At 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, the dishes are served – namely the favorite dishes of the couturier Christian Dior. The French fashion house of the same name has opened a restaurant in honor of the founder under the name ‘Monsieur Dior’. Here you can find out what the fashion designer puts on his plate.
“People come here to experience Mr. Dior’s ethos through cuisine,” says Jean Imbert, the restaurant’s master chef, in a Dior video. For this Imbert went into the archives of the fashion house – from Christian Dior’s drawings, about his way of life and his culinary preferences – in the approach in ‘Monsieur Dior’ haute cuisine meets haute couture.
When creating the menu, Imbert and his co-chef Anthony Clémot also oriented themselves to Christian Dior’s role as host – because the creator of the New Look was a gourmand who always looked after his guests in the Dior atelier on Avenue Montaigne with the best.
French classics infused with modern ingredients reflect the interplay of the past and modernism that has been the creative leitmotif for the restaurant. These include a dish dubbed the ‘Christian Dior Egg’, a salad that pays homage to his sister Catherine, and star-shaped desserts that evoke the signature emblem of Dior’s collections. But Christian Dior was not only a designer, host and gourmand – he was above all an esthete. That’s why the dishes on Avenue Montaigne are arranged artistically – you eat with your eyes.
For the interior design, Dior worked with Peter Marino, a New York architect. “He has a very modern vision, while I had a more heritage vision. We tried to reconcile these two things,” says Imbert. For example, tableware was selected that Christian Dior used himself, but also ceramic and glass utensils from current Dior Maison collections.
The other decorative elements and the interior design are modern, sometimes even futuristic and radiate the modern but classic Dior look. Leather benches upholstered in red and cream alternate with expansive upholstered chairs in a houndstooth pattern, while square and round tables are decorated with gleaming white tablecloths. Carefully selected paintings by René Bouché and Guy Limone, and a decadent wall mirror by Claudia Wieser adorn the restaurant’s walls. Colorful glasses and oversized plates ensure extravagance and break through the clear lines of the interior.
You can read more about the connection between cuisine and couture here: