L’Abeille at Shangri-La Hotel Paris

Even though some of the most highly rated restaurants in Paris are located in hotels, many people eschew them out of a vestigial fear that they’ll be too stately and stuffy. When it comes to the two-star L’Abeille at the impressive two-year-old Shangri-La Paris hotel, this is a major mistake. Chef Philippe Labbé’s cooking not only richly deserves its Michelin credentials but also offers an exceptionally pleasant night out on the town for anyone looking for a very special meal in Paris. Yes, it is expensive, but haute cuisine is inevitably pricey in Paris these days.

Where it differs from similarly exalted tables is not only in the delicate, refined and brilliantly original cooking it offers, but the precise but warm, and very friendly assistance offered by a remarkably well-directed young service team. The mansion that houses the restaurant was built by Roland Bonaparte – Napoleon’s nephew – on a hillside overlooking the Seine in 1896. The Bonaparte connection explains the name of the restaurant, too, since the bee was the Emperor’s symbol. On a recent summer’s night, the French doors overlooking the terrace, which lead to a newly planted courtyard garden, were open, offering the novel experience of listening to doves cooing right in the heart of Paris. The welcome to this handsomely decorated dining room with a huge bouquet of flowers on a central guéridon, wall sconces, and comfortable velvet-upholstered armchairs at tables set with crisp white linen was prompt and cordial.