Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud review: ‘It's more fun — and less arrogant — than it used to be, and I consider our €404 lunch bill to be good value right now'
I was first brought to Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud as a student, when it was located on James Place East. I didn't know much about French food beyond what I'd learned eating my way around the cheapest restaurants in Paris on the meal vouchers that came with my summer job at Habitat in the Forum des Halles (yes, I have a fairly niche French vocabulary), but I recognised RPG as something special.
The restaurant moved to its current site beside The Merrion Hotel 25 years ago, and I have eaten there on occasion over the years. In the past, I struggled with the formality of the service. I felt it got in the way of the food; it put me off. But I've noticed a gradual change, and the sometimes strangulated French-ness of the past is now gone. The staff are younger, and their accents are from all over the place, not just France; RPG is more fun — and, whisper it, less arrogant — than it used to be.
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While no accidents were shown on live TV, Angela confessed that she did pee herself during her ''I think I would've peed myself anyway, to be honest. But yeah, I did. I remember doing rehearsals for the Charleston and it was quite a ''There was a lot of hopping as there is but ours was particularly bouncy,'' said Angela who partnered with and finished sixth . ''I did the rehearsal and I remember Carlos being like, 'What happened there?' ''And I was too embarrassed - cause we were three weeks in at that point and I didn't know him well enough to be like, 'I just wet myself'. ''I was also so afraid because I was like, 'Oh my God, what if this happens on the show?' ''Because it's a lot to, like, manage that while also managing your steps and also managing all that stuff. 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It's the conditioning. "You're going: 'Oh my god, how am I going to tell her she's not allowed it when I'm sitting there refreshing. "It requires us all to make changes.' 5 Angela partnered with Carlos Gu and finished sixth during her Strictly stint in 2023
