Hidden in plain sight on a street of tourist traps, this charming crêperie elevates the genre with organic ingredients, nutty galettes flecked with buckwheat, tender dessert crêpes, flowing cider, and sweet service.
COMING SOON! Master chocolatier and “caramelier” Henri Le Roux is setting up shop in Paris. Salted butter caramel fans, rejoice.
This crêperie brings a little luxury to the genre, plus organic Bréton ingredients, a list of about 20 artisanal ciders, and Olivier Roellinger consulting. Continuous service every day.
International ubiquity might make La Maison du Chocolat easy to overlook on a visit to Paris, but this shop, with its heavenly ganaches, remains a standard bearer.
Jean-Charles Rochoux is one of the few chocolatiers in Paris with a workshop on premise, which makes walking into this shop — filled with aromas of chocolate and caramel — a particular pleasure.
Yves Camdeborde’s beloved bistro, once neo and now classic. Book months in advance for weeknight, no-choice dinner, or just queue up at lunch or weekends for the so-called “brasserie menu”, a free-for-all that can feel a bit like a tourist zoo at times. At worst, it’s sloppy and hectic. At best, it’s delicious.
After early visits to Agapé Substance, both Pudlo and Bruno Verjus invoked the word “genius” to describe 30 year-old chef David Toutain, whose resumé includes stints at L’Arpège, Mugaritz (in Spain) and Corton (NYC). The kitchen isn’t so much open as eat-in; the narrow space seats only 26, and gives diners a view of Toutain’s seemingly improvised cooking. Expect artful, spare presentations, pristine ingredients, and a dash of molecular technique. Lunch menus at 39, 51, and 65€; dinner at 51, 78, and 99€.
Cyril Lignac is perhaps the most mediatized of Parisian chefs, with not only books, but a magazine and television shows, too. In 2008 he took over Le Chardenoux, a historic bistro in the 11th. Now he’s moved into another landmark, the former Claude Sainlouis, in the heart of the Saint Germain, preserving the mid-century décor but updating the menu with his own take on bistro cooking, which is to say: There will be foam. Lunch menu, 25€. À la carte, closer to 50€. Open every day.
Gerard Mulot offers a visual feast of grand cakes and tarts, tiny and tempting petit-fours, chocolates worthy of their own boutique, a case of savory prepared foods, and good baguettes to boot. One stop shopping, à la Parisienne.
Hélène Darroze is one of the only women to have a Michelin star, which is an interesting sociological fact, if not necessarily a reason to eat at her eponymous restaurant. Darroze hails from southwestern France, and her cooking is strongly accented with flavors from that region, here elevated to one-star levels in a modern, luxe dining room, as well as the less formal “salon,” where small plates are available. Menus from 52€ (lunch) to 125€.
L’Epi Dupin has been attracting a mix of loyal locals and tourists (a functioning website surely appeals to the latter) since it opened in 1995. The old-fashioned room was updated a few years ago, and the more modern space is surely more reflective of chef François Pasteau’s contemporary market menu. Two course lunch for 24€, three course dinner for 34€.
Un Dimanche à Paris, run by Pierre Cluizel of the renowned chocolate-making family, is many things. It’s a boutique, selling gorgeous chocolates and pastries; it’s a cocktail lounge and salon du thé; it’s an event and teaching space, offering cooking classes; and it’s an elegant restaurant, where chocolate finds its way into everything, sweet and savory.
Larnicol is known for his whimsical chocolate centerpieces and sculptures, but there’s a whole range of chocolates and candies, many reflecting his Breton origins, as well as his signature kouignettes, a miniature, deeply caramelized version of the classic kouign amann.
Brussels-based Pierre Marcolini is known for his carefully sourced, small estate, single origin tablets, but there’s plenty to please here, from macarons to chocolate-covered marshmallows.
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