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Where to find creative chefs redefining French cuisine, classic brasseries and bistros enjoying a renaissance, stunning Michelin-starred meals, and more of Paris’s best food
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Paris has reclaimed its status as one of the world’s favorite cities to eat. The French capital is bustling with a brilliant constellation of restaurants these days, including a bevy of openings that show off how deliciously cosmopolitan it’s become: Menkicchi is maybe the best ramen shop in town, young French Malian chef Mory Sacko cooks stunningly original dishes at Mosuke, and Korean-born chef Sukwon Yong shows off the growing influence of Asia on contemporary French cooking at the reboot of Le Bistrot Flaubert. Plus there’s an inventive and diverse array of casual dining options, like the affordable Café du Coin, excellent Montmartre bistro Le Maquis, and Parcelles, an outstanding bistrot a vins in the Marais. There’s also been a renaissance of Paris’s long-established gastronomic landscape, with traditional bistros, brasseries, and stylish restaurants serving classic French cooking made famous by chef Auguste Escoffier.
Updated, August 2023:
Though tourism in Paris is booming this year, the French are still inviolably attached to their summer vacations, so many restaurants are shutting down for a few weeks. During this slow season, remember that hotel restaurants, brasseries, and global cuisines remain your best bets.
On the edge of the holidays, the most talked about new opening in Paris is Golden Poppy, bringing California cuisine by French-born, San Francisco-based chef Dominique Crenn, which replaces the still great Restaurant Omar Dhiab. Golden Poppy is just out the gate, but its delicious, cosmopolitan dishes look like they may help to see off the entrenched French conviction that Americans mostly subsist on unhealthy junk food.
La rentrée, as the French call the fall return to work in September, is the most important time of the year in Paris for new restaurant openings. Among those most hotly anticipated are the renovated and updated La Tour d’Argent; Boubalé, Paris-based Israeli chef Assaf Granit’s new take on Ashkenazi cooking; Hémicycle, restaurateur Stéphane Manigold’s newest table; Altro Frenchie, an Italian restaurant by Gregory Marchand, the chef of the enduringly popular Frenchie; and the Brasserie des Arts, a glamorous new option for a classic French menu in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
We update this list quarterly to make sure it reflects the ever-changing Paris dining scene. The guide is organized by arrondissement, spiraling out from the First.
Alexander Lobrano is a Paris restaurant expert and author of Hungry for Paris, Hungry for France, and his gastronomic coming-of-age story My Place at the Table. He blogs about restaurants and writes often for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Saveur, and other publications.
Right in the heart of the city, midway between the Opera Garnier and the Musee du Louvre, you’ll find a cluster of Japanese and other Asian restaurants along the Rue Sainte-Anne and adjoining streets. Stop by the very popular Menkicchi for some gyoza and a bowl of some of the city’s best ramen. The regulars love the Le Speciale ramen, which comes with handmade noodles in rich pork bouillon, a marinated egg, a slice of pork breast, and seaweed. Located in the First Arrondissement.
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This friendly wine bar and bistro is the perfect place to find really good French comfort food and a great bottle of wine without the hassle of booking three months in advance. Scottish wine merchant and longtime Paris expat Tim Johnston founded the restaurant, which is now run by his daughter Margaux and her French boyfriend, Romain Roudeau. With Roudeau in the kitchen and the younger Johnston running the dining room, the pair orchestrate a Gallic gastronomic experience that lives up to their motto: “We always deliver the goods.” The menu follows the seasons, but the kitchen displays its style with dishes like celery soup with cockles, chives with whipped cream, sauteed wild mushroom with egg yolk and prosciutto cream, duckling filet with Swiss chard and chestnuts, and scallops with leek, baby potatoes, and parsley cream. Located in the First Arrondissement.
Hidden on a small side street on the edge of Les Halles in the heart of Paris, this intimate restaurant sports contemporary decor of cutout wooden paneling and an open kitchen. It’s become one of the most sought-after reservations in the city for the superb contemporary French cooking of young chef Thomas Meyer, the former sous chef to Anne-Sophie Pic at her three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Valence. Meyer presents his cooking in a tasting-menu format that showcases his perfectly tuned creativity, love of fresh seasonal produce, and culinary loyalty to his native Jura in the east of France. The menus evolve regularly, but standouts of a recent meal included a grilled cepe mushroom with meadowsweet-flavored sabayon and a sauce of deeply reduced mushroom jus and white miso; sea bream with kale in Granny Smith apple juice with a gelee of lovage; roast pigeon in a sauce of its own gizzards with green cardamom and citrus; and an intriguing dessert of rice pudding wrapped in rice roll with mirabelle plums stewed with vin jaune. Located in the First Arrondissement.
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Channel your inner Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern by ordering the Tentation de Saint-Antoine (the Temptation of Saint Anthony), served at this famous brasserie in Les Halles that’s been open nonstop — 24/7 — since it opened in 1947. Saint Anthony is the patron saint of charcutiers, and this plate includes a muzzle, ears, breaded pig’s foot, and a tail with lashings of bearnaise sauce. This lively place satisfies less assertively carnivore appetites, too, with trays of oysters and other shellfish, and dishes like its famous onion soup and beautifully made sole meuniere. Located in the First Arrondissement.
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Chef Daniel Rose’s second Paris restaurant has become one of the city’s best bistros. He delivers superb versions of the rock-of-ages French dishes that people yearn to eat. His superb foie gras de canard comes to the table perched on a fresh artichoke heart with a dribble of aspic-like shallot vinaigrette on the side, a brilliant detail. Don’t miss the collier d’agneau provencal (braised lamb neck Provençal style) either. Located in the Second Arrondissement.
With the opening of Tekés (ceremony, in Hebrew), vegetarian dining goes mainstream in Paris. Hidden in a lively corner of the Upper Marais, this low-lit restaurant with honey-colored wood furnishings and a patio courtyard is the latest address from Michelin star-winning chef Assaf Granit and the rest of the Israeli team that brought the city the hugely popular Balagan and Shabour. Led by chefs Cécile Levy and Dan Yosha, the busy open kitchen puts on a great show while producing dishes like butter and sage galette served with creamy labneh for dipping, vegetarian chicken liver — a composition of mushrooms served with a soft-boiled egg, dates, and pine nuts — and rotisserie celeriac lacquered with pomegranate molasses. There’s an excellent wine list, too. Located in the Second Arrondissement.
