With 134 Michelin stars, trying to figure out which restaurants to visit in Paris can be quite daunting. Here, one local takes a look at some of the best.
Writing an article about the best restaurants in Paris isn’t easy. With a hundred restaurants that have garnered Michelin recognition, Paris is one of the world’s gastronomic capitals. Some of the world’s best chefs have addresses in the French capital, so the City of Light’s esteemed gourmet reputation is with good cause.
On the menu today: A short-list of Paris’ Michelin-starred restaurants to sample top Parisian cuisine!
THREE-STAR RESTAURANTS
1. L’Arpège
One of Paris’s best restaurants sits on the left bank near the Rodin Museum: Arpege. World-renowned chef Alain Passard is a rotisserie expert who has become the king of vegetables. Expect sublime seasonal products, perfect cooking, melodious blends of flavors, and exquisite creations are works of art, the latter of which is never absent from this culinary experience. Visit l’Arrière Cuisine where Alain Passard exhibits his graphic research and personal works. A delight ! (84 Rue de Varenne, +33 1 47 05 09 06; website)
2. Pierre Gagnaire Restaurant :
“Tournée vers demain mais soucieuse d’hier / Toward tomorrow but worried about yesterday” is how chef Pierre Gagnaire defines his internationally renowned cuisine. Located in Paris’s elegant Hotel Balzac, the chef’s eponymous restaurant showcases gastronomic excellence at its finest, an enchanting melody of flavors that blends the sea and earth with audacity and eccentricity. Exotic touches surprise the palate to make for an unusual culinary journey. Named the best chef in the world in 2015, Pope Gagnaire always has more than one trick up his sleeve. Gourmands…take note! (6 rue Balzac; +33 1 58 36 12 50; website)
TWO-STAR RESTAURANTS:
3. Le Grand Véfour
Located in the elegant Beaujolais Gallery of the gardens of the Royal Palace, stepping inside Le Grand Véfour feels like journeying back in time. Established in 1784, Le Grand Véfour quickly became a gathering hole for Parisian high society. As for the cuisine, chef Guy Martin creates delicate, high-quality cuisine that honors this ornate Parisian institution. (17 rue de beaujolais; +33 1 42 96 56 27; website)
4. Sur Mesure par Thierry Marx
“Structure and destructure”, is the motto inside chef Thierry Marx’s kitchen. An ambassador of modern and inventive French cuisine, Thierry Marx blends materials, textures, tastes, colors and flavors to take his guests on a gastronomic journey to different countries. In the modern and refined ambiance of his Parisian restaurant Le Sur Mesure, all the senses are put to use thanks to his contemporary fusion cuisine that will seduce lovers of intelligent gastronomy. (251 Rue Saint Honoré; +33 1 70 98 73 00; website)
ONE-STAR RESTAURANTS:
5. Yam’ Tcha
Adeline Grattard is not like the other chefs. Passionate about Chinese cuisine, she marvelously combines the delicacies and strengths of French and Asian gastronomy. Together with her husband from Hong Kong, they set up food and tea parties inspired by the food of rarely explored territories where they like to return. Fine cuisine, refined decoration, punctilious service, the Yam ‘Tcha is one of those rare restaurants that offers a culinary experience that opens our minds and makes you feel good. (121, rue Saint Honoré; +33 1 40 26 08 07; website)
6. Septime
As you know, the Charonne neighborhood has some of the best tables in town. With large wooden tables, canopies, vintage platewear, metal beams, Septime set the bar high for chic deco and industrial design. The restaurant is the neighborhood’s headline when it comes to taste, in particular the avant-garde of a new generation that speaks to trendy bon vivants, with a sophisticated cuisine and in the air of time thanks to the talents of the team of the Chef Bertrand Grébaut. With Clamato, the sister restaurant next door, specializing in seafood, 80 rue Charonne is now THE place to eat! (80 rue Charonne; +33 1 43 67 38 29; website)