Les Restaurants de Paris

After leaving the prairies in my mid 20s I moved to Montreal, and quickly became somewhat of a Francophile. I was drawn right into the cuisine and depth of the wine lists that I had no real exposure to at home. The idea of an affordable direct flight to France was also quite novel This led into a few trips to Paris, I wanted to taste what fine French cuisine was truly about as I clearly had some catching up to do.

Some of these were enjoyed solo, back-to-back even. Needless to say, I would not recommend this approach. These meals date back 10 years and I don’t have any pictures or notes, so all I will focus on sharing are my general impressions. Listed in order of dining.

Fine Dining:

Allain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee: They had their chicken truffle menu. Classics but not mind blowing.

Pierre Gagnaire: Contemporary French classics, perfect service, subdued room.

L’Arpege: Lovely vegetable/fish-oriented meal. The room is almost casual but service is to a high standard. The lobster flowered plate still registers in my memory. As does a friendly conversation with Mr. Passard in my jetlagged, broken, French.

Le Cinq: One of my favourites, not alone this time, had an impeccable lunch with a beautiful room and perfect service.

Le Meurice: palatial setting, classic food, we had a white fish with a rich beurre blanc preparation as one of the dishes. As compared to the above and below the room, while no less elegant seemed somewhat darker perhaps better suited for dinner then lunch.

Epicure: Another beautiful room with excellent service, with food of a very high standard, deserts stand out. The courtyard in particular was beautiful. A few captivating French memories, there was a model doing a photoshoot there while we dined with a fluffy white cat was not cooperating. Towards the end of our meal an elegant elderly French woman came in for lunch with her dog, the staff immediately gave it a porcelain water dish.

Ledoyen: Classic ancient building, excellent service, wonderful lunch meal. We had arrived that morning, first sip of champagne and amuse buche seemed to instantly erase memories of flight, customs, taxi and remind us what all those extra hours at work can bring.

Kei: Small but classy restaurant and service. Classic french cuisine with subtle Japanese influences that many lessor chefs would overdue.

Less formal:

Akrame: one of the more modern meals we’ve had in Paris, well done.

Sola: Japanese French cuisine, delicate textures and tastes, good service

Ze Kitchen galerie: Well balanced Asian French fusion in a nice left bank neighbourhood

Septime: A friend was recently raving about this place, I completely forgot that we had dined here for lunch until I remembered the striking interior from the photos. Apparently, it is still excellent.

Blue Valentine (now Siasma) casual place for a light dinner short walk down canal from our hotel.

Gare au Grille modern bistro, fresh unique French wine list

Restaurant au passage, fun casual wine bar type place good for those who don’t eat meat

Auberge flora, casual bistro good food

Saturne (now closed), Spring (now closed), Le Sergent recruteur (closed): lovely place on ile st louis

Agape Substance (closed) : Was run by David Toutain, who now has his own namesake restaurant. Small modern place counter style seating. The work ethic he was putting into the restaurant was on full display. However reaming out a assistant was a bit over the top, the stress in the kitchen was palpable.

There are many wonderful restaurants in Paris, including loads of casual establishments, but there are also many poor restaurants, do your homework first. Michelin is quite reliable for France. Parisbymouth is a good blog on the topic, and chowhound had lots of useful info. We had not focused too much on the bistro style French cuisine as this was a particular strength of Montreal where we were living at the time of most of these trips. The contemporary cuisine is certainly excellent, and tends to be more refined perhaps less adventurous then elsewhere. For a first-time visitor however I think fine dining establishments may be the most unique and memorable. The palatial settings along with impeccable service are hard to replicate elsewhere. Keep in mind when considering pricing, tax and tip are already included, and quality wine is generally cheaper than Canada. If you have the budget to travel to Paris (and are not backpacking) you can probably swing for lunch at one of these places, I doubt you will regret it.