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From the moment it opened in May, 2021, this bistrots a vins in the Marais has been packed to the gills by a crowd who love proprietaire Sarah Michielsen’s hospitality, sommelier Bastin Fidelin’s wine list, and the delicious cosmopolitan modern bistro cooking of chef Julien Chevallier. The chalkboard menu evolves constantly but runs to dishes like baby clams steamed with herbs and shallots in white wine, vitello tonnato, braised beef cheek in breadcrumbs with a beef jus and baby vegetables, and tiramisu with toasted hazelnuts. This stylish comfort food is exactly what Paris is hungry for right now, especially paired with charming service and a great selection of wines by the glass. Located in the Third Arrondissement.
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Brittany-born Bertrand Larcher’s brilliant creperies are found everywhere from Cancale to Tokyo. In Paris, Larcher’s kitchens star first-rate Breton produce, and his outpost in the Marais is a terrific choice for a meal of galettes and crepes. Go with a smoked herring- and potato-filled galette, then tuck into a matcha and white chocolate mousse-filled crepe garnished with strawberries. There are five other addresses in Paris, so check the website for the one nearest you. Located in the Third Arrondissement.
At this sister table to chef William Ledeuil’s Michelin-starred Ze Kitchen Galerie, young chef Martin Maumet has created one of the best restaurants on the Left Bank with his nervy, vivid, and inventive French cooking. A meal in the minimalist, gallery-like space begins with an assortment of hors d’oeuvres and then segues into a suite of Asian-accented contemporary French dishes that showcase vegetables and seafood. The menu evolves constantly, but options might include Sardinian gnocchi with mussels in herb-garnished shellfish bouillon, free-range heirloom chicken with carrots, and Iberian pork with roasted root vegetables and chimichurri sauce. Desserts are often made with vegetables, as in the butternut squash ice cream with chestnuts, pistachios, and yuzu. Located in the Sixth Arrondissement.
This minuscule, white-painted, no-reservations raw bar in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a pearl, and it serves the best bivalves in Paris. The owners get them shipped daily from pedigreed producers in the Marennes d’Oléron, Normandy, and Brittany on France’s Atlantic coast. Start with some smoked scallops, tuck into a dozen oysters, and finish up with the runny chocolate tart. Located in the Sixth Arrondissement.
With its lace curtains, cut-glass room dividers, and bentwood chairs, this century-old bistro is why you put up with all those terrible hours in economy class to get to Paris. The boeuf bourguignon is the best in the city. The dish is a testament to Gallic genius, calling for slowly simmering meat to create a flavor-rich sauce from the juices. You must book in advance, and don’t miss the Grand Marnier souffle for dessert either. Located in the Sixth Arrondissement.
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Though it’s no longer an epicenter of Parisian life the way it was in the ’40s and ’50s, Saint-Germain-des-Prés remains a hands-down favorite area with nostalgia-loving visitors to Paris. High rents and the concentration of expensive pied-à-terres have dulled the local restaurant scene, which is why this stylish new bistro in the Pavillon Faubourg Saint-Germain hotel is such a welcome addition. Rising star Thibault Sombardier, who trained with Yannick Alleno and the late Marc Meneau, acts as consulting chef for the restaurant, which explains the flawless technique, beautiful plating, and expert sourcing behind the modern French bistro menu. Expect dishes like langoustine quenelles and ris de veau (veal sweetbreads) in a coulis of capers, onions, and tomatoes. Located in the Seventh Arrondissement.
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Okay, it costs a freaking fortune, but the vegetarian dishes cooked by three-Michelin-starred chef Alain Passard often come as close to nirvana as Paris can deliver for vegetarians. They’re so good that accompanying non-vegetarians will be tempted, although fish and meat are also on the menu. Passard’s vegetables come from his own organic farm, and what you’ll get depends on what’s available at the time. A sample of Passard’s talent with the bounty of the garden includes dishes like ratatouille-stuffed ravioli with an infusion of purple basil and a vol au vent (puff pastry) filled with baby peas, turnips, and snow peas in a sauce spiked with Cote du Jura wine. It’s worth pointing out that people have strong feelings about L’Arpège — the restaurant has its share of critics. Located in the Seventh Arrondissement.
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With excellent handmade pates, sausages, and terrines, award-winning charcutier and chef Arnaud Nicolas has revived an ancient branch of French gastronomy. The space, on a leafy avenue in the silk-stocking Seventh Arrondissement, is decorated with exposed stone walls, a beamed ceiling, and battleship-gray moldings. Roasts and meat pies, Gallic pleasures that date back at least to the Middle Ages, figure as first courses, before an evolving menu filled with seasonal produce. Nicolas shows off his style with turbot cooked with cep mushrooms, salmon koulibiak for two, beef cheek braised with carrots in red wine, veal sweetbreads with girolles mushrooms, and a luscious chocolate souffle. Located in the Seventh Arrondissement.
Chef Stéphane Jego’s heaving Left Bank bistro is perpetually packed. Like so few other Parisian chefs, Jego knows how to deliver beautiful, traditional French bistro food, modernized with tweaks so subtle most people won’t even notice. He’s barely touched the 1930s space since taking it over nearly two decades ago from a Basque rugby pub. The earthy dishes, often inspired by southwestern French farmhouse food, are so deeply satisfying you won’t mind the occasionally slow service or boisterous regulars. The menu includes Parmesan soup with cabbage and bonito flakes, roasted pigeon with thyme and garlic, roast lamb with smoked oregano, and light and fluffy rice pudding. Located in the Seventh Arrondissement.
After working with Alain Passard and Marc Veyrat, David Toutain first wowed Paris at Agapé Substance in Saint-Germain. Now he has his own place, and his constantly changing tasting menus (which range from 70 to 250 euros) deliver some of the boldest and most interesting food in Paris. Think dishes like seared foie gras in baked potato bouillon with black truffles; a monochromatic white composition of cuttlefish with yuba; and nearly translucent Parmesan gnocchi, seasoned with the juice extracted from cooking the cheese at very low temperatures for hours. Located in the Seventh Arrondissement.
