Ledoyen (restaurant) : The Pavillon Ledoyen is a famous restaurant Parisian located in the Ledoyen square of the Jardins des Champs-Élysées, in the eastern part of the avenue des Champs-Élysées (8e district), Dutuit Avenue. It is one of the oldest restaurants in the area. With an area of 1 m620 on four levels, the Pavillon Ledoyen has a room on the first floor classified with Historic Monuments.
The Scandinavian Artists at the Café Ledoyen, one opening day by Hugo Birger, Salon de Paris, 1886.
The walls of the restaurant are the property of the city of Paris, and the current operator is the company Carré des Champs-Élysées, managed by Yannick Alleno (culinary director) and Florence Cane (president).
History of Ledoyen: Initially, a very modest inn measuring 13 by 4 meters, with white walls and green shutters, owned by Sieur Desmazure, opened its doors in 1779 near Place Louis XV (now Place de la Concorde), in the square of the Ambassadors of the Champs-Élysées, near the Café des Ambassadeurs (between the avenue des Champs-Élysées and the current avenue Gabriel). A few crate shrubs separated the inn from the avenue.
On August 4, 1791, Desmazure rented the establishment to Antoine-Nicolas Doyen, also known as Ledoyen, who arranged it and succeeded in attracting the clientele of the Convention members (the Convention sat nearby at the Jeu de Paume in the Tuileries garden), although that the Champs-Élysées district was still quite ill-famed.
Around 1830, the establishment, still owned by the Desmazure family, had been taken over by Delange under the name Café de la Surprise.
In 1848, the architect Jacques Hittorff, in charge of the landscaping of the Champs-Élysées gardens, had it transferred to its current location, in the Géorama square, on the other side of the avenue, at the location of the establishment which had been, under the French Revolution, that of the caterer Dupe.
In 1858, the management of the Pavillon Ledoyen was taken over by Pierre Balvay for 115 francs at the time. Among his staff, he noticed the great professional qualities of a young man from Burgundy like him. His name is Arthur Millon. He became his son-in-law and then took over the management of the Pavilion from 000, the first step in the construction of his Parisian hotel and restaurant empire. In 1881, he in turn passed on the management of the restaurant to his son-in-law, Albert Kieffer (1903-1874).
From 1992 to 1998, the restaurant was run by the chef Ghislaine Arabian, who then becomes the only woman to have two Michelin stars.
From 1998 to 2014, the restaurant was run by Christian Le Squer.
July 1, 2014, Yannick Alleno, a multi-starred chef, takes over the kitchens of this house, while the restaurant is losing 400 euros. One million euros is invested and work is undertaken.
In October 2019, the new restaurant of Yannick Alleno le Pavilion was inaugurated. Located on the ground floor of the Pavillon Ledoyen, the entrance to the Pavyllon is independent from that of the Alléno Paris restaurant and L'Abysse, both starred in the 2019 Michelin Guide France.
At the large counter, gourmets have a front row seat to observe the execution of a fast-food cuisine combining French influence and other culinary traditions: the lightness of the vegetable tempura, served as an accompaniment to several dishes, the cooking on teppanyaki (metallic Japanese plate), or even a few blends of Nordic and Italian cuisine.
In fiction: The Ledoyen pavilion is used as a setting for the shooting of the exterior scenes of the film Le Grand Restaurant with Louis de Funès, in 1966 and the film Prêt-à-porter (1994) by Robert Altman. Some scenes from the film Jet Set (2000) are also shot there. The pavilion was also used for the exterior stages and some interior stages featuring the Carco's Cabaret, held by Gérard Depardieu in the film The Guardian Angels (1995). The Pavillon Ledoyen bar was also the setting for the TV show on Paris Première: Le Jean Edern's Club hosted by Jean-Edern Hallier from 1995 to 1997.
Official website of Ledoyen restaurant - Yannick Alléno
Restaurant Ledoyen menu