Edouard VII Opera Hotel Paris

The stylishly renovated Edouard VII Hotel is a family-run gem that bubbles with history and oozes Parisian charm. As the only hotel on the impressive Avenue de l'Opera, its excellent location lends itself equally well to sightseeing as to business. A multitude of tourist attractions and companies are located in the vicinity and access to public transport is also just a few steps from the front door (including direct access to Disneyland Paris). Each room (several with parquet floors), with its breathtaking view from the balcony, is luxuriously decorated with traditional French fabrics and provides all modern amenities (soundproofing, king-sized beds, cable-TV, a mini-bar, safety deposit box, direct dial telephone, ADSL and air-conditioning. and Fitness centre in April 2007).Facilities in the hotel also include the Angl'Opera restaurant, bar, coffee lounge, a meeting room and an internet room. Ideal for all travellers: individuals, families, business and groups. As for its restaurant, Angl'Opera, top French chef, Gilles Choukroun - Michelin-starred in Chartres and renowned for the avant-garde haute cuisine of his Left Bank institution, 'Le Cafe des Delices' - brought his gastronomic genius to the Edouard 7 Hotel in its plush dining room designed by the architect F. Foucaut. Gilles' culinary trademark is one of blending, marrying and uniting flavours in ways quite unlike anywhere else found on Paris' food circuit. His eclectic, iconoclastic approach to cooking has earned him his reputation as food-guru extraordinaire; and even as he strays away from more traditional dishes (although Grandma's favourites such as 'hachis parmentier' are always available), his food remains distinguishably French and reassuringly refined. Some would call his cooking 'new wave' others a 'taste explosion' but whatever the definition chosen, where else would you begin with a broth of herbs, ginger, soft egg and foie gras, follow it with steamed ray, poppy seeds, citrus fruits and fennel, and finish everything off with a mouth-watering bazaar of litchis poached in Schweppes, green papaya and verbena?