Paris, France — It’s always been one of The Gourmet Gazette’s favorite Parisian terraces, tucked away on a side street leading up to the Champs-Elysées but worlds away. The Lancaster hotel is more like coming home than going to a hotel. Located on the rue de Berri, the street that the International Herald Tribune called home before moving out to the suburbs, the inner courtyard of the Lancaster is a greenery-filled affair set out in a perfect rectangular square and abounding with great food, drink and talk. This year the summer set is a take on the Dolce Vita of Italy with the family-owned French company Seyladon, known for its outdoor furniture and lighting of exceptional quality, and the Italian furniture designer Fast joining hands to create an iris-themed decor so dear to the house of Seyladon and its president Jérôme Ondo Methogo. 

Meanwhile the bartenders of the hotel’s CopperBay Bar have given a new twist to the classic Italian Bellinis and Negronis and chef Sébastien Giroud has cooked up a quintessentially Mediterranean menu. Even the dishes are a pretty pastel and the patio comes to life, « As it would in a family home, » commented the hotel’s director Lyderick Jadaud. And for those of us who have known the Lancaster over the years, it does indeed feel like home.  

The terrace has a quietly elegant almost summer cottage-like feel with comfortable chairs, beautiful design touches, plants, plants and more plants including iris-filled pots and in general a nurturing atmosphere. « Italy, its colors and vegetation, especially the iris have guided the scenario for the Lancaster’s terrace, » explained Mr. Ondo Methogo, « Because this flower brings back childhood  memories and symbolizes beauty, trust, wisdom ». Blue is the dominant color smartly enhanced with white and touches of pink and if it’s possible a pastel orange. The Italian house of Fast conceived the furnishings in aluminium, a material that is light, polyvalent and very importantly recyclable. 

On the Italian gastronomic side of things, the Lancaster’s chef Sébastien Giroud drew his inspiration from the cuisine of northern Italy and has called upon small-scale Italian growers and producers to supply the ingredients for his sunny dishes. Summer truffles, mozzarella tastings, grilled vegetables and a fish of the day are all on the agenda.  But cocktail time is not far away either with a host of red and pink cocktails coming your way with the Piedmont’s red vermouth enjoying a place of honor. An assortment of light dishes like anchovy or artichoke creams are among the offerings. All tolled, a Parisian Italian getaway in the sun and shade of the Lancaster. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. 7 rue de Berri, 75008 Paris, +33 (0)1 40 76 40 18. http://www.hotel-lancaster.com