French cuisine is renowned for being the best in the world, so it’s no surprise that food is an art form in Paris. Sampling amazing dishes in the magical atmosphere of the City of Love is definitely a privilege.
I travel a lot to Paris for business, meaning I’m lucky enough to try new restaurants every time. Inevitably, there’s another marvelous restaurant to add to my recommendation list with every passing day. And as you all know, once is never enough for a city like Paris. Below I’ve listed some Parisian restaurants in alphabetical order.
Some of these places boast three Michelin stars, and some have none, but all of them will surely leave you feeling more than satisfied. If you’re in the French capital, definitely make your way to as many of these places as you can. Restaurants with three stars in Paris generally host no more than 50 people and are usually closed two days a week. Tourists who are willing to shell out a lot of cash while traveling generally check the Michelin Guide for such a rated restaurant to eat. Such tourists then ask the concierge of their hotel to make a reservation for one of the restaurants for each day they are staying in Paris. With so many people coming to these restaurants in such a manner, it’s no wonder that these well-off tourists constitute the main guest group of these fine-dining establishments.
Occasionally, economic crises may create a brief dip in terms of popularity, but never for very long. These restaurants have such an ambiance, quality, and service that such tourists won’t abstain from paying a lot for such a fine dining experience. I reckon this is also one of the reasons behind the always rising prices of three starred restaurants in Paris. If you’re a knowledgeable wine person, you can make your choice easily with a large wine list. But even if you are, you might also want to learn something from the sommelier of the place. For instance, you might want to taste wines that you don’t know about to enhance your knowledge. In Paris, places with a good wine menu have at least 2,000 types of wine. In the end, these kinds of wine cellars might be worth more than the restaurant itself.
APICIUS
Apicius, a place I’ve mentioned before, is a restaurant owned by a 50-year-old chef, Jean-Pierre Vigato. It’s located in a grand historical villa in a garden, meaning the restaurant is very spacious – to the degree that you almost forget that you’re in a metropolis. The reason Apicius is on my list is their excellent tasting menu. Sometimes, they have two tasting menus, although you can make changes if there is a dish that you don’t fancy in the menu you choose. Apicius has an extensive wine menu and, even better, its prices aren’t even that high. Apicius is, however, slowly becoming more popular, making it harder to arrange reservations. This increasing popularity is naturally reflected in their prices, but apart from this, the food is great! Apicius has a charming terrace used in the summer. They don’t serve dinner on the terrace, although you can have drinks there before your meal. Back in the day, Apicius’ lunch used to be cheaper, but now that it’s hard to make reservations for either lunch or dinner, the lunch menu’s price is the same as the dinner menu. Still, if you’re willing to shell out a little bit for good food, then Apicius is a nice option.
AUBERGE BRESSANE
There are some restaurants around the world I wish I could live within walking distance to, to be able to eat everyday there, enjoying the simple and delicious food. Auberge Bressane is one of such restaurants. This place has a Burgundy kitchen, with a strong concentration of Burgundy in the wine list. The service is friendly and fast, with constant attention the guest in this small food heaven. As it seats only about 30 people, it gets full almost every lunch and dinner. There are also some tables in front if you would prefer to eat outside. For me, a must-go each time I am in Paris.
EPICURE
Épicure, located in Le Bristol Hotel, is a Paris restaurant I truly love. There are many “palaces” in Paris, but Le Bristol is the only hotel located in one of these buildings. The hotel has a very pretty yard, but unlike some hotels, Épicure doesn’t cover the top to create a winter garden, meaning you can only eat outside when the weather is good. The restaurant accommodates up to 40 customers, seven days a week, for lunch and dinner, unlike most Parisian restaurants with two or three stars that usually stay closed on Saturdays and Sundays. A comfortable place, Épicure has great service and a very good wine menu. They even have three different sommeliers on hand to help you choose your wine.As for the menu, Épicure has a number of dishes with fish and vegetables; while I really appreciated that they have white truffles on the menu as well, you can also find black truffles from Perigord in their season. The place isn’t very crowded at noon, so the prices are better at that time of day. The menu might be more limited at that time, but you still get the same service and the food is still amazingly good.
LE PUR
Le Pur is located in the Park Hyatt Hotel. A place with one Michelin star, Le Put only serves dinner and is closed on Sundays. Jean François Rouquette is the young chef of the place. They prepare light dishes with a very large menu. Naturally, the dishes are fairly simple and, accordingly, reasonably priced. They also have some nice surprises for amuse bouche... On my previous visit to Le Pur, I was not so happy about the wine list. There are, however, now two sommeliers at Le Pur who are great at matching wines and informing diners about what’s on offer. I went to Le Pur with a guest of mine, asking for the tasting menu with wine pairing; at the time, neither of us fancied any meat, so we asked to switch the meat dishes to fish. That, of course, necessitated a change in the wine pairing, but the sommeliers had no problem immediately changing our wines properly. We were served wines we had never tasted before, and we liked all of them.
MONSIEUR BLUE
Monsieur Bleu is a restaurant that bears a lot of resemblance to Ulus 29 in Istanbul. Monsieur Bleu is a place for all ages, thanks in part to a huge bar, nice music in the background, as well as a beautiful view of the Eiffel. The best part about Monsieur Bleu is that you can dine outside in the summer with a nice view of Paris. They serve in two sessions: the first one at 7:30 p.m. and the second at 9:30 p.m. If you’re up for eating quickly and then leaving, make reservations for 7:30, but if you want to continue at the bar, choose the second session. As the night continues, the place turns into a bit of a nightclub, drawing in the chic and the famous with its vibrancy and live music, which is in contrast to other upper crust French restaurants. I took my daughter and her friends to the second session; they loved Monsieur Bleu so much that we stayed there for hours after our dinner was over.
NEIGE D’ETE
Neige d’été is a small French restaurant with one Michelin star. It has room for just 30 people, in part because they have a huge open kitchen that takes up a third of the space. For a second, you feel like you’re eating in the kitchen, but Neige d’été’s ventilation is so good that the smell of the food in the kitchen doesn’t bother you. One of the great things about this place is they serve wine by the glass, but more than that, they also let you have a full or half glass – something that is rare indeed. Thus, you can try as many wines as you’d like to. Moreover, they write the wines they’re serving by the glass each day on a blackboard on the wall. All in all, Neige d’été gets a thumbs up from me thanks to its simple good dishes and reasonable prices.
TAILLEVENT
One of the oldest and most expensive restaurants in Paris. And when the food is that expensive, you’ll inevitably pay a fortune for wine as well. Intriguingly, though, Taillevent is quite relaxed at noon like many top notch restaurants, meaning they serve more reasonably priced menus. So, if you want to try Taillevent and get value, make reservations for lunchtime.