Hi, first time posting on Hungry Onion (I was on Chowhound about 20 years ago haha). I’m traveling to Paris in December and will be having dinner with about 6 friends on a weekend night in Pigalle. Looking for recommendations for a restaurant with great food that will feel festive for dinner, and have a vibrant local scene (or at least not majority English-speaking tourists).
Petrelle isn’t open on Saturday. Benjamin Schmitt has mixed reviews about it’s ambience. Jeanne Aimee looks great for a quiet lunch, but maybe not a festive dinner. Bouillon Pigalle certainly looks boisterous, but I wonder if it’d feel like too much of a mess hall for a group of middle-aged adults having a special occasion, lingering dinner.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be French food, or even in Pigalle, if someone can recommend a slam dunk for a group’s fun night out. For instance, I was thinking about going to Cheval D’or in Belleville, but they’re not open on Saturdays.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated! Thank you!
La Condesa is not far. But it is Michelin * tasting menu with tasty elegant food but is not that vibrant of a scene.
More relaxed Le Bon Georges is pretty good.
I am sure @parnparis will have more ideas.
If you’re willing to spend a bit of money, I cannot recommend Perception in the 9e highly enough.
Search this board and you will see many recommendations. Here’s one of them: Perception, Paris 9 Onzieme’s review is for lunch, but at dinner the menu is longer and you get to see still more of the chef’s talents.
My own review from 18 months ago is in near the end of my long post here. I’ve been negligent and yet to write up our visit this spring, which was just as good. It was this past year and remains the restaurant to which I am most looking forward to returning next year.
French by a Korean chef with a few Korean touches, tasting menu, fabulous, easily Michelin star-quality food (but no star yet), excellent value, open Saturday evenings.
Not far at all from Pigalle, but for me well worth traveling across the city for.
From your initial requirements (about 7 diners, great food, festive, vibrant local scene), I do not recommend some of the tiny gastro places on the South side of Montmartre (that’s basically what “Pigalle” amounts to), you’ll need space and a livelier atmosphere. You might have to widen your search to a slightly larger territory.
Bouillon Pigalle OK as long as you’re willing to stand in line for what looks like forever. Every time I pass by the Bouillons (including the one in République) the sight of those lines scares me to no end.
I’ll still recommend Benjamin Schmitt, and still on the South side: Le Pantruche, Les Canailles, Les Arlots… (this one not exactly Pigalle but worth going to).
My absolute go-to would be Le Bistrot du Maquis, on the North side of Montmartre, and I’ll also recommend two places right at the top of Butte Montmartre: La Bonne Franquette and Chez Eugène, worth more than their location in the heart of touristland would seem to indicate.
Thank you for all of the great suggestions so far! Will look into each of them! We’re having dinner with an even larger group (15!) the night before at Verjus (limited options for such a large group), so for the Saturday dinner (with some of the same people) I lean toward a looser vibe, with an a la carte menu. Perception sounds amazing, though, for another meal during the trip.
Are Les Arlots and Le Bistrot Du Maquis fun, festive rooms?
ps - my instinct is that it’s not right for this occasion, but Bouillon Pigalle takes reservations now!
They are bistrots, the former a bit noisier than the latter, but they’re not deliberately fun or festive. They have a relaxed atmosphere. If by that you mean “boisterous” I don’t think any place that has been mentioned so far fits the description. Even in Pigalle, and unless you go to a cabaret with dinner included, having fun means bringing your own fun. Maybe you should do a dîner-spectacle like Le Moulin Rouge, La Nouvelle Eve or Madame Arthur.
However, I know a place that is not a cabaret, can be described as a bit crazy, and serves excellent food. And it only requires going to the other side of the Butte Montmartre, so across the hill from Pigalle. B.O.U.L.O.M. on rue Ordener is a speakeasy restaurant hiding behind a boulangerie with a cocktail bar hidding behind the speakeasy restaurant, it functions as a buffet, and the food is nothing short of gargantuan. It’s about as close to fun and festive as you’ll get in the area without being a dîner-spectacle, and it’s really good.
Going this way, the aforementioned La Bonne Franquette can be also described as fun, and the food is good, but not quite as good as B.O.U.L.O.M.'s.
Looking back on previous posts: there’s positively no fun about Cheval d’Or. I don’t recommend the place unless the quality of the food has improved since the original chef left this world. But fun it is not at any rate. If we want fun, life and noise in non-French restaurants, then it’s Belleville we want and busy Cantonese places like Le Président, but I can’t vouch for the quality of the food since I haven’t been there in ages.
