Most Michelin-starred chef opens floating restaurant on the Seine
Still smarting from being kicked out of his one Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Jules Verne at the Eiffel Tower, one of France's most famous chefs, Mr Alain Ducasse, is pressing on with a new dining concept almost directly underneath it - and it floats.
The 61-year-old, who has won a total of 21 Michelin stars - more than any other chef alive - will be dishing up lobster and foie gras on board an electric glass-walled boat on the River Seine from Sept 10.
"It is accessible, contemporary French high gastronomy - on a boat," he said of the 130-seat Ducasse Sur Seine, an idea he first dreamed up five years ago. It will trundle along the river as diners tuck in.
"It's surely the most extraordinary architectural and cultural trip you can have on a river anywhere in the world."
It is perhaps cruel that the 38m boat docks just in front of Paris' most famous monument, given that Ducasse went to court last month to challenge his eviction from Jules Verne.
Lunch will start at €100 (S$160), and dinner from €150.
Both will feature a 11/2 hour loop of the Seine, past monuments including the Louvre and Notre Dame cathedral, timed at night to bring diners back for the sparkling of the Eiffel Tower's lights upon the hour.
Some critics complain that Ducasse, who became a citizen of low-tax Monaco in 2008, is rarely in the kitchen himself. The boat will be no different. He has charged his former sous chef Francis Fauvel with the food.
The menu will be "a celebration of the seasons and local products" - taking its honey from Parisian hives - and with less of the meat and heavy sauces traditionally associated with fine French cooking.
"We decided to take out the sugar, the salt and the fat, to be in sync with a society that is changing," he said, naming "a very beautiful turbot in a champagne sauce" as one of his favourite dishes.
Ducasse, who has sent food to astronauts onboard the International Space Station, is dismissive of the idea that producing haute cuisine might prove more difficult on a boat.
A 36-strong team of chefs and pastry cooks will prepare everything either on the jetty or in kitchens in the belly of the vessel, which has a wine cellar kept to standard temperatures.
On distinguishing his flashily decorated new eatery from the existing river boats offering dinner cruises along the Seine, Ducasse said: "I was a consultant on the boats of Paris, and I think that has made me want to do better. It's a floating restaurant, not a boat or a barge where you get fed." - AFP
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