"Our guests like us because we're like a townhouse in the middle of Paris", says M. Roland Linhardt, General Manager of the Lancaster. "We are known for our personalised service and the ability we have to make people feel that they are someone. At most hotels people check in and out without anyone at the hotel ever knowing who they are, but here I make people feel that they are someone. At most hotels people check in and out without anyone at the hotel ever knowing who they are, but here I make it a point of personally greeting every guest. If I am unavailable when a guest arrives, I will ring them at the first opportunity to ensure that they are being properly looked after".

Situated only a short walk from the Champs'Elysees, the Louvre, the Lido and of course the Eiffel Tower, the Lancaster was originally built in 1889 as a private house for M. Santiago Drake del Castillo who converted the premises into four flats - one for each existing floor. The house remained in the Castillo family until 1925, when Santiago's successor, the Countess sold it to one M. Emile Wolf who set about transforming the building into an hotel, which he named the Lancaster. Monsieur Wolf retained the period features and added four more floors between 1925 and 1928. It was during this time that the Lancaster's reputation as a haven of luxurious privacy in the heart of Paris was established. M. Wolf took great pride in saying: "I don't have clients, I only have friends!"

Completed finally in 1930, the conversion was aided by Wolf's housekeeper, the daughter of an antique dealer, and together the two filled the rooms with period antiques and objets d'art - a mag-

lovingly maintained history. In two private rooms, the Salon Berri and the larger Salon Fontenoy provide a soothing sanctuary where top level business negotiations can proceed in absolute seclusion before dining under chandelier lit ceilings at a table set with the finest linens and crystals.

The friendliness and warmth that has made the Lancaster so famous with discerning travellers around the world is contagious amongst their guests, no matter how well-heeled they may be. Friends are made and in some cases later married, en route to this secluded oasis which can engender a club-like fraternity amongst its patrons, and M. Linhardt recalls one such happy event in which the Lancaster played no small part, albeit unwittingly.

"During the air show, which happens every two years, all the Parisian hotels are full and we are usually booked two years ahead for this period. Suffice to say, it is a very hectic time. One year, a client rang at the last minute saying that he had to come at all costs. Since he was an important and loyal client, I told him that I would see what I could do to accommodate him. He was arriving that evening by Concorde from New York, but I had no rooms and two guests to accommodate, one of whom had brought a partner without forewarning.

"Well, the gentleman arrived and we only had that one suite available for the other guests, but I told him that if they didn't arrive within the hour, he could have the room. Just then, a very beautiful woman walked in, gave us the reservation name and recognised the gentleman - they had travelled over on the same plane. When she and her partner, who had since arrived realised that this fellow didn't have a room, they made their own arrangements and had me place a spare bed in the sitting room of their suite for one night. The next morning they all sat in the courtyard and had breakfast together and then the woman and her partner left whilst our client remained. Three weeks later, that same lady returned to stay without her friend. She and the gentleman she had met on the plane were now engaged and about to be married! So due to the Lancaster, they will hopefully share a very happy life together!"

Despite the moniker obtained from Lancaster in England and that town's Coat of Arms embellishing the name, M. Lindhardt - himself with a background in English hospitality and distinctly multi-cultural ties, firmly maintains that the Hotel's character is as French as fresh brioche and cafe creme.

"While many of our guests are English, we do not see ourselves as an English style hotel", he says when asked to comment on the influence of the Savoy group upon the hotel's identity. "We may not have a lot of the typical Baroque furniture many identify with French hotels, and we do offer a butler service which is unusual for France, but we are otherwise French. Our restaurant, for instance prepares traditional French cuisine with wonderful French wines and champagnes to complement it. And of course we are in the very heart of Paris itself!

"My own association with the Lancaster began back in 1985 when I was appointed General Manager here after three years with the Savoy Hotel in London, and the Ritz before that. I even have a son who was born right here in Paris. My wife too is French, whilst our daughter was born in London and I was born in Germany where I did my hotel training and apprenticeship. Yet here I am today, running a French hotel in the most French city of them all!"

TOURNEDOS EN CROUTE 'LANCASTER'

6 beef tournedos of 180g each

600 fresh morels

3 shallots

250g creme fraiche

1/2 litre stock

50ml port

800g puff pastry

Quickly brown the tournedos in some butter, remove from the pan and allow to cool down. Sauté the morels and add the chopped shallots. Allow to cool.

Place half the mushrooms on top of the tournedos and encase them in the puff pastry, folding the edges over. With some reserved strips of pastry, make a lattice pattern over the top of each tournedo case and brush with butter. Bake in hot oven until browned.

For the sauce, heat the cream and stock together, then reduce. Add the remaining morels and the port. Nap the sauce around each tournedo parcel and garnish with the morels and parsley sprigs.

HUITRES CHAUDES ROCKEFELLER

Services Six

36 oysters

500g spinach

350g butter

3 egg whites

3 shallots

10ml port

500ml dry white wine

salt, pepper

Carefully open each of the oysters, gently prising the meat away from the shell, saving any of the juices.

Poach the oysters in the cold white wine. Heat just until the temperature is in the vicinity of 800C. Allow to cool.

Wash the shells and dry them in a piece of linen. Roughly cut and wash the spinach. Drain. Cook the spinach leaves in 150g of the butter with the chopped shallots. Season and add a touch of pastis if desired.

Garnish the insides of the shells with the spinach and place on top, one of the poached oysters.

Place the three egg yolks in a saucepan over a very gentle flame or a bain marie. Add half a glass of the oyster juice. Beat the mixture with a whisk until you have obtained a creamy consistency and it is fairly thick. Take the mixture off the flame and continue to whisk for one more minute.

Then very gently, incorporate bit by bit, the remaining 200g of melted butter, continuing to beat all the while. Adjust the seasonings once more if necessary.

Nap the oysters with this sabayon. Place them under the grill to gently brown. Watch the grilling very carefully as the sabayon will colour very quickly.

Arrange the oysters on each plate on top of a doily to secure, in a circular wave shape. Garnish with lemon wedges in the centre.