Paris airport joins gourmet push

Forget the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame. Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport is wooing visitors with its upmarket I Love Paris eatery.

Airports are not usually reputed as culinary destinations in themselves. But the airport is the latest hub in Europe trying to encourage passengers to break their travel in Paris, rather than London and the United Arab Emirates.

The restaurant, which opened last week in Terminal 2E and accessible only to passengers carrying tickets for Asia or the United States, is aiming high.

Three-star French chef, Guy Martin, has masterminded the menu, while Iranian-born, Paris-based architecture star, India Mahdavi, has designed the decoration.

“The aim is to try to make a Chinese traveller prefer to stop over in Paris rather than Heathrow or Dubai,” said Laure Baume, deputy director of the Aeroports de Paris airport agency.

In a nod to the varied palates of those eating in the I Love Paris restaurant, with its view of the runways, classic French dishes such as a blanquette de veau (veal ragout), lobster and vegetarian dishes compete for attention alongside classic hamburgers, as well as tapas. The cheapest menu combination is at 30 euros ($A44).

The outlet isn’t the only one endeavouring to give long-haul passengers a choice beyond the inevitable clusters of fast-food joints common in airports.

Charles de Gaulle also has “Le Frenchy’s Bistro” overseen by another reputed chef, Gilles Epie.

London’s Heathrow airport has already trod the path to improving its culinary offerings by hiring famous chefs Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal.

Ramsay is the name behind Plane Food, offering express menus from STG17 ($A34), while Blumenthal is associated with a fish-and-chips and hamburger place known as The Perfectionist’s Cafe.

Another eatery that opened in Heathrow’s Terminal 2 last year is The Gorgeous Kitchen, run by four female chefs.

In Germany’s airport serving Stuttgart, a one Michelin star restaurant, Top Air, is open to all in the public zone, while in Geneva, starred chefs Gilles Dupont and Thomas Byrne have created the dining room Altitude.

The hoisting of food quality in the airports is explained by the increasingly fierce competition for international travellers.

Upstart Gulf carriers such as Emirates and Qatar Airways are eating into profitable long-haul routes flown by European airlines Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa, and airports are seeking to lift their appeal.

Thus, restaurant options in hub airports are “becoming a major criteria,” Baume said.

“The strategy today for all airports is to not only be a place you are made to pass through, but to become real lifestyle centres, where it’s a pleasure to come to.

“The more the environment becomes stressful, the more we have to deliver pleasure, and gastronomy is about spending time at the table, taking the time to pamper one’s self and to relax.”

The trend reflects what is already happening in the air, with several airlines putting prestigious chefs into their kitchens.

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