Best Restaurants in Paris 2026

Le Comptoir du Relais

Yves Camdeborde's bistro on the Carrefour de l'Odéon is one of the addresses that helped define the modern "bistronomie" movement, pairing serious technique with hearty, unfussy plates. The dining room is small and tightly packed with close-set tables, spilling onto a corner terrace that's good for watching the Odéon crossing.

Known for: Yves Camdeborde's influential neo-bistro; credited with starting the bistronomy movement; weekday dinner booking only, weekend walk-in lunch

9 Carrefour de l'Odéon, 75006 Paris, France

Abri

A narrow, deliberately spare room near Gare du Nord where a French-Japanese kitchen turns out a short, single tasting menu that changes with what's available that week. The plating leans precise and restrained rather than showy, in keeping with the tight, no-frills space.

Known for: A tiny (14-seat) restaurant showcasing chef Katsuaki Okiyama's French-Japanese fusion; one Michelin star

92 Rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière, 75010 Paris, France

Au Pied de Cochon

A Les Halles institution dating back to the days when this was a wholesale food market, still serving brasserie classics built around pork and shellfish in a dining room done up in old-Paris brass and tile. It's a big, busy, unapologetically traditional room rather than an intimate one.

Known for: One of Paris's only 24-hour traditional brasseries; feeding the city since 1946; famous late-night spot for the post-theatre and post-nightclub crowd

6 Rue Coquillière, 75001 Paris, France

Chez Janou

A Provençal bistro tucked on a small street behind Place des Vosges, with a yellow façade and a dining room and terrace that fill up with a mostly local, Marais-adjacent crowd. The cooking is rustic southern French rather than refined Parisian bistro fare.

Known for: A convivial Provençal bistro in the Marais; legendary for its 100-variety pastis menu and unfussy Mediterranean cuisine

2 Rue Roger Verlomme, 75003 Paris, France

Benoît

Founded in 1912 and now under Alain Ducasse's ownership, this Marais bistro keeps its original zinc bar, mirrors and red banquettes, making it one of the more historically intact classic bistro rooms in the city. The menu stays close to old-school Lyonnaise and French bistro repertoire rather than chasing trends.

Known for: Paris's last independently listed bistro (since 1912), now an Alain Ducasse establishment; preserves classic Lyon-style French bistro cuisine

20 Rue Saint-Martin, 75004 Paris, France

Du Pain et des Idées

Christophe Vasseur's bakery on a quiet stretch near Canal Saint-Martin, set in a beautiful preserved 19th-century shopfront with painted glass and ornate woodwork. It's strictly a bakery counter, not a café with seating.

Known for: Widely regarded as one of the best boulangeries in Paris; listed-building 19th-century bakery on Canal Saint-Martin

34 Rue Yves Toudic, 75010 Paris, France

Café Marly

Set under the arcades of the Richelieu wing overlooking the Louvre's glass pyramid, this is as much about the terrace view as the brasserie food itself. The interior rooms are decorated in a plush, dark, Napoleon III-inspired style quite different from the bright courtyard outside.

Known for: The most dramatic terrace in Paris — directly facing I.M. Pei's Louvre pyramid; popular with visitors before and after museum visits

93 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France (Cour Napoléon, Richelieu wing of the Louvre)

Le Relais de l'Entrecôte

This Saint-Germain address runs on a single idea: a green salad with walnuts followed by steak-frites in a secret sauce, with no printed menu and no choice to make beyond how you want your meat cooked. The dining room is brisk and closely packed, staffed by servers who keep tables turning quickly.

Known for: One formula, no menu: walnut salad starter, then steak with the legendary secret-recipe sauce and unlimited frites; simple, repeatable, excellent

20 Rue Saint-Benoît, 75006 Paris, France

Saturne

A minimalist dining room near the Bourse in the 2nd arrondissement built around a natural-wine list and a kitchen that leans hard into seasonal produce over meat and fish. The cooking treats vegetables as the main event, with fermentation and pickling used to add acidity and depth rather than as garnish. The space is stripped-back and light-filled, with an open kitchen and a wine bar annex next door for a more casual glass and small plates.

