Hamish Smith finds himself stopped in his tracks by a Parisian hotel bar that has challenged his preconceptions.
The impossibly palatial scene that confronts you at Bar Les Ambassadeurs at Hôtel de Crillon in Paris has stopping power. And when it comes to bars, I’m not even a décor guy – leave that to the happy clappers in consumer media – but this place, dripping in refinement, has shifted my thinking. I had some pretty entrenched views about London having the most fancy, historical hotel bars in the world. It turns out there are levels. Les Ambassadeurs arches an eyebrow at fancy and fl uff s up its cushions. It is, if only through the prism of aesthetics, one of the wonders of the bar world.
If the bar experience starts at the entrance, there are few better front yards than at Les Ambassadeurs, which looks out to Place de la Concorde, one of the most famous squares in the world. Built in the 18th century, the palace takes you back to before the French Revolution and Mary Antoinette, who took her piano lessons in the palace. Indeed, the high-ceilinged, gilded room which now houses Bar Les Ambassadeurs would have been a fine spot to watch her beheading. More than 1,000 French nobles met the guillotine here, including Louis XVI, whose last glimpses of earth would have included the palace his father erected.
The Count of Crillon had a pretty good Revolution by all accounts – in the sense that he was imprisoned but his head remained on his shoulders – though his ownership of the palace which took his name was rather short lived, passing to the Paulignac family then the Société du Louvre who saw its transition to a hotel in 1909. It might have been a doer-upper, but Rosewood knew a spectacular palace when it saw one and took over its renovation and running in 2013. In recent years it has given the hotel a gastronomic sprucing.
The bar, as always should be the case, occupies the prime real estate of the building – the high-ceilinged, marble-clad room that looks out to the square. The perfect view for rumination. And it’s not just a pretty face. Here, under the leadership of Kevin Rigault – formerly of Swift and Black Rock in London – the bar has one of the most forward-thinking cocktail programmes in the city, bringing seasonal Frenchness to bear in the glass. While London has a tradition of great cocktails in hotel bars, Paris has traditionally leant more into the stuffier side of luxury. Not here. Great drinks with real clarity of flavour and live music fill a room fi t for a king. Bar Les Ambassadeurs is everything you want – and didn’t know you wanted – from a hotel bar.
Hamish Smith talks to bar manager Kevin Rigault
So you’ve got a pretty nice office overlooking a square… without stating the obvious, what attracted you to Bar Les Ambassadeurs?
I’ve been working at Bar Les Ambassadeurs at the Hôtel de Crillon for two and a half years. What attracted me was the opportunity to collaborate with our general manager on creating one of the most exciting hotel cocktail bars in Paris. The vision was to build a world class bar where creative drinks meet warm hospitality, all within the sophisticated and historic setting of the Hôtel de Crillon. The bar blends Parisian elegance with contemporary flair, attracting both a discerning local crowd and international guests. Its reputation in Paris is strong, with many describing it as offering one of the most dynamic and refi ned bar programmes in the city.
Tell us about your menu
Our current menu, The Sense of Taste, celebrates seasonality with 15 distinct flavours, each representing a cocktail inspired by the season in France. We update the menu four times a year, reimagining classics with seasonal French ingredients. Highlights include our Butternut Old-Fashioned, featuring deluxe English whisky, butternut maple syrup, and walnut for a smooth, rich twist. Kiwi, a milk punch with tequila, yellow chartreuse, jasmine tea and citrus, offers a refreshing profile. Another favourite is Clementine, a twist on the Garibaldi using fresh clementine juice, Campari and citrus foam – a bittersweet aperitif and current bestseller. Our approach is simple: reinterpret classic cocktails with seasonal ingredients, blending accessibility and creativity.
You seem to have blended the historic nature of the venue with drinks that are classically underpinned but modern in their thinking – tell us about your process
Our creativity is deeply rooted in classic cocktails. We don’t operate a lab; instead, we reinterpret timeless recipes using seasonal French ingredients. This ensures drinks are both familiar and exciting, allowing guests to explore new flavours with confidence. By blending tradition with innovation, we deliver a menu that’s both accessible and refi ned, perfectly matching the elegance of the Hôtel de Crillon.
How important is it to not just be another international hotel bar but a bar that represents Paris?
A sense of place is at the core of the Rosewood Hotel Group philosophy, and Bar Les Ambassadeurs perfectly embodies this. For more than a year, we’ve focused on using French ingredients, working slowly toward sourcing more from around Paris. While being high volume sometimes makes hyper-local sourcing challenging, our commitment to French seasonality remains at the core. We are continuously working toward being more local, ensuring that our drinks reflect the flavours of Paris while complementing the bar’s refined, historical atmosphere.