Le Cinq
Le Cinq (French pronunciation: [lə sɛ̃k]) is a restaurant in Paris, France. One of three restaurants on the grounds of the Four Seasons Hotel George V, the restaurant reopened in December 1999 following a comprehensive refit of the hotel. Its head chef was Philippe Legendre until summer 2008, when he was replaced by Éric Briffard, who was in turn replaced in October 2014 by Christian Le Squer. The restaurant won a Michelin star in 2000 and another in 2001, and held three stars between 2003 and 2007 and from 2016. The restaurant received positive reviews in The Arbuturian, Libération, and The Daily Telegraph and had been ranked the 80th best place to eat on the planet by April 2017. That month, Jay Rayner of The Observer wrote a negative review, which went viral and was later listed by Eater as one of "The Best Bad Restaurant Reviews of 2017".
History
[edit]Le Cinq is one of three restaurants in Hotel George V, along with Le George and L'Orangerie.[1] The hotel opened in 1928[2] and spent four decades popular with celebrities. By the 1980s, the hotel had been taken over by Forte Group, who were in turn taken over by Granada plc. The hotel festered under their ownership[3] and was bought for $170 million in 1996 by Prince Al Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia, who had spent much of his childhood there.[2] Both the hotel and the restaurant reopened in December 1999; its reopening took twice as long as expected as its construction workers were shackled by gentlemen's office hours by the hotel's wealthy and powerful neighbours, meaning they could only work between 10 am and 5:30 pm.[3]
The restaurant hired Philippe Legendre as head chef, who had previously spent ten years working at Taillevent in Paris, which had held three Michelin stars while he was working there.[3] Under Legendre's watch, Le Cinq won a Michelin star in 2000,[4] a second in 2001,[5] and held a third between 2003 and 2007.[6][7] Éric Briffard took over from Legendre in summer 2008;[8] a book of his recipes, Le Cinq, was published in 2014.[9] Jonesy of The Arbuturian reviewed in June 2012 and described his experience as "like dining in a grand French chateau".[10] Christian Le Squer took over from Briffard in October 2014;[11] the following year, Libération's Elvire von Bardebeleben enjoyed a meal there.[12] The restaurant regained its third Michelin star in 2016;[13] that July, The Daily Telegraph's Jade Conroy wrote that her experience had benefited from the theatrical spectacle and the jazz music occasionally flowing in from the hotel's neighbouring lounge.[14] By April 2017, Le Cinq had been ranked the 80th best place to eat on the planet[15] and Le Squer had been voted Chef of the Year by his peers.[16]
On 9 April 2017, the restaurant was the subject of a review by The Observer's Jay Rayner.[17] His review described the restaurant as "the scene of the crime"[18] that had been decorated in "various shades of taupe, biscuit, and fuck you", with thick carpet to "muffle the screams".[17] Having paid €600, he described his experience as "by far the worst restaurant experience I have endured in my 18 years in this job",[15] exacerbated by having been served "by earnest waiters who have no idea just how awful the things they are doing to you are".[19] Rayner's review went viral[18] and received around 3,000 comments within three days;[20] the extra traffic caused his website to crash.[18] By 17 May, the review had been viewed more than 2,000,000 times and he had been dubbed "the world's most feared food critic".[21] The review was praised by Vox[22] and Vice[20] but criticised by von Bardeleben,[12] François-Régis Gaudry,[20] and by Le Figaro.[12] Rayner's review was listed by Eater as one of "The Best Bad Restaurant Reviews of 2017"[23] and described by Sean Thomas of The Spectator in 2023 as "one of the most famous British restaurant reviews of the last decade".[24]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Four Seasons Hotel George V — Hotel Review". Condé Nast Traveler. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
- ^ a b "Cinq Unsunk". Esquire. 29 January 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ a b c "Return to the glamour of Paris | The Independent | The Independent".
- ^ "First six-star chef feels Michelin has done him justice". The Telegraph. 8 February 2003. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ Fabricant, Florence (28 February 2001). "Michelin Demotes Ducasse, Again". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ "Michelin dishes out awards". the Guardian. 8 February 2003. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ "French Restaurants' Stars Rise and Fall with Release of 2007 Michelin Guide".
- ^ "Simply the 'Best' | The Arbuturian". 27 February 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ "How to Cook Like a Parisian Top Chef". Town & Country. 24 May 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ "Le Cinq | Paris | Restaurant Review | The Arbuturian". 6 June 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
- ^ "Kingdom Holding's Hotel George V, Paris gets 3 Michelin stars". Arab News. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ a b c Burton, Monica (11 April 2017). "The French Are Not Happy About That Scathing Review of Le Cinq". Eater.
- ^ Filloon, Whitney (1 February 2016). "Michelin Reveals 2016 Stars for France". Eater. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
- ^ Conroy, Jade (28 July 2016). "Le Cinq, Four Seasons George V, Paris: restaurant review". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
- ^ a b Rainey, Clint (10 April 2017). "Could a Restaurant Receive a Worse Review?". Grub Street. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
- ^ Rayner, Jay (9 April 2017). "Le Cinq, Paris: restaurant review". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
- ^ a b "Critic Jay Rayner writes searing review of Michelin-starred chef's restaurant". Good Food. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
- ^ a b c "'By far the worst restaurant experience I have endured'".
- ^ Moran, Michael (13 April 2017). "Jay Rayner under fire from French gastronomes". The Jewish Chronicle.
- ^ a b c Staff, Munchies (12 April 2017). "We Asked French Food Critics What They Think About Jay Rayner's Le Cinq Review".
- ^ "Why the 'world's most feared food critic' doesn't deserve the title - Interviews - delicious.com.au". delicious.com.au. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
- ^ Beauchamp, Zack (10 April 2017). "Nothing today will make you happier than this scathing review of a snooty Paris restaurant". Vox.
- ^ Burton, Monica (27 December 2017). "The Best of 2017's Bad Restaurant Reviews". Eater.
- ^ Thomas, Sean (15 September 2023). "French food is the worst in the world". The Spectator. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
External links
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