Known for: One Michelin star; exceptional natural wine cellar; showcases minimalist seasonal French cooking in a relaxed setting

17 Rue Notre-Dame des Victoires, 75002 Paris, France

Yam'Tcha

A small, tightly run dining room near the Louvre where the kitchen pairs French technique and ingredients with Chinese and Cantonese cooking methods, especially steaming and wok work. Each course arrives with a specific tea chosen to match it in place of a conventional wine pairing. The room is compact and quiet, with counter seating that lets you watch the dim sum and steamer baskets being finished.

Known for: Adeline Grattard's one-Michelin-star restaurant fusing Cantonese technique with French ingredients; pioneered tea-pairing dining in Paris

121 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris, France

Gérard Mulot Pâtisserie

A longstanding pâtisserie on Rue de Seine in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, known for classic French pastry made with traditional technique rather than modern reinvention. The counter is dense with cakes, tarts, and viennoiserie made on site, aimed as much at neighborhood regulars picking up dessert as at visitors. It's a shop to buy from and carry off, not a café to sit in.

Known for: Saint-Germain's finest pâtisserie; exceptional technically crafted cakes and pastries across two floors

76 Rue de Seine, 75006 Paris, France

Akrame

A discreet, low-signage fine-dining room in the 16th from chef Akrame Benallal, working in tasting-menu format with modern French technique and an emphasis on visual plating and unusual flavor pairings. The space is dark and design-forward, built for a formal multi-course evening rather than a quick meal. Dishes tend toward composed, architectural presentations rather than rustic bistro cooking.

Known for: Akrame Benallal's one-Michelin-star restaurant; elegant, creative, and more accessible than the palace restaurants

19 Rue Lauriston, 75016 Paris, France

Le Baratin

A worn, unpretentious neighborhood bistro in Belleville that has long drawn chefs and industry regulars on their nights off. The menu is handwritten daily by chef Raquel Carena based on the market, leaning on offal and simple bistro classics rather than technique-driven cooking, paired with a deep natural wine list chosen by co-owner Philippe Pinoteau. Tables are close together and the room has the lived-in feel of a place that hasn't been redecorated for effect.

Known for: Raquel Carena's legendary natural wine bistro in Belleville; beloved by Paris chefs and food journalists as the true neighbourhood bistro

3 Rue Jouye-Rouve, 75020 Paris, France

Berthillon

The ice cream house on Île Saint-Louis that most Paris sorbet is measured against, making its ice cream and sorbet in small batches rather than for mass output. The original shop is a simple counter, while a number of cafés on the same street resell Berthillon scoops if the main counter has a long line. Flavors change somewhat with the season, with fruit sorbets built to taste strongly of the actual fruit rather than sugar.

Known for: Paris's most revered artisan ice cream and sorbet maker; using only natural ingredients since 1954; 70+ flavours

29–31 Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, 75004 Paris, France

Bistrot Paul Bert

A wood-paneled corner bistro in the 11th run on classic technique rather than reinvention, with a short chalkboard menu that changes with the seasons and market. The kitchen is known for cooking meat properly rather than over- or under-shooting doneness, and the room has the close-set tables and paper-topped surfaces of an old-school Paris bistro rather than a modern reworking of one.

Known for: The benchmark modern French bistro for steak-frites, opened in 2000 by Bertrand Auboyneau and still considered one of the finest classic bistros in Paris

18 Rue Paul Bert, 75011 Paris, France

Chez Alain Miam Miam

A stall inside the Marché des Enfants Rouges, the oldest covered market in Paris, where sandwiches are built to order on organic bread and pressed on a griddle until the cheese melts through. It's counter service only, standing or perched at shared tables inside the market rather than a conventional dining room.

Known for: A single market stallholder, Alain Roussel, hand-building elaborate toasted sandwiches from organic ingredients near the Marché des Enfants Rouges since 2005

26 Rue Charlot, 75003 Paris, France

Chez Aline

A former horse-butcher's shop near the Bastille converted into a tiny sandwich counter with a handful of stools, where baguette sandwiches are built fresh each morning around whatever roast or filling the kitchen has that day. The space is small enough that most orders are taken to go.

