Opening a restaurant is like playing service industry roulette. Yet, somehow, Paris’ La Tour d’Argent — quite literally, “The Silver Tower” — says it’s survived 436 years of history on the Left Bank, with a backside view of Notre Dame, as the unmatched king of posh Parisian cuisine. Whether it’s really that old is almost irrelevant; it’s become a cultural truth that Parisians defend just as much as their government subsidised baguettes. This, they say, is where the first three-pronged fork was used, and where Napoleon’s chef worked; where everyone from Marie Antoinette to Marilyn Monroe have feasted on the famous pressed duck, and every single bird, raised on the restaurant’s own farm, has been numbered (they served the 1,000,000th duck in 2003). It even inspired portions of Disney’s Ratatouille. And with Paris’ beloved brasseries tragically shuttered during the pandemic, let’s climb to the top of this storied Silver Tower for a virtual dinner date …
The legend begins with a Monsieur Rourteau in the 16th century, with the opening of an elegant inn on the river Seine, that would welcome noblemen who were tired of dirty and ill-reputed taverns around the old wine docks. It was situated near the long-gone Château de la Tournelle, built with stones of a silvery reflection, which would give the establishment its name “L’Hôstellerie de La Tour d’Argent”. After the French Revolution, the restaurant was re-built at its current location in 1830, but it’s not until 1890 that we hear talk of M. Frédéric Declair, a short, white bearded man with the tiny spectacles who perfects its signature dish: caneton Tour d’Argent, or duck blood pudding:
He also decided that each and every duck should be carefully numbered and that “each guest is given a card with the number of the duck consumed,” reported the New York Times in 2006. “The Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, had duck No. 328 in 1890, and Franklin D. Roosevelt had duck No. 112,151 in 1929.” Back then, the joint was described simply as a place to “eat well and plenty”, and Declair’s numbering system, a long-time tradition of France’s Challans regio, made the experience into a kind of personal ritual.
Have a look at is the silver press they use to serve you the delicacy these days, and which you can take home from their boutique for €9,500:
Parisians loved it — and so did everyone else. The Tower literally reached new heights with its next proprietor in 1911, André Terrail, who hired the King of Egypt’s old chef, attracting the star power of Salvador Dali and Marcel Proust.
He also brought the dining room up to the 6th floor — quite a novelty in a city where the idea of dining in a high rise (or the closest thing to it) still isn’t really a thing…
When the Nazis occupied Paris, André saw to it that a secret room in the wine cave was walled up, successfully hiding hundreds of the restaurant’s most prized and rare bottles, many dating back to pre-revolutionary France.
He passed the torch to his son Claude Terrail, who uncovered the hidden treasures in the wine cave after the war…
“Auctioneers have described going in there as feeling, ‘like being an archaeologist – rows and rows of bottles, as far as the eye can see, many of which have lain untouched for more than a century'”, reported Victoria Moore for Telegraph in 2016, “The prize lot is a bottle of Cognac that pre-dates the French Revolution. Grande Fine Clos du Griffier Cognac is believed to have been made in 1788 and has an estimated value of €20,000.”
If you ask nicely after your meal, the Maitre D will give you a tour of the cellar after dessert. And just take a look at the wine menu. It’s a veritable bible…
Still a family-owned restaurant, currently under the guardianship of grandson André Terrail, it was his father Claude who considered was a gastronomy rockstar. He was initially hoping for a career in the theatre, but his father encouraged him to stay with the family business — and sure enough, under his stewardship, he attracted customers like Maria Callas, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip (on their honeymoon, no less), Ava Gardner, John Wayne, John Kennedy — the list goes on. Also, can we just say, the 1970s photography from the Tour d’Argent archives is a serious mood…
His son André recalls a famous customer once crawling down a rope from a helicopter for dinner. It’s no wonder that Pixar’s animators looked to the Tower as a model for the restaurant at the heart of the 2007 hit, Ratatouille.
“The Tour d’Argent is a place where history’s Greats gather, certainly,” André told a reporter in spring of 2018, “but my father always said that [this place] is for the Average Joe, for anyone who shares our spirit dining as celebration.” It’s a nice sentiment, but the reality is, you’d better save up a few pennies first for a meal at the iconic eaterie. There’s a prix fixe lunch at €105 per person if you can swing it, and we’d recommending waiting for the renovation of Notre Dame to be completed for the full experience. Dress for the occasion – it’s a one of a kind experience after all – and don’t forget to ask for a post-lunch visit to the city’s most legendary wine cave. We’ll leave you with a sneak peek…
