A Parisian luxury hotel doesn’t always need a big announcement to capture the imagination.
Here, summer is brought to life through three humble elements: paper, vanilla, and strawberries.
The Royal Monceau – Raffles Paris transforms its terrace into an ephemeral stage, more artisanal than spectacular.
Since June 10, 2026, the terrace and Bar Long at the Royal Monceau – Raffles Paris have been serving two ice cream sundaes created by Yazid Ichemrahen, the hotel’s pastry chef and world champion in frozen desserts. The level of detail goes beyond a mere seasonal offering: the ice cream is made on-site using a soft-serve machine to achieve a texture crafted fresh to order.
The decor features the sunflower as its main motif. Large, oversized paper flowers adorn the terrace at the hotel’s entrance. This approach is interesting because it eschews literal imitation. The paper is neither a natural flower nor a neutral decorative object; it introduces a deliberate, almost theatrical fragility into a place often associated with the permanence of the Palace.
The first dessert, chocolate, features an ice cream made with two types of vanilla—Madagascar and Tahiti—a semi-baked chocolate cake, a chocolate shortbread with fleur de sel, caramelized pecans, and a Passionato 62% dark chocolate sauce. The second, strawberry, combines the same vanilla base with a strawberry visitandine, diced Anaïs strawberries, strawberry jam, and a strawberry water sauce. Priced at twenty-five and twenty-eight euros, these “Objets” fit squarely into the Palace’s precise pricing structure: neither a restaurant dessert nor a simple treat for the terrace.
The Royal Monceau, built in 1928, reopened in 2010 following a renovation by Philippe Starck, and designated a “Palace” hotel in 2013, already has an identity deeply rooted in the arts: Art Concierge, Librairie des Arts, an art gallery, a 99-seat private movie theater, and a private art collection. The summer terrace extends this theme without overdoing it. It transforms the entrance into a light-hearted installation and turns the frozen dessert into a seasonal treat.
This type of offering matters because it reveals a subtle shift in luxury hospitality. The experience is no longer confined solely to the suite or the gourmet dining table; it extends to accessible, almost fleeting moments that give the place a brief but desirable memory. Summer at the Palace becomes a limited-edition experience.
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