Paris is known from all around the world for it’s food culture. And I must say, the city did not disappoint when I visited this past August for my birthday.
I’ve had some of my best meals in Paris and I really want to go back to eat at more great restaurants!
But here’s the thing about Paris. You have to know where to go…otherwise you’ll get crappy service and overpriced food.
Luckily for you I’m going to detail my three favorite restaurants in Paris that I ate at. I think these are all great places you should visit if you’re in the city of light.
1. La Bouteille d’Or
La Bouteille d’Or was my favorite lunch spot in Paris. In fact, this was my first meal in this wonderful city!
The restaurant is located near Notre Dame and is technically in a touristy area. However, the food is excellent and far from “touristy.”
The restaurant does have menus in English. And depending on who is working, the staff does speak basic English.
First of all, the restaurant is designed beautifully. They have a very nice outdoor patio (like most places in Paris). But the inside is beautiful as well. I love all of the blue couches as it really works well with the decor.
Anyways, they have some great lunch specials. You can get a 2 course meal for €27 and a three course meal for €34! That’s practically a steal in Paris, especially when you consider how great the food quality is.
Also, they have a pretty decent wine menu. I’m not big wine drinker so I had the waitress recommend something for me.
So for my two course lunch I had the veal in mashed potatoes and the Victoria Pineapple. I just checked their menu today and it looks like the veal is no longer on the menu.
But anyways, the veal was very nice. It was cooked perfectly and tender. The mashed potatoes were so good. No lumps in the mash and it was perfection.
They also added bacon bits all over the dish so it was a nice contrasting texture and obviously who doesn’t love bacon 🙂
I pretty much gobbled this thing down in about 10 minutes. It was THAT good!
The desert was a Victoria Pineapple. It consisted of freshly cut pineapple, coconut shavings, and oddly enough cilantro. I had never had cilantro on my pineapple before, so it was a nice surprise. It really worked and I loved the desert.
It was pretty light, which was a good contrast to the heavy mashed potatoes.
And the service at the restaurant was top notch. My waitress (she didn’t speak perfect English) was awesome and her recommendations were spot on.
2. Georgette
Georgette is a really nice restaurant near the Luxembourg Gardens (literally three blocks away). So if you’re with your partner, take this into a romantic date night and walk to the park after dinner.
I had a great experience at Georgette. The restaurant is top notch. I decided to sit outside since it was a beautiful summer night (no clouds in sight).
Funny story, my waitress introduced herself as Celine to me (like the singer) and we had a good laugh about it.
Here’s a quick look at the menu while I was at the restaurant:
I decided to just get two courses since I had already eaten a big lunch. I decided to go with the loin of lamb entree.
The lamb was freaking delicious. Incredibly tender and cooked perfectly (medium rare). The lamb also came with dauphine potatoes. I must say, the potatoes were incredibly creamy and rich.
I savored every last crumb on dish and had to restrain myself from licking everything up!
And for desert, the waitress recommended the Ile Flottante to me.
I’ve never had it before and Celine told me it was the restaurant’s specialty.
It’s basically a large serving of Meringue floating in vanilla custard. I’ve never had anything like it and destroyed the beautiful dish in a matter of minutes. The vanilla custard was truly amazing – very creamy and not too sweet.
Oh by the way, the restaurant serves an incredible Old Fashioned. This is my go to cocktail so I always get it while traveling. And this one did not disappoint.
In fact, I would say this is the best Old Fashioned that I have ever had! But fair warning, it is a little bit on the sweeter side.
Anyways, I ended up spending about €70 or €80 at Georgette (mainly because I had a lot of booze).
Click here to check out their menu.
3. L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon (St. Germain location)
If you’re going to be in Paris, you HAVE to eat at a Michelin star restaurant. I had my eye on Joel Robuchon for a while so I booked a reservation several months in advance.
The restaurant is located in the Montalembert Hotel (a very nice luxury hotel).
And yes, I know what you’re thinking…it is EXPENSIVE to eat here. But it’s also one of the best restaurants in the world. I personally like to stay at cheap hotels and experience great restaurants in every city I visit.
Eating at Joel Robuchon is quite the experience.
First of all, I have to say I love the way the restaurant is designed. Everyone sits at the bar sushi style and you get to see the chefs in action right on the spot.
And these guys are real pros. It’s quite the experience to see a Michelin star restaurant staff in action!
And best of all, I think this type of seating creates a much better social atmosphere.
The service was pretty good, but I felt like they could have explained the dishes better. Regardless, everything was incredible. I decided to go with the amazing 10 course tasting menu.
The 10 course tasting menu is €189 per person. It costs extra to get wine pairings, which I opted not to do. Instead, I ordered a great whiskey off the menu – Isle of Jura. It was so delicious that I had 5 glasses (and no, I’m not kidding lol).
Anyways, let’s get back to the food. Each course is truly a piece of art.
I won’t describe them all in detail as that would take way too long, but here are some of my favorites:
1. The foie gras was incredible – best I’ve ever had. So tender and the use of cherry was a nice touch.
2. Lamb chops with mashed potatoes. My lamb chops were cooked a little bit more that I would like, but it was delicious and Joel’s famous mashed potatoes are literally out of this world!
I’ve heard a lot of things about the mashed potatoes online, but I never thought they would be so good!
3. Chocolate cake – The chocolate cake at the end was amazing – very rich and creamy. It was the perfect way to end the night. If you’re in Paris, don’t miss out on this place or you’ll regret it!
