Le First, the restaurant at the Westin Paris Vendôme hotel

Step through the doors of the Westin Paris Vendôme hotel to discover the cuisine of chef David Réal and the desserts of pastry chef Florence Lesage at the Le First restaurant.

Nestled within theWestin Paris Vendôme hotel , which itself sits on the prestigious Rue de Rivoli, Le First restaurant welcomes the hungry from the hotel and surrounding area, every day.

Heading up the hotel's kitchens, chef David Réal offers simple yet straightforward cuisine that is of course seasonal and, to put it bluntly, really exciting.

Rest assured: at First, you won't be treated to the eternally lengthy à la carte menu usually found in hotels. No, here the menu is small and clear, and all the better for it.

The menu features three starters, three fish dishes, three meat dishes and three desserts. Simple and effective. Facing the Jardin des Tuileries, we take a seat in the boudoir-style restaurant with its violet and gold hues, and take a look at the menu.

By way of prelude, we turn to the grilled octopus (22€), accompanied by chorizo Bellota and a sauce vierge, a starter full of flavor, beautiful to look at and good to taste; and to the velouté de champignons au thym (24€) with golden croutons and pumpkin seeds on top, creamy to perfection.

The third starter on offer may well catch your eye too, and you'd be right to succumb to it, as it's a slice of poultry and duck foie gras pâté en croûte (20€) made by Arnaud Nicolas, Meilleur Ouvrier de France Charcutier.

The next course is meat for the whole table. The organic roast poultry supreme (32€) accompanied by a fine mousseline of potatoes and chestnuts enchants us with its tenderness; while the grilled pork chop (29€) from the Abotia farm and its Puy lentils delight us with their generosity.

But our favorite dish of the lunch was the excellent tartine of onglet de boeuf (36€), spiced up with a ginger condiment and accompanied by cooked tetragone; a dish you wouldn't expect to find at First, and yet... what a nice surprise!

Now it's time for the desserts lovingly imagined by Florence Lesage, and the young pastry chef, who's got a lot on her plate, works with carefully sourced products. She chooses, for example, to work with Macaé chocolate, a grand cru chocolate from Brazil, with brio; she revisits tiramisu (14€) in a light dessert marked with Ethiopian Moka coffee. She also reinvents the millefeuille in a refined version with caramelized puff pastry and Madagascar vanilla ice cream. A big yes!

Whether you're a guest of the Westin Paris Vendôme or not, Le First restaurant is waiting for you!

Please note that it's been over 4 years since our last visit, so the place and experience may have changed.