SHORT AND SWEET FINDING AUTHENTICITY NORTHERN GEMS ...

designer shops on Avenue Montaigne that include Christian
Dior, Chanel, Max Mara, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Celine,
Valentino and Hermes, guests have the luxury of having their
purchases delivered to the hotel complimentary by the various
shop staff. The hotel is also within easy reach of Rue du
Faubourg Saint-Honore.
No coincidence that when it comes to Parisian culinary
parlance, this hotel manages to trump others. Since 2000,
Alain Ducasse has been running the restaurant of his
namesake at Plaza Athenee. Today, the 3-Michelin star Alaine
Ducasse au Plaza Athenee is a gem among the hotel’s fi ve
other restaurants. Here is where the art of entertaining is
taken to new heights, and where the world slips gloriously
away as you sit to sample the best of French culinary culture.
With a Louis XV ambiance created by French designer Patrick
Jouin, guests will be left speechless with pleasure at the
genius of the cooking.
In a city not always known for warm customer service, the
hotel’s smiling staff take extra effort to make everyone
feel at home. At breakfast, overwhelmed by the copious
amount of pastries in the morning’s breakfast basket – which
came with its own printed guide! – a service staff discreetly
came to the rescue to recommend the best of the loot. On
another occasion, no one batted an eyelash when asked
to recommend alternative places to shop for the budget
conscious, rattling off a list of indelible jaunts at Le Chatelet.
Perhaps the ultimate test to a hotel’s reputation is meeting
the needs of its most important guests: Kids. To this
end, this luxury hotel does all it can to forge the best of
relationships with its junior clientele. Every winter, La Cour
Jardin, a restaurant with vibrant, gutsy sun red umbrellas and
Virginia creepers during the warmer months, turns magical,
transformed into an ice rink complete with skating lessons
for the little ones. For just one month of the year, there are
themed rooms created for young guests. This August, girls can
look forward to a Barbie-themed room while boys can enjoy
a room decorated in all manners of Hot Wheels. The hotel
considers their young guests Very Important Children (VIC) so
much so that they have a dedicated website with age-specifi c
content for 6 to 14 year olds. Plus, in true Plaza Athenee style,
there are also lots of goodies catered especially for them,
such as cookies, pastries, plush teddy bears and pint-sized
bathrobes in the hotel’s symbolic red colour.
“When guests leave the hotel, we’d like to think they have
spent the most amazing time with us,” Maurin says. And,
judging from how Plaza Athenee manages to retain its strong
heritage drivers while balancing this with a revitalised fervour
for the century ahead, it’s hard to imagine anyone leaving the
Plaza anything else but spellbound.
Royal Brunei Airlines operates daily fl ights from Brunei and Dubai to London where
there are connecting fl ights to Paris.
MAY | JUNE 2011 37