Paris's dining scene is doing what it does best: honouring the old guard while letting newcomers shake things up. A new round-up from France Today maps the city's best tables across four tiers — serious restaurants, wine bars, cocktail spots and the beloved brasserie-bouillon tradition — and it's a genuinely useful shortlist for anyone planning a food-focused trip.
At the top end, the Marais hides EME, a candlelit nine-course dining room from Uruguayan chef Nazareno Mayol Curti, with dishes like scallops with smoked almonds and pigeon served four ways. For the full splurge, Le Jules Verne sits on the Eiffel Tower's second floor, reached by private lift, where three-star chef Frédéric Anton serves lobster with vanilla and turbot with yuzu and Oscietra caviar alongside the views. Then there's Lapérouse, a 270-year-old landmark once frequented by Proust and Baudelaire, still serving its signature Châteaubriand — reportedly a Churchill favourite — in gilded, chandelier-lit rooms.
Vegans get a serious option too: Vivide, near Sacré-Cœur, turns vegetables into haute cuisine — smoked Jerusalem artichoke chips with béarnaise, an olive oil pot de crème — with wine or non-alcoholic elixir pairings.
The wine bar scene rewards wandering. Lissit in the 11th is a carnivore's pick, with oeufs-mayonnaise, pâté en croûte and a duck confit cassoulet served staggered for sharing. Trouble, a tiny ninth arrondissement spot near the Musée Gustave Moreau, pours well-priced natural wines with a summer terrace. L'Arlequin near Gare de l'Est proves eating well by a major station doesn't require a big budget.
For drinks, Bar 228 at the Hôtel Meurice remains the classic: leather armchairs, live jazz, wood panelling. Newer arrivals include Bar Nouveau, where three mixologists work with rare French spirits in an Art Nouveau room with an industrial basement, and Memento in the Marais, which rotates guest bartenders and does well-priced mocktails and craft beer too. Causeries, near the Musée Picasso, pulls double duty as daytime café and evening wine bar — handy around museum visits.
Finally, the bouillon revival. These historic working-class canteens are back in fashion, and Bouillon Chartier (founded 1896) is the most famous and most photographed, while Bouillon Pigalle, steps from the Moulin Rouge, serves the classics at kind prices amid moleskin banquettes and globe lighting. For something more refined, Margaux near the Musée Guimet pairs traditional French cooking — especially the frites and desserts — with Eiffel Tower views.
Who is this for? Basically anyone visiting Paris who wants a plan beyond the same ten tourist bistros. Budget travellers can eat brilliantly at the bouillons and wine bars for the price of a single tasting course elsewhere, while special-occasion diners have Jules Verne and Lapérouse to aim at. The mix of addresses, from vegan fine dining to 19th-century canteens, makes it easy to build a whole trip around eating.