Slaying a slew of negative local stereotypes about American food, the return of one of their own is proving to French diners that there’s actually some spectacularly good food in the United States. Chef Dominique Crenn moved from France to San Francisco in 1988, trained with Jeremiah Tower, and became the first female chef in the country to earn three Michelin stars at her restaurant L’Atelier Crenn. Now she’s opened Golden Poppy, named for the official flower of her adopted state, as a very personal homage to California cooking, all presented in trippy, through-the-looking-glass Victorian conservatory decor done by trendy designer Martin Brudnizki. The small-plates menu runs to dishes like Parker House rolls with shiso-miso sauce, egg-yolk jam, and rice cream; griddled corn tacos with grilled conch; and gem lettuce wraps of aged sea bream, mint, coriander, and Korean condiments. Don’t miss the coconut beignets with pineapple for dessert. Located in the Ninth Arrondissement.
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The small dining room may have bare-bones decor, but you’re here for the homemade jiaozi (small Beijing-style dumplings), which are probably the best meal you’ll find in Paris for a fiver. Served grilled or boiled in orders of 10, they’re stuffed with your choice of pork and green cabbage; mushrooms, beef, and celery; egg, chives, and shrimp; or tofu, mushrooms, and green cabbage. Located in the 10th Arrondissement.
The neighborhood near the Gare du Nord train station is nondescript, and this tiny bistrot a vins packs its clients in like sardines. No one minds the humdrum location or the crowd, though, because the restaurant serves some of the best and most reasonably priced French comfort food in Paris. Chef Thomas Brachet’s chalkboard menu changes daily but always offers an irresistible mix of contemporary dishes — like a salad of green beans, apricots, speck, and fresh almonds, or John Dory meuniere with vegetable accras (beignets) — and traditional ones, which may include langoustines with house-made mayonnaise, or the best sausage and potato puree in Paris. The stuffed cabbage and rice pudding with cinnamon and orange shouldn’t be missed either. Be sure to book a few days ahead of time. Located in the 10th Arrondissement.
Since it opened in 2017 in the 10th Arrondissement, chef Adrien Ferrand’s friendly table has become one of the city’s best contemporary French bistros. The restaurant reflects its bustling, working-class district in the heart of Paris, home to two of the city’s busiest train stations, Gare du Nord and Gare de L’Est. Sand-blasted cast-iron pillars, vintage tile floors, and exposed brick walls create an industrial-chic backdrop for nervy and inventive dishes. Starters include smoked eel with Granny Smith apple, liquorice, and hazelnuts, and endive braised with scamorza and chestnut cream. Mains feature grilled quail with pattypan squash and beets, a jus flavored with tarragon and black currants, and almond brittle, as well as beef filet en croute with ceps, salsify, and a mandarin orange garnish. The desserts are great too, like a tartelette of coconut-vanilla cream with grapefruit and parsnip marmalade. Located in the 10th Arrondissement.
With charmingly quirky railroad themed decor by trendy British interior designer Luke Hall, this hotel restaurant is conveniently situated between the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l’Est stations. But Café Les Deux Gares serves such bright, original, flavorful contemporary French cooking that it’s well worth a visit even if you don’t have a train to catch. Chef Jonathan Schweitzer’s chalkboard menu evolves according to what’s best at the market, expressing his culinary imagination with dishes like smoked scallops with raw cream, chives, and herb oil; line-caught red tuna with cherries, nasturtium leaves, and elderflower vinegar; and lovage sorbet with meringue and cucumber ribbons. Located in the 10th Arrondissement.
The carefully studied interior of this handsome modern bistro — olive-green banquettes, globe lamps, dark wood tables, stenciled tile floors, and custom-made ceramic tableware — is a perfect reflection of the casually stylish Oberkampf quarter of the 11th arrondissement. Japanese-born chef Ryuya Ono serves an intriguingly creative menu of refined dishes with potent flavors. The menu evolves constantly but recent dishes express the chef’s exact and cosmopolitan style: suave haddock velouté with trout roe and smoked and charred potatoes; tuna sashimi lightly dressed with Stracciatella and translucent slices of cucumber and yellow peach; and a juicy suckling pig shoulder in a punchy clam jus. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
Paris has dozens of North African restaurants serving couscous and tagines, but what sets this cheerful Moroccan restaurant apart is the outstanding quality of its produce, making it a favorite among Parisian chefs. Here, the couscous is made with fresh seasonal vegetables and succulent baby lamb from the Pyrenees. They also bake their bread and North African pastries in-house, while the wine list features an interesting selection of mostly natural wines. The atmosphere is vivid but avoids cartoonish indulgence, with mosaic-topped tables, lanterns, and candles. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
The tongue-in-cheek decor nods to les routiers, the roadside restaurants once frequented by truck drivers — think red-and-white checkered tablecloths, plastic bread baskets, and moleskin banquettes. Deals like a solid two-course meal for 16 euros, including wine, have kept this jaunty bistro packed since it opened. The menu changes constantly but you can expect dishes like celery remoulade with crabmeat, steak au poivre, stuffed cabbage, beef braised with carrots, and chocolate mousse. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
Given how hard it is to score a reservation at chef Bertrand Grébaut’s relaxed modern bistro, you’ll probably come to the table expecting a meal that will induce instant rapture. But that’s not Grébaut’s style. Instead, his cooking is “innocent, spontaneous, and balanced,” in the chef’s own words, which translates to superbly delicate, subtle dishes like mushrooms with oyster and foie gras bouillon, or seared tuna with raspberries and tomato water. Service is friendly and easygoing, and the loft-like space is airy. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
Chef Bertrand Grébaut’s seafood bar is perennially one of the hottest places in Paris right now. It does not take reservations, so if you want to beat the line, try to go right when it opens, at 7 p.m., or late, after 10 p.m. The menu changes daily, but offers dishes like smoked shrimp with roasted red pepper and white beans, tuna tartare, ceviche, oysters, crab fritters, and more. It also boasts terrific platters of raw seafood like clams, shrimp, sea snails, and other seaworthy delights. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
Paris is filled with cafes du coin, or corner cafes, but very few of them serve such good food at such reasonable prices all day long. Run by trendsetting restaurateur Florent Ciccoli, this cheerful, popular place in the super bobo 11th Arrondissement changes its chalkboard menu daily, but you’ll likely find dishes like freshly baked pizzettes, caillette (a caul fat-wrapped, herb-filled sausage patty garnished with pickled mustard seeds on a bed of potato puree), and blood sausage with roasted corn and guindillas (pickled green peppers from Basque country). Don’t miss the lemon tart for dessert. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
The talented couple Omar Koreitem and Moko Hirayama run this friendly cafe-bakery, the place to head for a casual but outstanding lunch or snack. French Lebanese chef Koreitem creates the savory dishes, such as bonito with spring tabbouleh, while Japanese chef Hirayama is a superb baker, serving up fennel, pickled lemon, and almond cookies, and flourless chocolate layer cake with coffee-mascarpone cream. Open from 8:45 a.m. to 6 p.m., it’s deservedly one of the most popular places in eastern Paris. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
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At his bistro that looks like an Edward Hopper painting near the Bastille, chef Christophe Philippe serves the best chocolate mousse in Paris. It’s made from the sublime chocolate produced by Italian Claudio Corallo on the tiny African islands of Sao Tome et Principe. Unctuous, funky, deep, this dark fluff will leave you with a craving you’ll never, ever escape. Located in the 12th Arrondissement.
