October is a busy, buzzy month in Paris with Fashion Week just wrapping up, followed by the biggest art event of the fall, Art Basel Paris, the return of concerts at Saint Chapelle and The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the most anticipated horse race of the year.
Hotels and their restaurants are also launching special menus and events to celebrate the season. Here are two that we recently experienced and highly recommend.
Fauchon L’Hôtel Paris
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, internationally, and Paris is participating in a big way with the Eiffel Tower and other city landmarks lit in pink, free breast cancer screenings and tests, and various walks, runs and bicycle races.
The Fauchon L'Hôtel Paris, ranking N°5 among the Best Hotels in Paris by Condé Nast Readers’ Choice Awards 2025, is honoring the Pink October 2025 with a special pre-fixe menu.
The exclusively plant-based menu (plant-based diets are known to reduce the risk of cancer by 15 percent) which has been created by head chef Baptiste Limouzin, uses Japanese inspired ingredients.
We started with a tangy and refreshing mocktail mixed with fresh lime juice, Tanqueray Zero, grapefruit soda, fresh mint sprig, and clinked our glasses as though it was a cocktail, sans the risk of a hangover.
Our sweet potato tataki with umeboshi sesame had the texture of sushi but with a lighter taste, and was beautifully presented on a white, ceramic platter. The delicate celeriac stuffed ravioli was beautifully garnished with bits of red peppercorns and red onions and cubes of cooked quince. Dessert was a fruity, fall mélange of figs, roasted pears and a dab of sublime pear sorbet.
The menu is available for lunch and dinner for €62 (approximately $72) per person until October 31. A sum of eight euros will be donated to The French League Against Cancer, and €1 will be given from the purchase of the Mocktail Madame Fauchon.
Shangri-La Paris
The five-star Shangri-La Paris, which has received the coveted Palace rating, is joining 14 other Shangri-La properties spanning the Middle East, Europe, the United Kingdom, India, the Indian Ocean, and the Americas, for The Taste of Shangri-La.
The special month-long event, The Taste of Shangri-La, celebrates the distinct taste and flavors of each destination’s international chefs.
Shangri-La Paris is offering a dazzling, three-course menu that will impress even the most jaded foodie.
We started with an outstanding first course of sea bream ceviche, with ribbons of mango, and a flavorful marinade of black lime. The server recommended a glass of Francois Schmitt Bollenberg from the hills of Alsace. Alsace is known for its mostly sweet, dessert wines, and we thought it was an odd pairing for the dish we were having. However, once we tasted the dry but slightly fruity pour, it was a perfect match.
The follow up main course, Flying Tiger beef, which was cooked medium rare, as to make it super tender, was accented with a pungent but not overpowering mix of coriander, ginger, and red chilis.
Ordering The Profiterole off the dessert menu, we were expecting choux pastry drenched with sticky, chocolate syrup, and accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Instead, we got a UFO looking sphere covered in chocolate, served on a gorgeous copper plate, which was sublime and not too sweet.
There are two versions of The Taste Shangri-La menu, one at La Bauhinia restaurant on the main floor, which we had, and the second, at the Shang Palace, their Cantonese restaurant on the lower level.
The cost of the menu is €98 (approximately $113.40) per person and served at lunch and dinner.
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