Septime (return Visit)
One of the the best contemporary tasting menus in Paris, and still one of the most difficult reservation to get.
Notable Wine List
Frenchie (return Visit)
Frenchie is the original outpost from Gregory Marchand, a chef who trained with Jamie Oliver in the UK and Danny Meyer in the USA. They hold one Michelin star and serve a no-choice tasting menu with five courses for 140€. The optional wine pairings are usually excellent. Frenchie opened in 2009 and has been a very tough reservation since at least 2010. Reservations open three weeks before a given date (Mon-Fri) and all tables are usually booked within a few… Read More »Frenchie (return Visit)
Pétrelle
Pétrelle is one of the romantic restaurants in Paris, and it’s also one of the most delicious. Chef Lucie Boursier-Mougenot and her team create a beautiful tasting menu that changes every week to reflect the seasons, and Luca Danti ensures that everyone in the dining room feels very well taken care of.
Bistrot Paul Bert (return Visit)
No longer included among our favorite Paris restaurants.
Le Verre Volé
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.
Juveniles
The casual neighborhood bistro we all dream about, complete with a charming host (Margaux) who remembers your previous visit, and her chef-husband Romain who makes beautiful bistro food in a tiny kitchen. The atmosphere is friendly and familial, despite the posh location near the Louvre. The wine cellar that began with Margaux’s father Tim Johnston remains one of the most delightful and well-priced in the city. The house-made terrine and rice pudding are recommended book-ends to your meal. Juveniles is… Read More »Juveniles
Ellsworth
Ellsworth has had many different iterations since it opened, but all have been delicious. Their most popular dish from the early days – the fried chicken – remains on the menu in small plate size among a changing roster of seasonal dishes. Braden Perkins and Laura Adrian, the duo behind (temporarily closed) Verjus, are raising most of the vegetables and eggs for Ellsworth at their farm outside of Paris, and chef Hanz Gueco is doing incredible things with these fresh… Read More »Ellsworth
Semilla
Semilla is one of our favorite restaurants in Saint-Germain, with an excellent wine list and plenty of options for vegetarians. Open Sunday.
Le Saint-Sébastien
Le Saint-Sébastien is known for its handmade charcuterie, vegetable-driven (but not vegetarian) cooking, and desserts with a savory spin. The 400-reference-strong wine list and impeccable service make this neighborhood restaurant one worth crossing the city for. Now helmed by chef Christopher Edwards, the menu features plenty of peak-season produce, line-caught fish and an incredible selection of white wine and craft beer for sipping on the sidewalk terrace. Recommended for Great Vegetarian Food in Paris. Le Saint-Sebastién has been included our favorite… Read More »Le Saint-Sébastien
Macéo
Macéo is a light and airy restaurant near the Palais Royal from Mark Williamson (Willi’s Wine Bar), serving creative dishes with plenty of vegetarian options. It’s a good place to book for large groups, and for dinner on Monday. The wine list is incredible. Open Saturday, open Monday, good for groups, vegetarian friendly, near the Louvre, excellent wine 15 rue des Petits-Champs, 75001Open Monday-Friday for lunch & dinnerOpen Saturday for dinner onlyClosed SundayReservations online or at +33 1 42 97… Read More »Macéo
Amarante
Go big or go home at this larger-than-life bistro featuring hearty, classically French fare.
L’Avant-Comptoir du Marché
Of Yves Camdeborde’s three Avant Comptoirs, this is the one worth making a special trip – a place where the scale of the site finally matches that Camdeborde’s ambition.
Le Petit Sommelier
Le Petit Sommelier is a rare high-quality non-stop brasserie with a 1000-reference-strong wine list.
L’Ami Louis
L’Ami Louis is one of the most atmospheric restaurants in Paris. It’s dark and dramatic, with white jacketed servers bringing overflowing plates of snails, foie gras, and other classic French dishes. The roast chicken, with its accompanying tower of shoestring fries, is as good as everyone says it is. But L’Ami Louis is also one of the most clubby restaurants in Paris. It’s filled with regulars, it’s hard to get a table, and the prices are high enough to scare… Read More »L’Ami Louis
Augustin Marchand d’Vins
Augustin Marchand d’Vins – like Left Bank predecessors La Crêmerie & La Quincave – is a bare-bones cave-à-manger, a wine shop in which one can dine, slightly.
À La Vierge de la Réunion
The overarching honesty and generosity of La Vierge’s concept places the restaurant alongside overachieving peers like Belleville’s Le Cadoret at the vanguard of a new generation of Paris bistrot that recognizes the value of virtue.
Les Enfants du Marché
Les Enfants du Marché, a modern & creative restaurant located within the open-air Marché des Enfants Rouges market in the upper Marais, is a dining counter known for natural wine and avant-garde cuisine. While the seating on bar stools in the bustling market might suggest a more lowbrow offering, the surprising combinations on Japanese chef Masahide Ikuta’s unforgettable plates evoke a far more fine dining affair (an evocation reflected in the highbrow prices). It is one of our favorite Paris restaurants.
