Our Guide to Paris: L’Arpège

Alain Passard spins turnips into gold at this vegecentric (but not vegetarian) three star restaurant.

Practical information

Address: 84 rue de Varenne, 75007
Nearest transport: Varenne (13)
Hours: Closed Sunday, Closed Saturday
Reservations: Book many weeks in advance
Telephone: 01 47 05 09 06
Website

View a map of all of our restaurants here.
Average price for lunch: More than 100€
Average price for dinner: More than 100€
Style of cuisine: Modern French
Special attributes: prix-fixe, market-based cooking, prestige ingredients, haute cuisine, superior wine list, exceptional desserts, renowned chef, vegetarian options, open Monday
Type of crowd: suits, foodies
Interior: elegant & luxe
Atmosphere: formal

Trusted reviews

• Patricia Wells (2011) “A big disappointment, once again. We sampled the 120 euro garden luncheon, and Passard turns out to be a real Johnny one note in the potager…course after monotonous, unimaginative course turned out a little more than I could bear of carrots, beets, turnips, onions. Dish after dish I kept waiting for Passard to finish the sentence. But he never did.”
• François Simon (2010) “…Passard…cultive lui-même ses légumes non loin de Paris, travaille le thème dans tous les sens, son restaurant est sans doute l’un des meilleurs observatoires sur le thème.”
• Sophie Brissaud (2009) “…le poème végétal d’Alain Passard s’élève désormais avec une délicatesse infinie, une maîtrise arrivée au stade du jeu permanent.”
• Ulterior Epicure (2009) “…Rarely does a chef cook vegetables well. Even scarcer is a chef who can cook vegetables well AND do something interesting with them…Passard does both, and more.”
• Food Snob (2009) “…there is Passard’s panache and flair, his creative and culinary genius to contend with. This is most keenly felt via his valuable vegetables.”