La Maison Fournaise, the restaurant on the Ile des Impressionnistes in Chatou

La Maison Fournaise, the guinguette that inspired Renoir's "Déjeuner des canotiers", is reborn with a new decor, a new chef and a new menu. We're off to enjoy a bucolic break by the water.

Located just a few minutes from Paris on the Ile de Chatou, also known as the Island of the Impressionists, the legendary Maison Fournaise restaurant has been revitalized after 2 years of renovation work, thanks to the impetus of Olivier Maurey, President of the Ludéric Group, and Stéphane d'Aboville, the new head chef.

While the exterior retains its charm of yesteryear, the restaurant has been given a new interior design. The interior decor has been renovated to preserve the soul of the building, which is listed as a historical monument. The room is brighter, with a modern art deco feel.

Nearly 150 indoor seats and a hundred on the outdoor terrace awaityou . On sunny days, the covered terraces offer a breathtaking view of the Seine.

Chef Stéphane d'Aboville, a Chatou resident and lover of the place, has revived the cuisine of this restaurant steeped in history. Having worked in the kitchens of the Bristol as Éric Frechon's sous-chef and for 11 years in the kitchens of the Mini Palais, the chef, who has retained from his experiences a quest for the precision of taste, offers us a new menu of fine traditional recipes brought up to date.

The Maison Fournaise menu:

The menu includes fried smelts with parsley, rabbit terrine and frogs' legs. For our part, we're tempted by the Seared Red Tuna with horseradish and fennel ice cream. A lovely dish that combines the roundness of the tuna with the pep of the horseradish to awaken our taste buds. My sidekick opts for the delicious Foie gras de canard mi-cuit à l'artichaut, a lovely combination.

On the main course, we find the traditional beef tartare, creamy zucchini risotto and veal sweetbreads. We opt for the Pike-perch Matelote with red wine and button mushrooms and the excellent herb-grilled Pork Belly, expertly seasoned with a mustard and beet condiment for a sweet-savory match and homemade mashed potatoes.

Then it's on to the cheeses and desserts. For the indecisive, we have the Café gourmand and the crunchy dark chocolate in espuma and sorbet with a heart of bitter orange, which puts on a show when the hot chocolate is poured over it to reveal the glazed interior.

Note that the restaurant offers a daily special: starter + main course or main course + dessert for €28 and €35 starter, main course and dessert. Children can enjoy a 12€ menu that combines chicken goujonnettes, tartar sauce and pommes frites with chocolate brownies and stracciatella ice cream.

For the record, Maison Fournaise is the emblematic inn of the wife of Alphonse Fournaise, canoeist in Chatou. Renoir, Degas, Monet, Courbet and Manet all passed through here. These great Impressionist painters of the late 19th century made the island of Chatou, or ile des impressionnistes, one of their favorite sources of inspiration. This "guinguette" saw the passing of society, from painters to writers such as Maupassant and Flaubert.

Today,it houses a new restaurant and the Musée Fournaise, which presents exhibitions on contemporary artistic movements from the Impressionist era. It also houses a collection on the history of the house and the golden age of the banks of the Seine.