Région Pays de la Loire
The cloister around which the priory is organised is the ‘stone heart’ of Saint-Lazare. To bring life back into this space, Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku have chosen transparency. Using freestanding glass partitions, part of the restored cloister has been put back to its original use as a place for strolling, while the rest is occupied by the restaurant. Here the arrangement of tables encourages guests to let their gaze wander outside, towards the garden planted with aromatic and medicinal plants that chef Thibaut Ruggeri comes to pick whenever required. Arranged around two spaces within the cloister, the 88-cover restaurant extends into the chapter house.
The furniture, restrained and contemporary, has mostly been made to measure, sometimes to adapt itself to the restraints imposed by the architecture. The fabric and leather banquettes placed on the chapter house’s stone benches are a case in point. As are the hanging wooden lights, whose unusual shape helps to deal with the difficult acoustics.