The owners spent three years restoring it to 18th century elegance, with paneled walls, painted ceilings, Venetian crystal chandeliers and Florentine period reproductions (comfortable fauteils upholstered with Pierre Frey fabrics). The 1728 opened in August 2004 with chefs and staff imported from Asia.  Mme Yang Lining, together with head chef Yannick Quéré, developed a signature menu inspired by the foods of countries on the ancient caravan route that, from the time of Alexander the Great, linked the Mediterranean with the Far East.   Likewise the 1728’s menu links Parmesan cheese and Chinese truffles, sashimi-style tuna and Dijon mustard, Thai basil and truffled olive oil. A few outstanding dishes that typify the 1728’s cuisine: very rare sashimi-quality tuna in a crust of Oriental spices, duck served with a sweet-sour-peppery sauce of honey, ginger, cinnamon, coriander, orange and sherry, and free range chicken legs, boned and marinated, then sauteed with ginger and citronelle and served with a risotto topped with Chinese truffles.

The presentation as well as the preparation, is top notch, service is attentive but unobtrusive and the tables are set far enough apart so that even with a full house you can hear your companion whisper sweet nothings in your ear.

The overall effect is haute cuisine without preciousness.  And the prices are modest for a restaurant of this quality: most first courses are in the 15 to 25 euro range and main courses are about 30 euros. The wine list is wide-ranging and fairly priced.  For whiskey connaisseurs there are a dozen Scotch and Irish single malts and blends at 12 to 25 euros (the latter for a 1974 Glenlivet or a 1980 Balbair). Even with wine and cheese or desert, a couple can have a great lunch or dinner for under 150 euros.

The owners set “affordable luxury” as their goal in cuisine, service and ambiance and I think they achieved it. Apparently so do the savvy tourists and upper tier French execs and government figures that fill its four dining rooms at lunch and dinner (all through word of mouth – the 1728 doesn’t advertise and doesn’t even have a kit of PR handouts.) Its website (www.galerie-1728.com) deals mainly with the art gallery aspect, showcasing the dozens of period paintings and sculptures that decorate the dining rooms and are for sale.
 
The 1728 is open until midnight every day except Sunday.  On Saturday it doesn’t open until 2:30 pm. Tea is served in the afternoon and features the luscious deserts of Luscious mango, Faubourg attitude, Exhilarated puttis.

Directions are easy: the restaurant is at 8, rue d’Anjou, just a few doors from St. Honoré and close to the rue Royale. If you come by Metro it’s about a four block walk from either the Concorde or the Madeleine stops.

You can find more from their website http://www.restaurant-1728.com

Enjoy!