Let's rewind the tape a bit and go back to August of 2022 when my inlaws came to visit my wife and I while we were living in France.
They had traveled to Paris many years previous, with their friends, and at that time they had all planned to eat dinner together at the Jules Verne restaurant located in the Eiffel Tower. At some point during their vacation their friends had backed out of the dinner plan and together as a group they went someplace else. My mother in law had told us the story a few times, saying that it was a regret of hers.
The trip to see us provided a new opportunity for her to cross that wish off of her bucket list though, so we made a point of reserving a table early in advance. We requested a late lunch seating and took the train into Paris and walked over to the restaurant. At the time it had one Michelin star but now I see online that it earned a second one, this year in 2024.
We checked in with the hostess in the small foyer at the base of the tower and then we were escorted up to the second floor via the restaurants dedicated elevator.
The inside was decorated very modern and simple with wood tables and comfy chairs, elegant dinnerware, and some select pieces of artwork on the walls. It was nothing too extravagant but looked sleek nonetheless.
When you go to the restaurant you're not really there for the decor though, the main feature is the view.
I took the photos of the interior after dinner when most of the people had cleared out and the tables had been cleaned. It looks extra plain in my photos but I didn't want to do the uncouth thing and snap off photos when we first walked in or when people were eating.
Each table had a dedicated server and a sommelier came by to help with wine selections.
Something a little funny and sort of awkward feeling was that anytime someone got up from the table to use the bathroom a server always popped out of nowhere to accompany them to the facilities. Then they waited outside the bathroom and accompanied them back to the table. I think it was meant to be very accommodating, like a high level of service or something, but it felt a little odd and unnecessary to me and a little awkward.
We did the five course tasting menu which came with a few additional amuse buches.
To be honest I can't remember what everything was that we ate. I wasn't taking notes during the service and the menu has changed since then.
I'm going by memory here so I may be wrong, but I believe that the dish above and below was a type of fish in a miso sauce with a caviar garnish.
The next course below was a white fish (obviously). The black sprinkles on top was dehydrated kalamata olives which were meant to replace salt in the dish. This was a trend that I caught onto in the fine dining restaurants in France when we were there. Dehydrated olives as salt - clever.
The next dish was lamb. I remember that for sure and I remember it being very good.
My father in law ordered from the a la carte menu and he got the filet mignon with Hollandaise sause.
It was served with potatoes and was a very simple and classic sort of dish.
Next came the cheese course with herbs. I won't even attempt to guess at what kind it was. There are over 1200 different cheeses produced in France so who can say what any particular one would be called?
Next we got into the desserts which seemed to be never ending.
They started with assorted fruits and sorbet based desserts.
Then they moved into a choclate course. Shuffle and a crispy gavotte, which is a thin crepe rolled and cooked into a biscuit. That is still on their menu now so that one I was able to look up. It was also quite delicious.
After all of that we ordered lattes which they served with mini homemade candies.
After dinner we're were able to go outside to the tower balcony. It was included in the dinner reservation, so that was a nice bonus.
We walked around the perimeter to check out the view for a bit before heading back down.
While up there two guys approached me and asked if I would be willing to do a quick interview.
Without giving it too much thought I agreed and before I really knew what was happening one of the guys hoisted a camera onto his shoulder and the other one held up a microphone and started asking me questions. I'm still not sure if it was for the daily news or for the Paris tourism board or something but they proceeded to ask me about my thoughts on tourism in the city and similar questions.
It was one of those moments where I look back and I'm like, "what the hell did I even say in that moment and why did I agree to it?" I'm sure that I said something stupid and that it's on some sort of permanent video record somewhere but what can you do? It's a memory now and something else to look back on I suppose. If nothing else, it was an interesting conclusion to our restaurant experience.