Ducasse au Château de Versailles hosts business lunches and group meals by day, and fully private dinners and cocktail receptions at night. The evening brochure lists dinners for 25 to 100 guests and cocktails for 40 to 150. The restaurant, called ore by day, occupies the first floor of the Pavillon Dufour, inside the gates of the Palace of Versailles, and is run by the Alain Ducasse group.
Seminars and company events
During the day the restaurant is open to visitors from Tuesday to Sunday, during palace opening hours, and it takes group bookings and private use of its rooms. Offers include breakfast, two- or three-course lunches and afternoon tea, with menus designed by the chef for events. A sales manager organises site visits and tailored programmes.
The evening is where the venue differs from any other restaurant. Once the palace has closed, the restaurant is booked for a single group from 7:30 p.m. to midnight, with a flat fee for exclusive use on top of the cost of the meals. Several formats draw on the court of Louis XIV. The Table royale opens with the head steward striking the floor with his staff to announce the meal. Le Grand Siècle serves an 18th-century style menu on reissued Marie-Antoinette porcelain, with staff in full livery. Other formats include a gentlemen's table, a cocktail named after Molière's Tartuffe and a wine dinner designed by Gérard Margeon, head sommelier of the Ducasse group.
Before dinner, a private tour of the palace can be arranged when available. The group brochure describes guided visits of the kings' private apartments, for up to 25 people, and of hidden passages, for up to 20.
Weddings and receptions
The quote form lists weddings among the event types, alongside company dinners and group meals. Private dinners and cocktails follow the same evening formats as company events.
Rooms and capacities
The restaurant has two main dining rooms, a bar called Le Gobelet (17 m²) and a row of three salons with taupe panelling. The Salon Le Vau covers 33 m² and seats 18 to 30. The Salon Le Nôtre covers 48 m² and seats 48. The Salon Le Brun covers 24 m² and seats 24. The Cabinet des Architectes, 50 m², looks over the avenue de Paris on one side and the Cour Royale on the other.
The group brochure also presents an auditorium of 148 seats under the roof of the pavilion, with a 72 m² Grand Foyer and a 28 m² Petit Foyer.
Catering
All catering is by the restaurant. Nina Belin, trained in the Ducasse group's Paris restaurants and in London, leads the kitchen, and Arnaud Dutertre is pastry chef. By day the menu is contemporary French cooking; at night the menus draw on historical recipes adapted to modern taste, served in the French style.
History and setting
The Pavillon Dufour was built in 1814 at the end of the Old Wing, as a counterpart to the Pavillon Gabriel. Its interior was redesigned by the architect Dominique Perrault under Frédéric Didier, chief architect of the palace. Guests reach it by crossing the Cour d'honneur from the Place d'Armes. Windows open on the Cour Royale and the Cour d'honneur, and mirrors in the salons let guests seated with their backs to the windows see the palace. The design by Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost uses gold throughout, with lighting inspired by 17th-century ruffs and command batons.
Getting there
The address is Pavillon Dufour, first floor, Château de Versailles, Place d'Armes, 78000 Versailles. The palace is about 20 km west of central Paris, and the nearest station is Versailles Château Rive Gauche on RER line C.
