Café Jacques – vision, design, art, culture, culinary and also landscape

Café Jacques – Vision, Design, Art, Culture, Culinary and Landscape by Yulia Prilik-Niv

Is chef Alain Ducasse's new restaurant at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris part of the museum restaurant trend? Is it a fitting tribute to Jacques Chirac?

A few days before New Year's Day 2019, French statesman Jacques Chirac passed away. Chirac was the President of France, Prime Minister, and Mayor of Paris In the past, his name was associated with government corruption and thus he dropped from the political and public stage. However, he was also a man of vision, a statesman of the past, who saw beyond the upcoming term or the personal chair. He certainly saw those too, but he also did quite a bit for the people who elected him. One of the projects that recently opened and bears his name, regardless of his death, by the way, is the Café Jacques restaurant and cafe, and this is not just another Parisian cafe. There are several interesting facts behind it that justify coverage and a visit to the place.

Alain Ducasse creates elegant yet accessible food

So the culinary side of the restaurant is in the hands of the celebrated and Michelin-starred chef, Alain Ducasse. He serves elegant food, but what, based on freshness and simplicity, as he defines it. Although Ducasse is at the helm of the restaurant, the pricing is quite accessible and you can have a full lunch here for 27 euros, which includes two of the following courses – a starter, a main course and a dessert. It's worth it by all accounts. Dishes on the regular menu are priced at 48-42 euros for a main course and 15 euros for small dishes and salads. By the way, according to Ducasse's official website, he controls no less than 69 restaurants around the world, from cafes and chocolate boutiques to luxurious restaurants in hotels, fromFrance Through Japan, China and Singapore to Las Vegas.

Ducasse serves his elegant food in a superbly designed space overlooking theEiffel Tower, one of the city's icons. Certainly now that Notre Dame is being renovated... Interior designer Aliénor Béchu from the Agence Volume ABC studio is responsible for the design. The designer chose tables with armrests and thin leather chairs with brass legs from the Italian brand SCAB, all in a clean, modern space, on a polished concrete floor and wide glass display cases. The urban garden was designed by Gilles Clément. Both those sitting inside and certainly those sitting on the terrace outside can admire the view of the Eiffel Tower while eating from the cuisine of one of the world's most famous chefs, and all in a fairly cultured and upscale atmosphere.

Quai Branly Museum

The restaurant is part of a larger complex – and this is where Chirac comes into the picture. The restaurant is located in the Quai Branly Museum, which is dedicated to the arts of Africa, Oceania, Asia and America. This is what Chirac dreamed of and worked to establish since 1998. The museum is currently showing the Paradise Palace exhibition, which deals with paper art from Taiwan in the context of funeral and burial ceremonies (on display until October 27) and the 20 YEARS OF COLLECTION ENRICHMENT exhibition, which is everything that is not European in art (on display until June 2020). The exhibition features about 500 diverse works curated by about 12 art curators. This is a small part of a huge collection of non-European art that includes about 78 items in the possession of the Ethnic Museum. The restaurant space is largely a contrast to the ethnic exhibits within the museum’s walls, so these are definitely two different visual experiences.

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Quai Branly Museum. Photo: Cyrial ZannettacciVue de la vitrine AM021 presenting les costumes de la "Diablada".
Collection 70.2010.31*

What can you eat after wandering through the museum? Aesthetic dishes such as shrimp in a spicy coconut curry, spinach and basmati rice; a juicy piece of beef with polenta or gratin; Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon; lemon meringue tart and in general there is a rather attractive dessert display; and other dishes, including vegetarian and vegan ones. There is also a dish dedicated to Chirac – brioche bread dotted with various seeds, a vegetarian meatball made with lentils, corn, beans, onions and spices, all served with a green salad.
Gourmet and refined food, impressive scenery, design, culture and art that stimulate the senses, and Paris – we don't think there's a better combination than that.