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The 13th Arrondissement is the largest of Paris’s Asian neighborhoods, with a mixed population originating from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Head to Pho Tai for an excellent bo-bun composed of freshly made nem (deep-fried spring rolls) and sauteed beef on a bed of rice noodles with an umami-rich sauce. The namesake pho is very good, too. Located in the 13th Arrondissement.
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In a year of lockdowns, young chef Mory Sacko was one of the stars of 2020 for the originality of his intriguing African French Japanese cooking in Montparnasse. The son of Malian immigrants to France, he grew up in the suburbs eating African dishes made by his mother and American fast food for an occasional treat. At a job at a big Paris luxury hotel, he discovered his fascination with cooking, and went on to work with two-Michelin-star chef Thierry Marx, a Japanophile who taught Sacko to love Japanese ingredients and techniques. Expect dishes like lobster in miso sauce with smoked pepper and lacto-fermented tomato, sole seasoned with togarashi shichimi, and lovage cooked inside of a banana leaf and served with a side of attieke, a couscous-like preparation of dried fermented cassava pulp. The name of the restaurant derives from the names of the chef and one of his heroes, Yasuke, the first and only African samurai, an emancipated Mozambican slave who lived in 16th-century Kyoto. Located in the 14th Arrondissement.
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It is quiet, hard-working, limelight-shunning chefs like David Rathgeber who make Paris such an enduringly terrific food city. He took over this locally famous restaurant — previously helmed by a flamboyant chef named Lulu who charmed the likes of late President François Mitterrand and other celebrities — and has made it one of the city’s best bistros. It’s well worth the trek to the quiet 14th Arrondissement for his deft take on traditional dishes like pork-knuckle rillettes with foie gras and a superb cassoulet. The menu also offers lighter fare, including sea bream tartare with green tomato and coriander jus, and cuttlefish carbonara. The creme caramel is nothing short of epic. Located in the 14th Arrondissement.
The bulk of Paris’s famed haute cuisine is fiscally out of reach for many. However Michelin-starred Comice, headed by Canadian chef Noam Gedalof and sommelier Etheliya Hananova (the two are married), is an indulgence that won’t completely melt your credit card. The look strikes a similar balance: elegant but relaxed, with striking arrangements from a renowned local florist. Hananova’s wine list — which features lesser-known wines from around the world — is terrific, as is Gedalof’s light, inventive contemporary French cooking. Try the duck foie gras with hazelnuts, strawberries, balsamic, and black pepper, or the roast chicken with polenta, wild mushrooms, and a salad of wild herbs. Located in the 16th Arrondissement.
Founded in 1872 by Albert Prunier, this restaurant near the Arc de Triomphe has always epitomized Parisian chic and the city’s avid love of the best quality seafood, including the caviar that Prunier started producing on farms in the Aquitaine region in 1921. Most recently owned by the late Pierre Bergé, cofounder of the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house, Prunier’s new proprietors hired chef Yannick Alleno, who earned three Michelin stars at Pavillon Ledoyen, to reboot the restaurant’s menu. Seated among the landmarked art-deco decor, be sure to try dishes like the Oeuf Christian Dior, a coddled egg on a bed of ham aspic in caviar-speckled cream; langoustines carpaccio with geranium and caviar; and the sole meuniere. Located in the 16th Arrondissement.
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Originally founded in the 1980s by chef Michel Rostang, this cozy bistro with flea market decor has been taken over by chef Nicolas Baumann and one of the most innovative restaurateurs in Paris right now, financier Stéphane Manigold. Korean-born chef Sukwon Yong, who used to work with Rostang, leads the kitchen, and his Asian spin on French bistro cooking has made this one of the most interesting and satisfying restaurants in western Paris. Expect dishes like Korean beef tartare with avocado mousse and puffed rice, and lumache (snail-shaped pasta) with rabbit confit, red curry, and kimchi. The prix fixe lunch is a real bargain in an expensive part of Paris. Located in the 17th Arrondissement.
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Located in the tranquil 18th Arrondissement far from the crowds of tourists around Sacre Coeur and the Place du Tertre, this laidback neighborhood bistro pulls a discerning crowd of locals and word-of-mouth customers from other parts of Paris for the excellent bistro cooking of Paul Boudier and Albert Touton. Many of their dishes have a Southern French or Italian accent, including superb homemade pastas, ceviche with shavings of poutargue (bottarga), and pork belly cooked in cider with roasted fennel. Located in the 18th Arrondissement.
