Where to eat? Here is our short list of 35 favorite Paris restaurants, which we’ve ranked based on anonymous and repeat visits. We never accept press invitations or freebies, so you can trust that our opinion is still independent, after nearly a decade of reviewing Paris restaurants.
Tomy & Co. currently holds the #1 ranking in our list of favorite Modern & Creative Restaurants in Paris. I loved chef Tomy Gousset’s cooking when he was at Pirouette, but this signature restaurant has just blown me away. The room is comfortable and a little plain, which is to say it fits nicely in the 7th arrondissement, but Gousset’s cuisine is thrillingly modern. He is a master of using herbs, acidity and texture to elevate sometimes humble ingredients like beef tongue or tête de veau. His compositions are intricate and colorful, making them a dream for Instagrammers, but flavor and balance are not sacrificed to beauty. Those who like to try different wines will love their list with a rotating cast of 20 selections by the glass. Service is on point and supports, rather than detracts from the brilliance of the kitchen. The menu changes regularly enough to warrant repeat visits, and I for one can’t wait to go back.
Marc Sibard, manager of Caves Augé and wine buyer for Lavinia, was found guilty on July 6, 2017 of multiple counts of criminal sexual assault, sexual harassment and psychological harassment against his female employees.
Mensae currently holds the #3 ranking in our list of favorite Modern & Creative Restaurants in Paris. In a simple dining room, way up on the Belleville hill and not far from the sprawling Buttes-Chaumont park, some of the best bistro fare in Paris is being served. Comfort food like frogs’ legs dripping in garlic butter and crispy pork belly with braised cabbage share space on the menu with brighter fare like confit trout with beets and horseradish, or a falling-apart lamb shoulder with creamy beans and preserved lemon. There’s a lunch menu at €20, a three-course dinner menu for €36, and a wine list with many good bottles for less than €35 – all of which make this an exceptional value for Paris.
Between September-December 2014, we anonymously tested all nine of the Paris restaurants that hold three Michelin stars, along with seven others that are considered to be shining examples of haute cuisine.
In discussing the three-star restaurant L’Ambroisie, which ranks among the most expensive in the world, people often bring up a quote by chef Bernard Pacaud. “Someone’s first meal here is never their best,” he once said. “It takes at least two or three meals for us to learn the customer and for the customer to learn us.”
This was true for food blogger Adam Goldberg, who wrote a scathing report of his first meal at L’Ambroisie. After returning more than twenty times, however, he declared “I am now certain that this is the finest French restaurant in the world.”
Haute cuisine is not exclusively about what’s on the plate. Elaborately choreographed service, the spectacular number of dishes, the depth of a wine cellar and sumptuous surroundings – these are arguably the elements that separate restaurants with two and three Michelin stars from their starless competitors.
If we look exclusively at the food, however, ignoring the chandelier that twinkles overhead and the plush pedestal propping up our handbags, there is still much to celebrate in haute cuisine.
More than 100 years ago, a tire company named Michelin began telling people about their best options for eating while motoring around the country. Travelers wanted to know what was worth a detour or a special journey, and that’s still the case today. The question I’m most frequently asked by our readers is where to go for a special blow-out meal. You want to celebrate a birthday, an anniversary, a victory. You want to seal a deal, whether business or pleasure. You’re willing to drop some cash, but you don’t want to feel like a fool.
Until now, I’ve had a hard time answering this question. I know well the landscape of the city’s classic bistros, modern French restaurants, and food-loving wine bars, but this class of two- and three-star tables is a different terrain entirely. There’s an obvious barrier to understanding these restaurants: the staggering, outrageous, almost immoral price of a meal. Prior to this project, in which I anonymously tested every three-star restaurant in Paris over a period of twelve weeks, I had only visited a handful.
This is no longer included among the favorite 350 addresses that make up Our Guide to Paris Restaurants. We’ve maintained this page so that you can refer to the practical information and other reviews of interest. Feel free to share your own opinion in the comments.
A bare bones room lined with shelves of natural wines, a tiny kitchen turning out simple and dishes; this doesn't immediately feel like the kind of place a person would cross town for. And yet many do. Booking is imperative.