Appreciate it, great food for thought!
Alliance website says 9 course 245 and 6 course 175 euro
certainly not inexpenesive but seems similar to Le Clarence or LâOiseau Blanc
Both Le Clarence and lâOiseau Blanc have 2 stars, Alliance has 1. And when you eat at Alliance, itâs like eating in any upmarket modern restaurant in London, Tokyo, etc. A meal at Le Clarence or LâOiseau Blanc is an only-in-Paris experience⊠view of Tour Eiffel in the case of LâOiseau Blanc and impeccable Belle-Epoque âhĂŽtel particulierâ setting in the case of Le Clarence.
my wife would love that even if she would actually prefer the food at Alliance.
Why would she prefer the food at Alliance ? It is indeed very good but not better than that at Le Clarence or LâOiseau Blanc.
Iâm not sure how and why 1-star Alliance can get away with 2-star prices. And for me, itâs very dull and staid without much personality or âParisnessâ. Just not my style.
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She favors lighter, less sauced preparations, mostly seafood, maybe some delicate beef cooked rare.
She loved Granite, La Condessa, and Sola (none of which feel too Parisian).
She also loved the setting of the Alleno at Ledoyen but not so much the food.
On the other hand, back decade ago she loved the food at Le Chateaubriand (Aizpitarte) and LâAmi Jean.
I am personally fine with the restaurant not having much âParisnessâ.
Same style of cuisine at Le Clarence and LâOiseau Blanc. And dozens and dozens and dozens of other starred and non-starred restaurants serving modern French cuisine. And if you can a little âParisnessâ to a very good meal, why not ?
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Absolutely. There are so many appealing restaurants in Paris - that is why I am on this board!
Forgot to mention that her favorite for many years was Montee.
She also loved pierre sang in oberkampf and enjoyed pierre sang signature.
Can you give me some ideas, please, please?
In our last trip to Paris we had lunch at Alliance with 2 Parisian friends. We were the last people in the restaurant, and after the meal the chef came out and asked us, âCâetait bon?â One of our friends answered, âCâetait pas bon. Câetait superbe!â I hope my attempts at French were not too incorrect.
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@beam. I donât know if they will suit your particular style, but Mallory Gabsi (1 star) in the 17th, Pantagruel (1 star) in the 2nd, Omar Dhiab (1 star) in the 2nd, (when the terrace is open in good weather) Restaurant du Palais Royal (2 stars) in the 1st, Le Grand VĂ©four in the 1st, Jeanne-AimĂ©e in the 9th, Origines in the 8th, Jacques Faussat (1 star) in the 17th, Jouvence in the 12th, ChoCho in the 9th, Perception in the 9th, Coretta in the 17th, FIEF in the 11th, and EunoĂ© in the 11th certainly match mine. I should add that for me and many Parisians the price-quality ratio is a very important factor (and, in part, explains my relative dislike of the overpriced Alliance and my huge affection for EunoĂ©, a miracle of value and quality). I suspect it is less important for visitors. BTW, the starred restaurants are for me usually a result of expense account dining⊠I tend to most enjoy more affordable restaurants suitable for a meal âentre potesâ/ with friends in interesting âflĂąneurâ-friendly neighbourhoods.
If price is not a factor, I also suggest Le Gabriel in the 8th.
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Thank you so much! We actually do not pay attention to Michelin at all. I have used Le Fooding guide and Chowhound in the past to research.
Perception reservation was already made. Pantagruel and Eunoe are on a short list.
Investingating the others. Jeanne-Aimee looks very interesting.
Parn, pretty sure Iâve head you mention all of the others listed at some point in the past, but not FIEF. Can you tell us a little bit more about it?
As someone who is not French and doesnât live in Paris, but who very much cares about qualitĂ©-prix, Iâd disagree with Parn about the value at Alliance for a lunchtime meal, but completely agree at dinner, when Iâve never been but where the price alone would put me off of going (and others on this board have indicated they didnât enjoy the meal as much as they did at lunchtime).
Le Clarence at lunch, where we went at Parnâs excellent suggestion last fall, I thought was fine qualitĂ©-prix, but itâs about 20%-30% more expensive than Alliance at lunchtime. I found the food about equal at the two, my wife loved the room at Le Clarence, and we both found the service experience superior at Alliance (not a knock on Le Clarence at all, just a comment on how wonderful the maitre dâ at Alliance is). YMMV.
We have no experience at LâOiseau Blanc with which to compare, unfortunately, because I missed the opportunity to go when Parn was touting it before it had any stars and when it had one star, and now at 2 stars the dinner prices seem too rich for my blood 
Maybe we will get there for lunch some dayâŠ
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I agree completely with Andy here â lunch is the time to go to Alliance (in addition to price, I think the meal works better than at dinner).
As for La Clarence, itâs a completely different experience â going back to the the late 1800s/early 1900s vs. Allianceâs contemporary aspect. Plus, for those of us who care about wine (I realize many donât), Le Clarenceâs prices are truly absurd (read rip-off), whereas Allianceâs are about what you would expect for a one-star and indeed there are some real deals in the lower price regions.
that is a significant turn off for me.
looks super interesting! @ParnParis - would you suggest the counter rather than the table for dinner?
Parn â A while back, you confused Alliance with Kei, and Iâm wondering if youâve done that again here. I completely agree that Kei (now a three-star) is boring and underwhelming, but not Alliance. We regularly take the three-course menu at lunch (which really is about seven courses) and at 75 euros, I consider it to be a bargain given the superior quality of the meal.
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@onzieme. Different parts of the elephant. I have never been to Alliance for lunch, just dinner. Twice (both expense account entertaining). Foodwise, excellent but, for me, the very subdued, almost reverential vibe, a very homogeneous one-note and mostly older clientele, and the very predictable international soulless âgood tasteâ setting were seriously off-putting. And a sense of dĂ©jĂ -vu⊠which of the many similarly styled Japanese-cheffed modern French restos in Paris was this one? And even if my company was paying for it, the bill was still a huge shock. And, in my opinion, not worth it given the better value at other very similar restos in Paris.
I never mixed up Alliance with Kei. The confusion was a Japanese K thing. Kei vs Ken Kawasaki.
Re Le Clarence, agree that the wines are overpriced and way too rarified. By since it is a part of the ultra-prestigious ChĂąteau Haut-Brion wine empire, not unexpected. Iâm a wine-by-the-glass guy in any case, not really a drinker, not the wine geek that you are, and just expect the waiter or wine guy to suggest a glass of wine perfectly matched to the food. Once, when with my family for a special occasion at Le Clarence, we got one on-menu accord mets-vins split into small individual tastings for everyone at the table at the suggestion of the wine guy. The pours were unexpectedly generous. And a few extra wines compliments of the house. Quite a wallet-friendly acceptable solution, I think, for us less boozy types.
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âwould you suggest the counter rather than the table for dinner?â
@beam. I have never had the table dâhĂŽte 10-course menu dĂ©gustation at the counter. And I doubt if I ever will. TEN courses !! I just donât have the stamina.
Just a slight caution for light sauce-loving you. The sauces at FIEF are unusual, plate-licking delicious but sometimes are not exactly âlightâ.