An old working-class neighborhood on the northeastern edge of Paris (and the birthplace of Édith Piaf), Belleville is coming on strong as one of the most interesting food neighborhoods in Paris. Brother-and-sister team Léa and Louis-Marie Fleuriot run this very affordable modern bistro in a former corner cafe. While she works the kitchen, he runs the dining room, and together they offer the kind of market-driven cooking that exemplifies the area. The petroleum-blue facade has big picture windows, and inside there’s an indigo-painted zinc-topped service bar, an open kitchen, and wooden tables with cloth napkins and French-made Opinel knives. The chalkboard menu changes daily but runs to dishes like mussels in creamy, saffron-spiked bisque, haddock in coriander court bouillon with mushrooms and potato puree, and egg-rich, caramel sauce-lashed creme caramel. Located in the 19th Arrondissement.
When Paris chefs want to unwind they head for this little wine bar in Belleville where Argentine-born self-taught chef Raquel Carena serves up some of the most deeply satisfying food in Paris. The chalkboard menu changes constantly, but Carena loves offal and fish, and her palate favors tart and sweet-and-sour flavors, as seen in dishes like mackerel tartare with smoked vinegar, tuna steak with black cherries, and rabbit and mushroom ragout with red wine sauce. The bohemian soul of rapidly gentrifying Belleville has taken refuge here, too. So go now while the good times last. Located in the 20th Arrondissement.
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Right in the heart of the city, midway between the Opera Garnier and the Musee du Louvre, you’ll find a cluster of Japanese and other Asian restaurants along the Rue Sainte-Anne and adjoining streets. Stop by the very popular Menkicchi for some gyoza and a bowl of some of the city’s best ramen. The regulars love the Le Speciale ramen, which comes with handmade noodles in rich pork bouillon, a marinated egg, a slice of pork breast, and seaweed. Located in the First Arrondissement.
This friendly wine bar and bistro is the perfect place to find really good French comfort food and a great bottle of wine without the hassle of booking three months in advance. Scottish wine merchant and longtime Paris expat Tim Johnston founded the restaurant, which is now run by his daughter Margaux and her French boyfriend, Romain Roudeau. With Roudeau in the kitchen and the younger Johnston running the dining room, the pair orchestrate a Gallic gastronomic experience that lives up to their motto: “We always deliver the goods.” The menu follows the seasons, but the kitchen displays its style with dishes like celery soup with cockles, chives with whipped cream, sauteed wild mushroom with egg yolk and prosciutto cream, duckling filet with Swiss chard and chestnuts, and scallops with leek, baby potatoes, and parsley cream. Located in the First Arrondissement.
Hidden on a small side street on the edge of Les Halles in the heart of Paris, this intimate restaurant sports contemporary decor of cutout wooden paneling and an open kitchen. It’s become one of the most sought-after reservations in the city for the superb contemporary French cooking of young chef Thomas Meyer, the former sous chef to Anne-Sophie Pic at her three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Valence. Meyer presents his cooking in a tasting-menu format that showcases his perfectly tuned creativity, love of fresh seasonal produce, and culinary loyalty to his native Jura in the east of France. The menus evolve regularly, but standouts of a recent meal included a grilled cepe mushroom with meadowsweet-flavored sabayon and a sauce of deeply reduced mushroom jus and white miso; sea bream with kale in Granny Smith apple juice with a gelee of lovage; roast pigeon in a sauce of its own gizzards with green cardamom and citrus; and an intriguing dessert of rice pudding wrapped in rice roll with mirabelle plums stewed with vin jaune. Located in the First Arrondissement.
Channel your inner Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern by ordering the Tentation de Saint-Antoine (the Temptation of Saint Anthony), served at this famous brasserie in Les Halles that’s been open nonstop — 24/7 — since it opened in 1947. Saint Anthony is the patron saint of charcutiers, and this plate includes a muzzle, ears, breaded pig’s foot, and a tail with lashings of bearnaise sauce. This lively place satisfies less assertively carnivore appetites, too, with trays of oysters and other shellfish, and dishes like its famous onion soup and beautifully made sole meuniere. Located in the First Arrondissement.
Chef Daniel Rose’s second Paris restaurant has become one of the city’s best bistros. He delivers superb versions of the rock-of-ages French dishes that people yearn to eat. His superb foie gras de canard comes to the table perched on a fresh artichoke heart with a dribble of aspic-like shallot vinaigrette on the side, a brilliant detail. Don’t miss the collier d’agneau provencal (braised lamb neck Provençal style) either. Located in the Second Arrondissement.
With the opening of Tekés (ceremony, in Hebrew), vegetarian dining goes mainstream in Paris. Hidden in a lively corner of the Upper Marais, this low-lit restaurant with honey-colored wood furnishings and a patio courtyard is the latest address from Michelin star-winning chef Assaf Granit and the rest of the Israeli team that brought the city the hugely popular Balagan and Shabour. Led by chefs Cécile Levy and Dan Yosha, the busy open kitchen puts on a great show while producing dishes like butter and sage galette served with creamy labneh for dipping, vegetarian chicken liver — a composition of mushrooms served with a soft-boiled egg, dates, and pine nuts — and rotisserie celeriac lacquered with pomegranate molasses. There’s an excellent wine list, too. Located in the Second Arrondissement.
From the moment it opened in May, 2021, this bistrots a vins in the Marais has been packed to the gills by a crowd who love proprietaire Sarah Michielsen’s hospitality, sommelier Bastin Fidelin’s wine list, and the delicious cosmopolitan modern bistro cooking of chef Julien Chevallier. The chalkboard menu evolves constantly but runs to dishes like baby clams steamed with herbs and shallots in white wine, vitello tonnato, braised beef cheek in breadcrumbs with a beef jus and baby vegetables, and tiramisu with toasted hazelnuts. This stylish comfort food is exactly what Paris is hungry for right now, especially paired with charming service and a great selection of wines by the glass. Located in the Third Arrondissement.
Brittany-born Bertrand Larcher’s brilliant creperies are found everywhere from Cancale to Tokyo. In Paris, Larcher’s kitchens star first-rate Breton produce, and his outpost in the Marais is a terrific choice for a meal of galettes and crepes. Go with a smoked herring- and potato-filled galette, then tuck into a matcha and white chocolate mousse-filled crepe garnished with strawberries. There are five other addresses in Paris, so check the website for the one nearest you. Located in the Third Arrondissement.