Known for: A tiny former horse butcher's shop converted into one of the 11th arrondissement's most respected sandwich counters, run with a strict weekday-only schedule

85 Rue de la Roquette, 75011 Paris, France

Bofinger

One of the oldest brasseries in Paris, near the Bastille, known for its Belle Époque dining room with a stained-glass dome, brass fittings and dark wood booths. The kitchen runs a classic Alsatian brasserie menu built around choucroute and seafood, served by waiters in the traditional long white aprons, and the room stays lively and loud through service.

Known for: Paris's oldest Alsatian brasserie, open since 1864, famous for its Belle Époque stained-glass dome and choucroute garnie

5–7 Rue de la Bastille, 75004 Paris, France

Brasserie Lipp

This is one of the grand Left Bank brasseries, all dark wood paneling, mirrors, and colorful Art Nouveau ceramic tile murals of parrots and tropical foliage. It became a fixture for politicians, publishers, and writers from the mid-20th century onward, and the kitchen still runs on classic Alsatian-leaning brasserie repertoire rather than anything experimental. The dining room is loud, brisk, and formal in the way older Paris brasseries are — waiters in long white aprons, close-set tables, constant turnover.

Known for: A Saint-Germain literary and political institution since 1880, historically the meeting point of French writers, publishers, and politicians

151 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006 Paris, France

Polidor

Polidor has operated as a no-frills Left Bank bistro since the 19th century, with the same red-and-white checked tablecloths and long communal tables that give it its crowded, convivial feel. It's the kind of place associated with the old Latin Quarter literary crowd — Hemingway and Joyce both ate here — and the menu leans on home-style French cooking rather than refined technique. Portions are generous and the pace is fast, with servers weaving between tightly packed tables.

Known for: One of Paris's oldest bistros, founded in 1845, that has fed generations of writers from Verlaine and Rimbaud to Hemingway and Joyce, and appeared in Woody Allen's 'Midnight in Paris'

41 Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, 75006 Paris, France

Joséphine Chez Dumonet

A classic Left Bank bistro with a warm, wood-lined interior, brass fittings, and the kind of unhurried service typical of an old-guard Paris address rather than a trendy newcomer. The cooking is unapologetically rich and traditional French bistro fare, built around long-cooked classics rather than seasonal experimentation. It draws a mix of loyal Parisian regulars and visitors who've heard specifically about the bœuf bourguignon.

Known for: A Left Bank institution long known as 'Joséphine,' celebrated for a slow-braised bœuf bourguignon considered by many food writers among the finest in Paris

117 Rue du Cherche-Midi, 75006 Paris, France

Poilâne

Poilâne is the bakery that popularized the large round sourdough wheel now associated with rustic French bread nationwide, baked in wood-fired ovens using a method the founding family has maintained for generations. The shop itself is small and plain — flour dust, wooden shelving, loaves stacked and half-cut for sampling — with none of the polish of a modern patisserie. It sells pastries and tarts alongside the bread, but the loaf is what built its reputation.

Known for: The original 1932 flagship of Paris's most famous bakery, still baking its signature sourdough miche in a wood-fired oven at the original address

8 Rue du Cherche-Midi, 75006 Paris, France

Ladurée (Rue Royale)

This is Ladurée's original historic address, a gilded, mirrored tea salon near the Madeleine that predates the brand's global expansion and helped establish the modern double-shelled macaron as a French pastry icon. The front is a formal boutique counter for pastries to go, while the back opens into an ornate salon de thé with painted ceilings and velvet seating for sit-down service. It draws both quick counter buyers and diners settling in for a full tea service.

