Why Room Service Breakfast in Paris is So Great

During my normal life, I’m not usually a big breakfast guy. Most days start with some oatmeal and yogurt, maybe some blueberries and a muffin. But when I’m staying a luxury hotel, especially when that hotel is in Paris, I tend to order a huge, hearty breakfast. I always make sure I have all the food groups covered: the bacon group, the pastry group, the berry group and the cereal group. Since I usually spend the whole day walking around, I think it’s OK to overindulge a bit.

I just returned from a wonderful stay at the Shangri-La Paris, one of my favorite luxury hotels (and one of the best luxury hotels) in the world. Each morning of my stay, you know I had a big room service, sorry in-room dining, breakfast which I enjoyed with my view of the Eiffel Tower.

My Breakfast

I usually get a variation of the same thing for my room service breakfast. I like a Continental breakfast which is usually a muffin or baked goods, coffee and juice. I will usually add a protein side order like bacon or ham. This is sometimes called an American breakfast, which typically includes a hot main dish like scrambled eggs and a side meat order like bacon or ham (along with the things from the Continental breakfast).

At the Shangri-La Paris, I had what they call the La Bauhinia Breakfast, named for one of the hotel’s two excellent restaurants. The price was EUR 59 and it included a hot beverage, a cold beverage, pastries, a choice of hot main dishes and two sides. I had a hot chocolate, a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice and scrambled eggs. I added a side order of bacon along with a bowl of fresh berries. The bread basket included croissants and mini baguette rolls. Everything was seriously delicious and just perfectly prepared and presented.

The Food

The key point about a Shangri-La Paris breakfast and why it’s so delicious, is that each individual item, each ingredient, condiment, etc. is the best you can get or make. The bacon comes from a special butcher the hotel sources its meat from. The orange juice is made fresh, with the best, freshest oranges available. The butter is from a special farm in Normandy, an area of France known for its excellent dairy products. The hot chocolate is made from milk from that same dairy farm, sweetened with Alain Ducasse chocolate. The eggs for my scrambled eggs also come from a specific farm, known for their amazing eggs.

The Service

Aside from the luxurious accommodations and Michelin star-level food (the hotel’s Cantonese restaurant Shang Palace holds the only Michelin star in France awarded to a Chinese restaurant), the Shangri-La Paris provides warm, deeply personal service, something you can find at every Shangri-La hotel around the world. The breakfast was brought promptly, within about 35 minutes of ordering and the presentation was on-point, as you can see in the photos. The food is presented on a rolling tray with a hot box that keeps the hot food hot during delivery. Upon arrival, they take out the hot items and present a formal meal for you.

The View

No Paris breakfast is complete unless it includes a view of the Eiffel Tower and my room at the Shangri-La Paris featured a lovely view of Paris’ greatest icon. The hotel also has terrace suites (and fantastic signature suites) which directly face the tower and have private outdoor spaces where you can sit and enjoy the view.

The Shangri-La Paris

A true palace hotel, the Shangri-La Paris (10 Avenue d’Iéna, 75116) started out life as the palace home of Prince Roland Bonaparte, great-nephew of Napoleon. Built in the late 19th century, the mansion sat atop a hill, offering wonderful views of the city. Interestingly, the mansion was built after the erection of the Eiffel Tower yet faces the opposite direction. Even Prince Roland’s private apartment, now a fantasic suite, faces away from the tower. This is likely because Prince Roland shared the common opinion of the time that the Eiffel Tower was a modern monstrosity, a blight on the beautiful Paris skyline and certainly not something the Prince wanted his private apartment to face.

Read more of Freddy Sherman’s take on travel on his Go World Travel Blog. You can also follow more of his adventures at luxuryfred.com, on his @luxuryfred Instagram feed and on his YouTube channel.