At this sister table to chef William Ledeuil’s Michelin-starred Ze Kitchen Galerie, young chef Martin Maumet has created one of the best restaurants on the Left Bank with his nervy, vivid, and inventive French cooking. A meal in the minimalist, gallery-like space begins with an assortment of hors d’oeuvres and then segues into a suite of Asian-accented contemporary French dishes that showcase vegetables and seafood. The menu evolves constantly, but options might include Sardinian gnocchi with mussels in herb-garnished shellfish bouillon, free-range heirloom chicken with carrots, and Iberian pork with roasted root vegetables and chimichurri sauce. Desserts are often made with vegetables, as in the butternut squash ice cream with chestnuts, pistachios, and yuzu. Located in the Sixth Arrondissement.
This minuscule, white-painted, no-reservations raw bar in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a pearl, and it serves the best bivalves in Paris. The owners get them shipped daily from pedigreed producers in the Marennes d’Oléron, Normandy, and Brittany on France’s Atlantic coast. Start with some smoked scallops, tuck into a dozen oysters, and finish up with the runny chocolate tart. Located in the Sixth Arrondissement.
With its lace curtains, cut-glass room dividers, and bentwood chairs, this century-old bistro is why you put up with all those terrible hours in economy class to get to Paris. The boeuf bourguignon is the best in the city. The dish is a testament to Gallic genius, calling for slowly simmering meat to create a flavor-rich sauce from the juices. You must book in advance, and don’t miss the Grand Marnier souffle for dessert either. Located in the Sixth Arrondissement.
Though it’s no longer an epicenter of Parisian life the way it was in the ’40s and ’50s, Saint-Germain-des-Prés remains a hands-down favorite area with nostalgia-loving visitors to Paris. High rents and the concentration of expensive pied-à-terres have dulled the local restaurant scene, which is why this stylish new bistro in the Pavillon Faubourg Saint-Germain hotel is such a welcome addition. Rising star Thibault Sombardier, who trained with Yannick Alleno and the late Marc Meneau, acts as consulting chef for the restaurant, which explains the flawless technique, beautiful plating, and expert sourcing behind the modern French bistro menu. Expect dishes like langoustine quenelles and ris de veau (veal sweetbreads) in a coulis of capers, onions, and tomatoes. Located in the Seventh Arrondissement.
Okay, it costs a freaking fortune, but the vegetarian dishes cooked by three-Michelin-starred chef Alain Passard often come as close to nirvana as Paris can deliver for vegetarians. They’re so good that accompanying non-vegetarians will be tempted, although fish and meat are also on the menu. Passard’s vegetables come from his own organic farm, and what you’ll get depends on what’s available at the time. A sample of Passard’s talent with the bounty of the garden includes dishes like ratatouille-stuffed ravioli with an infusion of purple basil and a vol au vent (puff pastry) filled with baby peas, turnips, and snow peas in a sauce spiked with Cote du Jura wine. It’s worth pointing out that people have strong feelings about L’Arpège — the restaurant has its share of critics. Located in the Seventh Arrondissement.
With excellent handmade pates, sausages, and terrines, award-winning charcutier and chef Arnaud Nicolas has revived an ancient branch of French gastronomy. The space, on a leafy avenue in the silk-stocking Seventh Arrondissement, is decorated with exposed stone walls, a beamed ceiling, and battleship-gray moldings. Roasts and meat pies, Gallic pleasures that date back at least to the Middle Ages, figure as first courses, before an evolving menu filled with seasonal produce. Nicolas shows off his style with turbot cooked with cep mushrooms, salmon koulibiak for two, beef cheek braised with carrots in red wine, veal sweetbreads with girolles mushrooms, and a luscious chocolate souffle. Located in the Seventh Arrondissement.
Chef Stéphane Jego’s heaving Left Bank bistro is perpetually packed. Like so few other Parisian chefs, Jego knows how to deliver beautiful, traditional French bistro food, modernized with tweaks so subtle most people won’t even notice. He’s barely touched the 1930s space since taking it over nearly two decades ago from a Basque rugby pub. The earthy dishes, often inspired by southwestern French farmhouse food, are so deeply satisfying you won’t mind the occasionally slow service or boisterous regulars. The menu includes Parmesan soup with cabbage and bonito flakes, roasted pigeon with thyme and garlic, roast lamb with smoked oregano, and light and fluffy rice pudding. Located in the Seventh Arrondissement.
After working with Alain Passard and Marc Veyrat, David Toutain first wowed Paris at Agapé Substance in Saint-Germain. Now he has his own place, and his constantly changing tasting menus (which range from 70 to 250 euros) deliver some of the boldest and most interesting food in Paris. Think dishes like seared foie gras in baked potato bouillon with black truffles; a monochromatic white composition of cuttlefish with yuba; and nearly translucent Parmesan gnocchi, seasoned with the juice extracted from cooking the cheese at very low temperatures for hours. Located in the Seventh Arrondissement.
Slaying a slew of negative local stereotypes about American food, the return of one of their own is proving to French diners that there’s actually some spectacularly good food in the United States. Chef Dominique Crenn moved from France to San Francisco in 1988, trained with Jeremiah Tower, and became the first female chef in the country to earn three Michelin stars at her restaurant L’Atelier Crenn. Now she’s opened Golden Poppy, named for the official flower of her adopted state, as a very personal homage to California cooking, all presented in trippy, through-the-looking-glass Victorian conservatory decor done by trendy designer Martin Brudnizki. The small-plates menu runs to dishes like Parker House rolls with shiso-miso sauce, egg-yolk jam, and rice cream; griddled corn tacos with grilled conch; and gem lettuce wraps of aged sea bream, mint, coriander, and Korean condiments. Don’t miss the coconut beignets with pineapple for dessert. Located in the Ninth Arrondissement.