Known for: The original 1862 Ladurée flagship, credited with inventing the modern double-shelled macaron and still the brand's most historic address

16 Rue Royale, 75008 Paris, France

Pierre Hermé (Rue Bonaparte)

This Saint-Germain-des-Prés boutique is one of the standard-bearers of the modern Paris macaron, with a small, jewel-box interior built around glass cases of glossy shells rather than tables or seating. The pastries lean toward layered, structured flavor combinations rather than classic single-note French patisserie, and the shop rotates a seasonal collection alongside its permanent range.

Known for: The Saint-Germain flagship of pastry chef Pierre Hermé, frequently described as the 'Picasso of pastry,' known for precise, architecturally composed desserts and inventive macaron flavours

72 Rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris, France

Le Potager du Marais

Le Potager du Marais is a tiny vegan bistro in the Marais that reworks French bistro classics — like bourguignon — using seitan or mushrooms in place of meat, served in a room styled after a traditional neighborhood bistro rather than a health-food café. It's one of the older vegan addresses in Paris and draws a mix of vegans and curious omnivores testing plant-based versions of familiar dishes.

Known for: A pioneering all-vegan restaurant reinterpreting classic French bistro dishes without animal products, operating in the Marais since 2003

26 Rue Saint-Paul, 75004 Paris, France

Le Servan

Le Servan, run by sisters Tatiana and Katia Levha near Place de la République in the 11th, pairs French bistro technique with Filipino touches from the chefs' own heritage, plated in a light, tiled corner-building dining room. The kitchen builds its menu around what's available at market that day, so the format is a short, changing card rather than a fixed repertoire.

Known for: A Michelin-listed neo-bistro run by sisters Tatiana and Katia Levha, blending French technique with occasional Filipino flavour influences from their family heritage

32 Rue Saint-Maur, 75011 Paris, France

Waly-Fay

Waly-Fay is a dimly lit, close-quartered Senegalese and West African restaurant in the 11th arrondissement, decorated with dark wood, patterned fabrics, and low lighting that gives it a lounge-like feel rather than a formal dining room. The cooking draws on Senegalese home cooking, built around slow-simmered stews and grilled or fried proteins served with rice. It's a spot Parisians go to specifically for West African food rather than a general neighborhood bistro alternative.

Known for: A warmly lit, well-established Senegalese and West African restaurant in the 11th arrondissement, drawing a loyal following for its yassa chicken and thiep bou dien

6 Rue Godefroy-Cavaignac, 75011 Paris, France

Holybelly

Holybelly is a small brunch spot near Canal Saint-Martin that helped popularize the pancakes-and-filter-coffee style of café now common across the neighborhood. The room is narrow with counter seating and close-packed tables, and the kitchen is visible from the dining area, giving it a working-café feel rather than a polished restaurant one.

Known for: One of the restaurants credited with launching Paris's specialty coffee and modern brunch movement from a small corner spot on the Canal Saint-Martin since 2013

5 Rue Lucien Sampaix, 75010 Paris, France

Breizh Café Le Marais

A modern crêperie that takes Breton galette-making seriously, using buckwheat batter and cider in a room with pale wood and a more contemporary, uncluttered look than the typical Paris crêperie. The savory galettes and sweet crêpes are made to order on the griddle, and the cider list runs deeper than the usual single house pour.

Known for: Bertrand Larcher's modern Breton crêperie, credited with elevating the humble galette into a gastronomic dish using IGP buckwheat flour and Bordier butter

109 Rue Vieille du Temple, 75003 Paris, France

Sacha Finkelsztajn (La Boutique Jaune)

Known locally as La Boutique Jaune for its bright yellow storefront, this is an Ashkenazi Jewish delicatessen and bakery on Rue des Rosiers, in the heart of the Marais's historic Jewish quarter. Inside it's compact and stocked with cured fish, dense breads, and pastries rather than laid out as a sit-down restaurant — most people buy to take away. The style is Eastern European Jewish baking transplanted into a Paris shopfront rather than reinterpreted.

Known for: Paris's most celebrated Ashkenazi Jewish delicatessen, family-run behind its bright yellow façade on Rue des Rosiers since 1946

27 Rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris, France

Krishna Bhavan

Krishna Bhavan sits in the Rue Cail cluster of South Indian restaurants in the 10th arrondissement's Little India, an area shaped by the neighborhood's Sri Lankan Tamil community. It's a plain, canteen-style room focused on vegetarian South Indian cooking rather than the North Indian menus more commonly found elsewhere in Paris.