Carmenere, your suggestions are so appreciated (and illuminating). Boulom was not on my radar at all. It looks fascinating! As for cabaret, I was perhaps over-stating the need for the restaurant itself to provide a raucous experience. I just mean that ideally we’d be somewhere that will be full (but not solely tourists) on a Saturday night, thus with a pleasantly convivial vibe. I’ll never forget my meal at La Regalade in 2000 - the platonic ideal of a bistro meal. Obviously not asking to recreate that very specific setting. Now just fondly reminiscing haha.
Also…my understanding is that Cheval D’or reopened last year with an entirely new direction, led by new management (from Verjus, Rigmarole and Clown Bar), but I dont have any firsthand knowledge, just what I’ve read.
I had a terrific lunch at Jeanne-Aimee a few months ago; the scene was totally local, loose, and vibrant, and the staff was very chill. While I can’t speak to what the dinner vibe is like, I’d definitely give it a plug for what you’re seeking, particularly if quality of the food matters to your group.
We were at Cheval D’Or this spring. The food was so good we went back again with visiting family, specifically for perhaps the best “Peking” duck I’ve ever had (certainly the skin), and the soup with a foie gras-filled dumpling. It’s on our must-return list for next year.
I do agree with Carm that I wouldn’t describe the place as “‘fun” in any way, however. Not somber or unpleasant, to be sure, but definitely not “fun”. And not sure it’d be a good place to go with a large group, though that might be a mistaken impression.
Thanks a lot Aristotle. La Régalade… I went there for the first time in the early 00s too, when Yves Camdeborde was there and fresh and new. It was marvellous, and I do understand that you would want to find the same atmosphere again. After him, Bruno Doucet took over and managed to keep it up in a slightly more subdued manner, but I don’t think one has seen the like of La Régalade ever since.
Knowing that, I will keep recommending B.O.U.L.O.M. all the more, since you’ll have pretty much the same vibe and quality level. It’s a family matter — Julien Duboué, chef, owner and master baker of the place, is one of the great overlooked chefs of today and is part of the group of chefs who built bistronomie in the early 00s. In the large dining-room at B.O.U.L.O.M. you may see a painted mural representing all the chefs involved in the movement (Camdeborde, Jego, Faucher, Etchebest, Magie, Doucet, Notelet, a few others and… Duboué). The food may not be quite exactly as refined as Camdeborde’s Régalade, but it is extremely good — considering that more than twenty years have passed —, based on excellent products, and it’s arguably the best buffet in Paris.
The way it’s organised is that you get the appetizers from a set of shelves carrying a profusion of cold dishes, seafood, charcuteries and cured meats (by Eric Ospital), then you go get the warm main courses nearer to the kitchen. After that, you can go back to the cold buffet where desserts are also waiting. Everything is top-notch, not exactly creative new food but who wants that sort of food is not going to a true bistronomie restaurant (more on that another time).
Julien has spent some time in Brazil, and I do see a connection between his gargantuan formula at B.O.U.L.O.M. and what I witnessed at the churrasqueira buffets in the Bahia region. One of the greatest food experiences I’ve ever had, and Julien’s inspiration seems clear to me: great products, freshness, abundance, generosity and buffet service.
Thanks for this, your pictures and descriptions seem to show that a lot has changed at Cheval d’Or. I was literally appalled by my first visit there, when Taku Sekine was chef. Having a pretty extensive experience of Chinese food, I thought that was a joke. Badly done, ungenerous, and not relaxed or friendly at all. At the time, I posted an article on that meal, pointing out what seemed so wrong, and was subsequently insulted by the chef on social networks in the most obscene manner. Not entirely unexpected, but sincerely there was nothing I could have changed in my report.
Apparently, the new management is doing things far better. Makes me want to try it again.
Regarding large groups, indeed that’s not the right place, but they have round tables which could accomodate about 6 or 7 people.
@andygottlieb42 if you’re into Peking duck, i’ve got a couple of tips for you. A bit less expensive than the usual suspects (Shang Palace and Imperial Treasure), there’s an offspring of Chen Soleil d’Est in Rueil-Malmaison, Le Bonheur de Chine. Excellent version of the dish. Second tip, a pretty unexpected one — Yinan et Hugo, rue Brezin in the 14th.
I’ll add Brasserie Bellanger to the list. It’s in the 10th on the edge of the 9th. Very near Les Arlots which I like a lot but I think it’s not the best for a large party.
[https://lanouvellegarde.com/fr/brasserie-bellanger/]
