During the pause before dessert we have the leisure to look up from our plates and peer around, glancing into the main dining room with its dark paneling and subdued lighting. Our table is separated from the kitchen entrance by nothing more than a folding screen; the servers all pass by on their way to and fro. Yet no kitchen sounds reach our table, no waiter bound elsewhere passes so close that it invades our bubble: so comfortable and well cared for are we that there is no sense whatsoever of having been cheated of a portion of the full Taillevent experience.