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Africa's week in pictures: 19-25 January 2024

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he mythology around one of Paris's most famous restaurants, La Tour d'Argent, is legendary and far-reaching. The restaurant in the 5th arrondissement overlooks the Seine River and the Notre Dame Cathedral, and is often described as "the oldest restaurant in Paris" with a history that dates to 1582. It is famous for its signature duck dish, which is prepared theatrically in the dining room, and its 300,000-bottle wine cellar.

If the restaurant's claims are to be believed, it's here that King Henry III picked up a fork for the first time and popularised its use in France. 

Its reputation has attracted a long list of powerful and influential diners throughout history, including Queen Elizabeth II, Theodore Roosevelt and John F Kennedy, as well as Charlie Chaplin, Salvador Dalí, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The 2007 Pixar animated film Ratatouille was also inspired in part by La Tour d'Argent.  

So when the restaurant reopened in August 2023, after a 15-month renova

So when the restaurant reopened in August 2023, after a 15-month renovation, it caused a major stir among the city's gastronomic glitterati, most of whom wrote glowingly about its renaissance, which now includes a ground-floor bar, luxury hotel suite, rooftop terrace and an open kitchen in the dining room.

The last time La Tour d'Argent closed for renovations was in 1936, when then owner André Terrail moved the restaurant from the ground floor to the sixth floor of the building on Quai de la Tournelle where panoramic, floor-to-ceiling windows offered sweeping views of the city. More than 85 years later, his grandson, also named André, has spearheaded a new chapter in the restaurant's long and storied legacy.

"Our number one goal is to extend the Tour d'Argent experience," the younger Terrail said in an interview in the restaurant’s new Bar des Maillets d'Argent, a polo-themed cognac bar in honour of his father and predecessor Claude, who was captain of the Paris polo team.

Source: CNA
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