A taste of Versailles as a court insider
Bringing the Palace of Versailles to the dinner table, a restaurant is turning a diner 脿 deux into a liaison dangereuse with staff in court costume, dishes Sun King Louis XIV and Louis XV would recognise and Bar颅oque music throughout.
Costumed actors perform sketches on court scandals 鈥� what really happened at Marie Antoinette鈥檚 鈥榝arm鈥� 鈥� in breaks between courses at ReminiSens in Versailles, which has been dubbed a 鈥�谤别蝉迟补耻谤补苍迟-迟丑茅补迟谤别鈥�.
It is a novel approach to entice tourists and local residents and owner Caroline Masselin has recreated the 鈥榤ood鈥� of the Ch芒teau de Versailles while keeping menus up-to-date.
Adapting period recipes, including a 1729 royal recipe book, chef Marie Bin tweaks them for modern tastes with lighter dishes using more vegetables and fewer heavy p芒t茅s, and combining meat, fish and vegetables in a way never seen at a royal banquet.
This, she said, is because today we eat in the 鈥楻ussian style鈥�, with separate courses, and not the 鈥楩rench style鈥� of serving everything 鈥� sweet and savoury 鈥� at the same time.
Apart from Marie Antoinette, sketches include anecdotes on royal scandals and a 鈥�liaisons dangereuses鈥� style skit on Louis XV and Madame Pom颅padour and they are part of what make ReminiSens different.
Ms Masselin said: 鈥淚 am from Versailles, and visited the chateau all the time. It was a dream to imagine what it would be like to bump into courtiers in the corridors, to dive into the heart of a dinner at court, in rooms decorated so they could be the private apartments of the nobles... to enjoy 鈥榓 journey through history鈥� with all the intrigue and secrets of the time.鈥�
