On a recent Indian-summer evening at Versailles, Alain Ducasse was holding court over a small group of Gallic gastronomic writers at a private dinner in a sumptuous salon.
The occasion was to sample the menu Ducasse had created for Le Festin Royal des Cent Marches, his new restaurant at the magnificent 14-room Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle hotel. It occupies a 17th-century brick-and-stone building built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, King Louis XIV’s favorite architect, as well as offices for his court’s finance ministers at Versailles. Following a painstaking renovation, it reopened as a hotel in June and has since become one of the most exclusive and sought-after hotel destinations in France.