Known for: A no-frills South Indian vegetarian canteen at the heart of Paris's Little India / Sri Lankan quarter near Gare du Nord, known for its thin, crisp dosas

24 Rue Cail, 75010 Paris, France

Ober Mamma

A big, loud, high-ceilinged Italian canteen on Boulevard Richard-Lenoir with an open kitchen anchored by a wood-fired oven and a hanging curtain of cured hams and produce. The cooking is generous rather than refined, built around pizza, fresh pasta, and shareable antipasti. It's part of the Big Mamma group, so the room is designed for groups and noise, not quiet conversation.

Known for: Big Mamma Group's flagship Paris restaurant; exuberant Italian dining in a converted warehouse with 30m² fresco and Murano glass chandeliers

107 Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, 75011 Paris, France

Higuma

Higuma is a bare-bones ramen counter on Rue Sainte-Anne, the street that anchors Paris's small Japanese restaurant cluster near the Opéra. The open kitchen faces the counter, so you watch bowls being assembled amid the clatter and steam, and the room is loud, simple, and functional rather than atmospheric. It's built for fast, satisfying bowls rather than a leisurely meal.

Known for: One of the original anchors of Paris's Rue Sainte-Anne 'Little Tokyo,' serving simple, authentic ramen from an open kitchen since 1983

32bis Rue Sainte-Anne, 75001 Paris, France

Mokonuts

A tiny café near the Marché d'Aligre run out of a former shoe-repair shop, mixing French bistro habits with the Lebanese background of one of its two chef-owners. Breakfast and lunch service is short and changes daily depending on the market, with pastries baked in-house through the day. The room seats only a handful of people at close-set tables, so it has the feel of eating in someone's kitchen.

Known for: Moko Hirayama and Omar Koreitem's beloved all-day café; the cookies and pastries alone justify the visit; natural wine list

5 Rue Saint-Bernard, 75011 Paris, France

L'As du Fallafel

A takeout counter and small dining room on the pedestrian stretch of Rue des Rosiers in the Marais, historically the center of the neighborhood's Jewish community. The kitchen fries falafel to order and piles it into pita with layers of cabbage, cucumber, hummus and tahini rather than serving it as a composed plate. The dining room in back is plain and functional, with most trade taken standing at the counter or eaten while walking.

Known for: Paris's most famous falafel counter on the historic Jewish quarter's central street, serving a loaded pita to lines that stretch down Rue des Rosiers

34 Rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris, France

Chez Omar

A Marais couscous house set in an old bistro shell with zinc, mirrors and closely packed tables, a room that still reads as a neighborhood restaurant rather than something styled for visitors. The kitchen steams the semolina properly rather than reheating it, and the meats and broth are served separately so diners assemble the plate themselves. Service moves fast and the noise level rises quickly once the room fills.

Known for: A converted 19th-century bistro serving North African couscous to a mixed crowd of Marais fashion-industry regulars and neighbourhood locals since the 1980s

47 Rue de Bretagne, 75003 Paris, France

Lao Lane Xang 2

Known for: One of the most respected pan-Southeast Asian restaurants in Paris's 13th arrondissement Chinatown, spanning Laotian, Thai, and Vietnamese cooking

102 Avenue d'Ivry, 75013 Paris, France

Le Petit Cambodge

A bright, casual canteen near the Canal Saint-Martin serving Cambodian and Vietnamese dishes at communal tables, with an open feel and a younger neighborhood crowd typical of the 10th arrondissement. The kitchen favors fresh herbs and quick grilling over heavy sauces, and portions are sized for sharing across a table of dishes.

Known for: A long-running, unpretentious Cambodian-Vietnamese canteen near the Canal Saint-Martin, ordering still taken the old-fashioned way on a paper slip

20 Rue Alibert, 75010 Paris, France