Where to take your parents to eat out in Paris ?
The call ended on your Whatsapp family group. Your parents just announced they’re planning to visit you for Easter weekend (or another random weekend). It will be their first time in Paris. They are as excited as 9th graders going on a school trip with their French class. And they’re counting on you to give them a tour of the city and introduce them to French cuisine.
Issue number 1: you’ve been cooking pasta and rice salad for roughly 4 months in a row in the common kitchen; and the only French recipe you handle for now is crêpes.
Issue number 2: the only restaurants you know in town are the Crous and the kebab on your block.
Issue number 3: you don’t want to take them to one of these expensive tourist traps of the sort you find along the Seine or in Saint-Germain-des-Près. Don’t worry, we got you covered!
Boeuf bourguignon, pot-au-feu, choucroute, raclette, tartiflette, aligot, blanquette de veau, fondue savoyarde… French cuisine is rich and varies from one region to another. Your first option is to take them to a brasserie, a typical Parisian restaurant where you can dine on French dishes such as onion soup and pot-au-feu.
Another option is to go to restaurants serving regional dishes such as from Provence, Alsace or Aveyron. If you’re not on a tight budget, you could also take them to a gastronomic restaurant revisiting ancient French recipes. Last piece of advice: make sure to leave a bit of room for dessert (the best part of the meal) to taste a Paris-Brest, Tarte Tatin, Macaron, Mille-feuille or crême brûlée !
Le Vagenende
The Vagenende brasserie used to be a bouillon, a popular restaurant. A glass ceiling, bronze posts, faience… Its charming setting is a reminder of the Belle Epoque era at the beginning of the XXth century.
Their menu includes meat such as a delicious Tête de veau sauce Gribiche (23.50€), fish such as noix de Saint-Jacques (32€) and seafood such as oysters and lobster. The meal of the day changes everyday: bavette de boeuf (beef flank steak) on Saturdays and gigot d’agneau on Sundays.
Le Vagenende
142 boulevard Saint-Germain | 75006 Paris
Non-stop service everyday of the week from 12PM to 10.30PM
Bofinger
Bofinger is one of the most beautiful parisian brasseries. Funded in 1864 by an Alsatian innkeeper, Frédéric Bofinger, it became the first parisian brasserie to serve draft beer. Its setting includes an oval dome adorned with floral patterns, a stained-glass skylight and ceramic statues.
The chef cooks specialties from Alsace such as Kougloff façon pain perdu (Kugloff French toast style), le Soufflé au Grand Marnier, and the best choucroute in Paris, they claim. Seafood enthusiasts will also be pleased by a wide selection of oysters.
Bofinger
5-7 Rue de la Bastille | 75004 Paris
Mondays to Fridays : 12PM-3PM and 6.30PM-12AM
Saturdays : 12PM-3.30PM and 6.30PM-12AM | Sundays : 12PM-11PM
Chez Janine
Despite its old-fashioned name, Chez Janine is the new address for foodies in Batignolles. Opened a few weeks ago, this “bistro-rétro” revisits French cuisine with a focus on high-quality ingredients.
Their menu offers 3 choices of starters, main dishes and deserts. The limited menu guarantees that your meal will be prepared using the freshest possible ingredients.
Personally I would pick the “Céleri rémoulade façon Janine, encornets, moules et poireaux grillés” (12 euros) as a starter; the “Joue de cochon braisée, radis glacés, polenta crèmeuse aux herbes” (26 euros) and their Poire au vin rouge, mousse au miel, crumble au sésame (10 euros) for desert.
Spoiler alert: they also serve a Tarte aux pommes, glace au poivre fumé for two people! It prevents this kind of situation whereby your friend says they don’t want any desert, so you order a slice of pie for yourself (well, tarte since we are in France), and then they want “just a taste” of yours and end up eating the best part of the pie, the melty, fluffy part in the middle.
Chez Janine
90 rue des Dames, 75017 Paris
Batignolles
Chez Janou : Provençale cuisine
Lavender fields, Avignon City of Popes, the French Riviera… You surely know Provence, but have you heard of its cuisine? The bistrot Chez Janou is a provencal restaurant giving you a taste of southern France: ravioles du Dauphiné; filets de rougets à la tapenade; brandade de haddock et aïoli…
You’ll even be able to eat under the olive trees in summer. Last but not least, it wouldn’t be a provencal bistrot without its large selection of pastis, an anise-flavored spirit and apéritif from southern France.
Chez Janou
Rue Roger Verlomme | 75003 Paris
Open everyday at lunch and dinner
La Cuisine de Philippe
A three-minute walk from the Luxembourg garden, La cuisine de Philippe is a retro bistrot serving savory generous traditional French dishes. Its speciality is soufflé: au fromage, aux champignons, à la bisque de homard, chair de crabe et estragon, au Grand Marnier, à la rhubarbe et au coulis de fruits rouges… Vous allez être soufflés ! (pun intended, “soufflé” also means “blown away” in the sense of “surprised”, “amazed”, “astounded”).
La Cuisine de Philippe
25 rue Servandoni 75006 Paris
What about you? What’s your favorite French recipe?
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