one; ties are optional and the salons read residential rather than starchy. The rooms are warm in winter and the code follows the architecture: polished, classic, nothing loud. You will sit deep and long, so comfort matters more than at any counter.
What does dinner at Le Clarence cost?
Lunch runs €150 for three sequences and dinner €280 for five, before wine. The cellar can double the bill as gently or dramatically as you choose; great Bordeaux by the glass keeps it civil, while the family's famous vintages run to four figures. Plan on €200 to €500 a head all in.