The small dining room may have bare-bones decor, but you’re here for the homemade jiaozi (small Beijing-style dumplings), which are probably the best meal you’ll find in Paris for a fiver. Served grilled or boiled in orders of 10, they’re stuffed with your choice of pork and green cabbage; mushrooms, beef, and celery; egg, chives, and shrimp; or tofu, mushrooms, and green cabbage. Located in the 10th Arrondissement.
The neighborhood near the Gare du Nord train station is nondescript, and this tiny bistrot a vins packs its clients in like sardines. No one minds the humdrum location or the crowd, though, because the restaurant serves some of the best and most reasonably priced French comfort food in Paris. Chef Thomas Brachet’s chalkboard menu changes daily but always offers an irresistible mix of contemporary dishes — like a salad of green beans, apricots, speck, and fresh almonds, or John Dory meuniere with vegetable accras (beignets) — and traditional ones, which may include langoustines with house-made mayonnaise, or the best sausage and potato puree in Paris. The stuffed cabbage and rice pudding with cinnamon and orange shouldn’t be missed either. Be sure to book a few days ahead of time. Located in the 10th Arrondissement.
Since it opened in 2017 in the 10th Arrondissement, chef Adrien Ferrand’s friendly table has become one of the city’s best contemporary French bistros. The restaurant reflects its bustling, working-class district in the heart of Paris, home to two of the city’s busiest train stations, Gare du Nord and Gare de L’Est. Sand-blasted cast-iron pillars, vintage tile floors, and exposed brick walls create an industrial-chic backdrop for nervy and inventive dishes. Starters include smoked eel with Granny Smith apple, liquorice, and hazelnuts, and endive braised with scamorza and chestnut cream. Mains feature grilled quail with pattypan squash and beets, a jus flavored with tarragon and black currants, and almond brittle, as well as beef filet en croute with ceps, salsify, and a mandarin orange garnish. The desserts are great too, like a tartelette of coconut-vanilla cream with grapefruit and parsnip marmalade. Located in the 10th Arrondissement.
With charmingly quirky railroad themed decor by trendy British interior designer Luke Hall, this hotel restaurant is conveniently situated between the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l’Est stations. But Café Les Deux Gares serves such bright, original, flavorful contemporary French cooking that it’s well worth a visit even if you don’t have a train to catch. Chef Jonathan Schweitzer’s chalkboard menu evolves according to what’s best at the market, expressing his culinary imagination with dishes like smoked scallops with raw cream, chives, and herb oil; line-caught red tuna with cherries, nasturtium leaves, and elderflower vinegar; and lovage sorbet with meringue and cucumber ribbons. Located in the 10th Arrondissement.
The carefully studied interior of this handsome modern bistro — olive-green banquettes, globe lamps, dark wood tables, stenciled tile floors, and custom-made ceramic tableware — is a perfect reflection of the casually stylish Oberkampf quarter of the 11th arrondissement. Japanese-born chef Ryuya Ono serves an intriguingly creative menu of refined dishes with potent flavors. The menu evolves constantly but recent dishes express the chef’s exact and cosmopolitan style: suave haddock velouté with trout roe and smoked and charred potatoes; tuna sashimi lightly dressed with Stracciatella and translucent slices of cucumber and yellow peach; and a juicy suckling pig shoulder in a punchy clam jus. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
Paris has dozens of North African restaurants serving couscous and tagines, but what sets this cheerful Moroccan restaurant apart is the outstanding quality of its produce, making it a favorite among Parisian chefs. Here, the couscous is made with fresh seasonal vegetables and succulent baby lamb from the Pyrenees. They also bake their bread and North African pastries in-house, while the wine list features an interesting selection of mostly natural wines. The atmosphere is vivid but avoids cartoonish indulgence, with mosaic-topped tables, lanterns, and candles. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
The tongue-in-cheek decor nods to les routiers, the roadside restaurants once frequented by truck drivers — think red-and-white checkered tablecloths, plastic bread baskets, and moleskin banquettes. Deals like a solid two-course meal for 16 euros, including wine, have kept this jaunty bistro packed since it opened. The menu changes constantly but you can expect dishes like celery remoulade with crabmeat, steak au poivre, stuffed cabbage, beef braised with carrots, and chocolate mousse. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
Given how hard it is to score a reservation at chef Bertrand Grébaut’s relaxed modern bistro, you’ll probably come to the table expecting a meal that will induce instant rapture. But that’s not Grébaut’s style. Instead, his cooking is “innocent, spontaneous, and balanced,” in the chef’s own words, which translates to superbly delicate, subtle dishes like mushrooms with oyster and foie gras bouillon, or seared tuna with raspberries and tomato water. Service is friendly and easygoing, and the loft-like space is airy. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
Chef Bertrand Grébaut’s seafood bar is perennially one of the hottest places in Paris right now. It does not take reservations, so if you want to beat the line, try to go right when it opens, at 7 p.m., or late, after 10 p.m. The menu changes daily, but offers dishes like smoked shrimp with roasted red pepper and white beans, tuna tartare, ceviche, oysters, crab fritters, and more. It also boasts terrific platters of raw seafood like clams, shrimp, sea snails, and other seaworthy delights. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
Paris is filled with cafes du coin, or corner cafes, but very few of them serve such good food at such reasonable prices all day long. Run by trendsetting restaurateur Florent Ciccoli, this cheerful, popular place in the super bobo 11th Arrondissement changes its chalkboard menu daily, but you’ll likely find dishes like freshly baked pizzettes, caillette (a caul fat-wrapped, herb-filled sausage patty garnished with pickled mustard seeds on a bed of potato puree), and blood sausage with roasted corn and guindillas (pickled green peppers from Basque country). Don’t miss the lemon tart for dessert. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
The talented couple Omar Koreitem and Moko Hirayama run this friendly cafe-bakery, the place to head for a casual but outstanding lunch or snack. French Lebanese chef Koreitem creates the savory dishes, such as bonito with spring tabbouleh, while Japanese chef Hirayama is a superb baker, serving up fennel, pickled lemon, and almond cookies, and flourless chocolate layer cake with coffee-mascarpone cream. Open from 8:45 a.m. to 6 p.m., it’s deservedly one of the most popular places in eastern Paris. Located in the 11th Arrondissement.