Café de la Nouvelle Mairie
For the wine-indifferent, Café de la Nouvelle Mairie is merely a timeless, picturesque terraced café on a shady lane beside the Panthéon. But for alert wine geeks, it might as well be the Panthéon itself, as pertains to natural wine.
À La Renaissance
Great natural wines by the glass, fresh well-prepared food, and congenial service at this simple bistro near Bastille.
Le Villaret
Le Villaret is one of our favorite Classic Bistros in Paris. Sometimes in life we chase after the ones who play hard-to-get and we ignore the nice, stable options who just want to treat us right. Le Villaret is the homely neighborhood bistro that I never appreciated until I stopped looking for love at Le Baratin and Le Repaire de Cartouche.
Le Baratin
Food and wine pilgrims, particularly those who read the New York Times or watch Anthony Bourdain, are willing to climb the hill for this Belleville institution. Raquel Carena tends the fire, offering her own personal brand of bistro cooking – sometimes delicate, sometimes hearty, always heartfelt. In stark contrast to the loving kitchen, the dining room is cold as ice, thanks to the joyless leadership of Carena’s husband Philippe.
Le Repaire de Cartouche
Le Repaire de Cartouche is a great place to sit at the bar without reservations, order wine with a slab of terrine, and wait for your table to open up at Au Passage. It’s still great fun as a wine bar, even if it can no longer deliver as a restaurant.
Sauvage
Sauvage is boisterous and fun. It has the feeling of a friendly neighborhood wine bar that just happens to have real talent (chef Sébastien Leroy) in the kitchen. Sauvage caters to a local St-Germain clientele that doesn’t bat an eye at relatively high prices, resulting in luxurious dishes like quail with foie gras and black truffle. The wine list leans natural, and contains treasures. 60, rue du Cherche Midi, 75006Open Monday-Saturday for lunch & dinnerClosed SundayReservations at +33 1 45… Read More »Sauvage
Fish la Boissonnerie
This popular restaurant and wine bar run by Drew Harre and Juan Sanchez is a sort of Anglo haven, excellent for a quick glass, a solo dinner at the bar, or for those times when you’re just tired of speaking French. The wine list at Fish la Boissonnerie is populated by small producers, many of them organic and bio-dynamic, with fair prices and plenty of options by the glass. They’re open every day, and we often find ourselves here on… Read More »Fish la Boissonnerie
Freddy’s
Freddy’s is a great call when you want to share some delicious nibbles and great wine while perched on a stool, especially at odd hours or on Sunday and Monday when many other places are closed.
Frenchie Bar à Vins
If you want a taste of Gregory Marchand’s cooking without the challenge of scoring a reservation at Frenchie, this is where to go.
Au Passage
Address: 1 bis passage de Saint Sébastien, 75011Hours: Open Monday-Saturday for dinner. Closed Sunday.Telephone: +33 1 43 55 07 52Book Online / Website / Facebook / Instagram Our Most Recent Visit It’s so nice when a restaurant delivers more than they need to, more than you expect to receive. When looking at a chalkboard menu filled with cheap small plates, one rarely hopes for anything more than simple products. But here at Au Passage, your 8€ octopus dish has undergone three days of preparation. There’s a quiet… Read More »Au Passage
Les Papilles
Bring some friends to share in Bertrand Bluy’s family style dinner at this cave à manger.
Willi’s Wine Bar
Willi’s Wine Bar has been a Paris institution since 1980, when Mark Williamson opened up near the Palais Royal. If you’ve come to Paris to drink wine, this is a great place to stop in for a glass (or bottle) and some simple food. It’s also a good place to book for larger groups. Open Saturday, open Monday, good for groups, vegetarian friendly, excellent wine, near the Louvre 13 rue des Petits-Champs, 75001Open Monday-Saturday for lunch & dinnerClosed SundayReservations online… Read More »Willi’s Wine Bar
Septime Cave
Septime’s Bertrand Grébaut and Théo Pourriat converted a shoe-repair shop to open this intimate, impeccably-designed wine bar just around the corner from their renowned restaurant. The well-informed staff serve a limited menu of exquisite small plates (ranging from cheeses and cured meats to foie gras stuffed with smoked eel) alongside a sizeable selection of well-priced natural wines from France and abroad.
On any given evening a mixed crowd of locals and tourists – some waiting for tables at Clamato, others just enjoying apéro-hour – perch on bar stools and repurposed grocery crates, mingling to a soundtrack of reggae and vintage jazz classics. For years more a way-station than an outright destination, Septime Cave has since summer 2015 been open for business on Sundays, rendering it all the more indispensable to the rue de Charonne neighborhood.
Clamato
Clamato is a seafood-focused small plates restaurant from Bertrand Grébaut of Septime. Expect pristine marinated fish, platters of oysters, silky crab fritters (accrabes), and maple syrup pie for dessert. Wines are natural and well-selected, just like at Septime.
Taillevent
We have visited and will be posting a review soon. In the meantime, scroll to see photos and what others have said about Taillevent. Read More »Taillevent