Here are our top 5 recommended restaurants in Paris.
Restaurant Kong
The first question that springs to mind when you walk up the winding staircase and see Restaurant Kong is: what kind of crazy person would have done this? The restaurant looks like a spaceship that’s landed on top of a building in the centre of Paris, all thanks to its oblong glass dome (from which you can watch over the entire city). A 20 metre long picture of a Japanese geisha in a kimono hangs from the ceiling. The backrests of all the chairs are adorned with the face of a different woman: geishas, modern Japanese women with pink hair and blond wannabe air stewardesses. In the bar located on the floor below, there are hundreds of orchids under the counter, rocking chairs with holograms, a Louis XV-styled table as DJ decks, fluorescent silver sofas and plasma screens. And the mind responsible for it all? No other than Philippe Starck of course, being even more experimental than usual. The food is French with a touch of Japanese – experimental and delicious.
1 rue du Pont Neuf
1st arr.
Tel: +33 1 40 39 09 00
Station: Pont-Neuf
La Famille
With its tiny black-painted façade and closed curtains in the daytime, restaurant La Famille doesn’t attract much attention. Of course, its cause isn’t helped by the fact it’s open for only a few hours in the evening too. Nevertheless people travel across Paris and change metro several times just to get a piece of the unpretentious atmosphere and inventive cuisine. It’s ‘fusion’ at its very best. The master chef gladly mixes foie gras with cacao, creates milkshakes out of goose pate and maize, serves gazpacho out of peaches and sprinkles Basque chilli onto the chocolate dessert – and ends it all properly with marshmallows served on a base of carrots. The restaurant looks like a miniature New York loft, or what the French sometimes call ‘industry-chic’, with white walls, a hint of metal, glass and some lamps. The staff always look like they’re having fun at work (unusual for Paris), and the waiters are more than pleased to serve you a personal drink with a surreal twist.
41, Rue des Trois-Frères
18th arr.
Tel: +33 1 42 52 11 12
Station: Abbesses
Tokyo Eat
This funky place is housed in a huge concrete dining hall with a 10-metre high ceiling. It’s filled with a mix of pure white and colourful 60s-style curvaceous furniture, while dozens of UFO-shaped lampshades hang from the ceiling. The restrooms are equally quirky. Cubilcles come in sizes small, large and XXL, and the tap – which looks like a milking machine – is so advanced that you need to study it closely in order to figure out how to wash your hands. Happy, innovative, and informal, Tokyo Eat would perhaps be more at home in Berlin than Paris. The menu includes dishes such as beetroot Carpaccio and puff pastry with snails and cheese. In the summer you can eat on the terrace with a fabulous view of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower.
13, Avenue du Président-Wilson
16th arr.
Tel: +33 1 47 20 00 29
Station: Iéna
Septime
Bertrand Grébaut first studied literature and then worked as a graphic designer. Few people would probably have predicted that these two fields would create the perfect base for the development of an outstanding chef – but Bertrand Grébaut has really become an absolute culinary genius. And he hasn’t wasted his time: at the age of only 27, he won a Michelin star as head chef at Agapé in 2009, before opening his own restaurant in April 2011. The Septime has attracted foodies from all over the world, and it’s a safe bet for a truly tasty and inspiring restaurant experience in Paris. The contemporary French dishes are aesthetically flawless, and the menu is well composed and based on seasonal ingredients. The Septime is refined and relaxed, and the service is polite and not too formal.
80, Rue de Charonne
11th arr.
Tel: +33 1 43 67 38 29
Station: Charonne
Glou
Glou is one of the most refreshing things to have happened to Parisian restaurants in a while. Thoroughly modern and politically correct (think recycled napkins and organic goods), while not being over the top, it feels like a great antidote to all the exhibitionist restaurants for which this city is renowned. The style is New York-esque, with brick walls, industrial lamps, metal stairs and big windows facing the garden of the Picasso Museum. The guests sit side by side at two long tables made from unvarnished wood, and the majority are well-dressed boys and pretty girls wearing the latest collection from Antik Batik. Ultra-trendy, yet surprisingly casual, the food is great, and being able to enjoy a good meal for a reasonable amount of money is part of the concept. The wine list is one of the best in the neighbourhood.
101 rue Vieille-du-Temple
23rd arr.
Tel: +33 1 42 74 44 32
Station: Saint-Sébastien Froissart
