Ducasse sur Seine

Paris, France

If Paris in springtime is a place to love, cruising down the Seine in summer, perusing a menu created by the world’s most Michelin-starred chef, takes the city experience to the next level. Having lost his 10-year lease at the Eiffel Tower’s landmark Jules Verne restaurant last year, Alain Ducasse has upped the ante, decamping to a mooring opposite at Port Debilly, where last autumn he launched his state-of-the-art floating restaurant Ducasse sur Seine. This is no standard riverboat diner – the all-electric barge was custom built to the tune of £9.5 million, employing liberal quantities of clean tech, steel and glass. Fitted out in cool greys with metallic finishes, the light-filled dining area evokes the 1930s, with floor-to- ceiling glass, a carpet printed with a map of Paris and a ceiling formed of undulating copper and chrome waves. Lunch and dinner cruises last just under two hours, and include a loop past all the key sights, and a menu of updated French classics that make the most of what’s seasonal and sustainable, from line-caught pollock and Ducasse’s flavourful signature vegetable ‘cookpot’, to champignons grown below the city’s streets. Oui, Chef.

Words by Emma Ventura