At his bistro that looks like an Edward Hopper painting near the Bastille, chef Christophe Philippe serves the best chocolate mousse in Paris. It’s made from the sublime chocolate produced by Italian Claudio Corallo on the tiny African islands of Sao Tome et Principe. Unctuous, funky, deep, this dark fluff will leave you with a craving you’ll never, ever escape. Located in the 12th Arrondissement.
The 13th Arrondissement is the largest of Paris’s Asian neighborhoods, with a mixed population originating from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Head to Pho Tai for an excellent bo-bun composed of freshly made nem (deep-fried spring rolls) and sauteed beef on a bed of rice noodles with an umami-rich sauce. The namesake pho is very good, too. Located in the 13th Arrondissement.
In a year of lockdowns, young chef Mory Sacko was one of the stars of 2020 for the originality of his intriguing African French Japanese cooking in Montparnasse. The son of Malian immigrants to France, he grew up in the suburbs eating African dishes made by his mother and American fast food for an occasional treat. At a job at a big Paris luxury hotel, he discovered his fascination with cooking, and went on to work with two-Michelin-star chef Thierry Marx, a Japanophile who taught Sacko to love Japanese ingredients and techniques. Expect dishes like lobster in miso sauce with smoked pepper and lacto-fermented tomato, sole seasoned with togarashi shichimi, and lovage cooked inside of a banana leaf and served with a side of attieke, a couscous-like preparation of dried fermented cassava pulp. The name of the restaurant derives from the names of the chef and one of his heroes, Yasuke, the first and only African samurai, an emancipated Mozambican slave who lived in 16th-century Kyoto. Located in the 14th Arrondissement.
It is quiet, hard-working, limelight-shunning chefs like David Rathgeber who make Paris such an enduringly terrific food city. He took over this locally famous restaurant — previously helmed by a flamboyant chef named Lulu who charmed the likes of late President François Mitterrand and other celebrities — and has made it one of the city’s best bistros. It’s well worth the trek to the quiet 14th Arrondissement for his deft take on traditional dishes like pork-knuckle rillettes with foie gras and a superb cassoulet. The menu also offers lighter fare, including sea bream tartare with green tomato and coriander jus, and cuttlefish carbonara. The creme caramel is nothing short of epic. Located in the 14th Arrondissement.
The bulk of Paris’s famed haute cuisine is fiscally out of reach for many. However Michelin-starred Comice, headed by Canadian chef Noam Gedalof and sommelier Etheliya Hananova (the two are married), is an indulgence that won’t completely melt your credit card. The look strikes a similar balance: elegant but relaxed, with striking arrangements from a renowned local florist. Hananova’s wine list — which features lesser-known wines from around the world — is terrific, as is Gedalof’s light, inventive contemporary French cooking. Try the duck foie gras with hazelnuts, strawberries, balsamic, and black pepper, or the roast chicken with polenta, wild mushrooms, and a salad of wild herbs. Located in the 16th Arrondissement.
Founded in 1872 by Albert Prunier, this restaurant near the Arc de Triomphe has always epitomized Parisian chic and the city’s avid love of the best quality seafood, including the caviar that Prunier started producing on farms in the Aquitaine region in 1921. Most recently owned by the late Pierre Bergé, cofounder of the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house, Prunier’s new proprietors hired chef Yannick Alleno, who earned three Michelin stars at Pavillon Ledoyen, to reboot the restaurant’s menu. Seated among the landmarked art-deco decor, be sure to try dishes like the Oeuf Christian Dior, a coddled egg on a bed of ham aspic in caviar-speckled cream; langoustines carpaccio with geranium and caviar; and the sole meuniere. Located in the 16th Arrondissement.
Originally founded in the 1980s by chef Michel Rostang, this cozy bistro with flea market decor has been taken over by chef Nicolas Baumann and one of the most innovative restaurateurs in Paris right now, financier Stéphane Manigold. Korean-born chef Sukwon Yong, who used to work with Rostang, leads the kitchen, and his Asian spin on French bistro cooking has made this one of the most interesting and satisfying restaurants in western Paris. Expect dishes like Korean beef tartare with avocado mousse and puffed rice, and lumache (snail-shaped pasta) with rabbit confit, red curry, and kimchi. The prix fixe lunch is a real bargain in an expensive part of Paris. Located in the 17th Arrondissement.
Located in the tranquil 18th Arrondissement far from the crowds of tourists around Sacre Coeur and the Place du Tertre, this laidback neighborhood bistro pulls a discerning crowd of locals and word-of-mouth customers from other parts of Paris for the excellent bistro cooking of Paul Boudier and Albert Touton. Many of their dishes have a Southern French or Italian accent, including superb homemade pastas, ceviche with shavings of poutargue (bottarga), and pork belly cooked in cider with roasted fennel. Located in the 18th Arrondissement.
An old working-class neighborhood on the northeastern edge of Paris (and the birthplace of Édith Piaf), Belleville is coming on strong as one of the most interesting food neighborhoods in Paris. Brother-and-sister team Léa and Louis-Marie Fleuriot run this very affordable modern bistro in a former corner cafe. While she works the kitchen, he runs the dining room, and together they offer the kind of market-driven cooking that exemplifies the area. The petroleum-blue facade has big picture windows, and inside there’s an indigo-painted zinc-topped service bar, an open kitchen, and wooden tables with cloth napkins and French-made Opinel knives. The chalkboard menu changes daily but runs to dishes like mussels in creamy, saffron-spiked bisque, haddock in coriander court bouillon with mushrooms and potato puree, and egg-rich, caramel sauce-lashed creme caramel. Located in the 19th Arrondissement.
When Paris chefs want to unwind they head for this little wine bar in Belleville where Argentine-born self-taught chef Raquel Carena serves up some of the most deeply satisfying food in Paris. The chalkboard menu changes constantly, but Carena loves offal and fish, and her palate favors tart and sweet-and-sour flavors, as seen in dishes like mackerel tartare with smoked vinegar, tuna steak with black cherries, and rabbit and mushroom ragout with red wine sauce. The bohemian soul of rapidly gentrifying Belleville has taken refuge here, too. So go now while the good times last. Located in the 20th Arrondissement.