5 Sublime Culinary Experiences To Have In Paris Now-And 1 To Skip

“There is definitely a moment for every food style but having a simple, well executed meal within a great environment is a great pleasure and surely a form of understated luxury for any food lover.”

That’s chef Paul Pairet’s reasoning for Nonos & Comestibles par Paul Pairet, his casual, retro classic grill and accompanying upscale takeout spot that opened in Paris’s famed Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel in January. The target audience: “both for guests staying at the hotel (used to luxury, yet aspiring to have simple fare and a home away from home feeling), as well as to local guests who can find there a welcoming casual place within an otherwise intimidating Palace,” he explains. It marks the chef’s return to his home country from Shanghai where he made his name and where one of his three restaurants, the three Michelin starred Ultraviolet, is a boundary-pushing, sensory/multimedia extravaganza. Nonos, in contrast, is much more straightforward but according to Pairet, not out of character since he has two simpler restaurants in Shanghai as well: Mr & Mrs Bund and Polux. Nonos is spotlighting the dishes he loves with several coming from his family.

From his mother comes Eggs Mimosa Mama, deviled eggs with tuna and anchovies; from his father, aromatic grilled chicken and lamb chops. Expert versions of French classics are all over the menu: onion soup; Pâte en croûte; cheese souffle; beef tartare; leeks in a hazelnut vinaigrette. But center stage belongs to an international array of impeccably grilled beef: Minute Steak Frites with Austrian skirt steak; French dry aged ribeye and Aubrac-Wagyu filet; a Black Angus sirloin, porterhouse and bone in ribeye from Creekstone Farms in the U.S. a Wagyu thin cut striploin from Japan and a roast of the day on the carving trolley. (Non-meat eaters do have options as well including Lobster Fricassee, Black Cod and Sole Meunière.)

The restaurant’s design by Tristan Auer, responsible also for the recent redesign of the Carlton Cannes, is appropriately sleek, with curved banquettes, gold accents and marble tables. But once the weather warmed up, tables were also set up outside in the plant-filled courtyard where on Wednesdays through Sundays, the beef topped trolley rolls smoothly through the aisles.

Nearby at the new Maison Delano Paris, the courtyard is the main setting for La Chambre Bleue, Spanish star chef Dani Garcia’s showcase of Andalusian cuisine with French touches and a nod to Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period in the restaurant’s name and interior salon design, the drawings on the plates and several items on the menu. The cooking is vivid and exuberant in dishes such as anchovies, green onion confit, truffled cream, herbs and olive oil; octopus carpaccio, fennel, Granny Smith apple and lemon vinaigrette; red mullet paella with roasted tomatoes and broccolini and a trio of red tuna tartare with a dressing created from the tomato/cucumber/onion/ pepper salad pipirrana, part of the menu subdivision devoted entirely to tuna. As a hotel restaurant, it’s open for all three meals and locals, not just hotel guests, regularly filter in even for breakfast.

Fauchon may not have its main gourmet emporium on Place de la Madeleine anymore-the combined effect of COVID lockdowns, tourist dropoff and Yellow Vest protests forced the closure in 2020-but the company has transitioned to smaller, product specific boutiques spread around the world and a growing empire of hotels. The first in the group, Fauchon L’Hotel Paris, arrived on the scene in 2018 around the corner from the store; this summer the Terrace of the Grand Café Fauchon is offering a new menu of culinary creations spotlighting the group’s signature products and a series of cocktails in conjunction with Bombay Sapphire gin. Among the selections: Crispy prawns, roasted pineapple, and spicy sauce; Sole gougeonnettes with curry, wasabi mayonnaise, pickled cucumbers and organic burrata and gariguette strawberries, candied tomatoes and gluten free focaccia along with new ice cream flavors including one modeled on its signature pastry Bisou-Bisou composed of white chocolate, peppermint, red fruit coulis and a crunchy almond cookie. There are also DJs on Thursdays and Fridays from 6 to 9 PM.

Other terraces on Paris rooftops are so popular that lists are regularly compiled of the best for views, service, ambience, menu. Often topping the list is Sequoia atop the Kimpton St. Honoré Paris which opened two years ago between Place Vendôme and the Paris Opéra. But I can’t imagine why anyone would choose to be crammed behind a velvet rope at the entrance angling for a table that more likely than not during the day will be in the sun since only a few are shaded, slapped with a 40 Euro minimum and dealt with by service that ranges from uninterested to surly. A much better option is Le Jardin de Cheval Blanc Paris, a plant and shrub filled 6,997 square foot terrace atop that hotel with views of the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame-de-Paris Cathedral and a menu that includes dishes such as tuna and amberjack tataki with beefsteak tomato, mint and shiso, candied beef ribs and others featuring strawberries and tomatoes grown on the terrace. The service also couldn’t be more welcoming even if all you’re ordering is a sparkling water at the bar.

In order to get a more comprehensive understanding of the culinary scene in Paris, there are a number of food tours through the different arrondissements and markets. Sarah Bartesaghi Truong, founder and CEO of the luxury bespoke travel company VeniVidiParis which organizes targeted culture and arts explorations in Paris and several French regions, has one of the best for culinary Paris. Working in conjunction with guides such as the knowledgeable English expat Neil Kreeger, the company can organize one, for example, in the south Marais in which you collect and taste filled chocolates from the Japanese accented chocolatier Les Trois Chocolats, goose rillettes and Pâte en croûte pintade et morilles from the charcuterie specialist Au Sanglier, six exquisite cheeses including Fourme d’Ambert AOC and Tomme de Marion from Laurent Dubois and artistic, complex creations from Yann Couvreur Patisserie accompanied by wines in the cellar of the wine shop Arthus et Jean. It’s a bountiful spread; you’re advised not to eat anything beforehand. And you can take anything left over-and you will-for snacking later on.