Hello all (my first post there and happy to discover this forum). I would this group’s advice for making restaurant reservations for 1.5 weeks from now, including Sunday. This is for a group of 4 from New York
Friday
Lunch: at Le Mazenay (am flying on redeye, and this sounded like an easy and interesting lunch)
Dinner: was thinking something African (which you cannot get in NY so well, e.g. Ethiopian). I discovered Mosuke just today, which while not traditional would have been fun to try, but that is all booked up. Is there a destination/travel worth African restaurant with a fun vibe? Thought was a fun change to mix it up from modern French. As a backup, Soces would count for mixing it up (being more off the beaten path for us than normally).
Saturday:
Lunch: Les Climates. I’m a Burgundy drinker and this has been on a list for me to try for sometime.
Dinner: Clown Bar
Sunday
Lunch: Will probably do Falafel/keep it easy open.
Dinner: Would love something like Le Comptoir (which I hear is beyond its heyday). Was thinking perhaps a traditional Paris bistro. Les Parisiens is already booked Hemicycle sounds too corporate and not a fun vibe for a 4 person couple. I had originally thought Auberge Bressane, but recent reviews here were not very positive on ambience or food (nor can I be sure they are open on Sunday). This is with another couple and their first time to Paris. I’m finding many restaurants closed on Sunday (and wish I had booked Clown Bar Sunday instead, or at least made a backup at Les Parisiens, Rotissie de Argent etc!). Am thinking Soces could be an option here, although perhaps the couple would prefer something more ‘trendy’ or ‘cozy’ (I don’t know).
Perhaps consider doing African on Sunday night and free up Friday night for something else.
Our own experience at Les Parisiens on a Sunday night was dreadful.
Sunday may not be as easy as it was before the pandemic when one of my favorites, Coretta, was open on Sundays, but there are still way more opportunities than there used to be.
Soces is certainly trendy and cozy, I don’t know why you’re thinking it’s not.
I haven’t eaten at Auberge Bressane since November 2021, but I’ve always enjoyed it. Good wine list (lots of Burgundy) and decent food, but you go for the atmosphere, not the food. This is an historic restaurant dating back to the 1930s when movie stars such as Jean Gabin and Michelle Morgan used to frequent it. It’s true that it has an “American section”, but when seated there, we’ve had fun with the surrounding people. Sister restaurants are Aux Crus de Bourgogne and Aux Bons Crus, also both open 7/7 and with very good wine lists. Aux Crus de Bourgogne has an outdoor dining section that is wonderful on warm nights, and as of now it appears that would apply to your visit.
A couple of other restaurants I’ve recently reviewed that are open on Sunday night are Géosmine and chocho. Pétrelle is also open Sunday night, but I suspect it’s booked up by now.
I could offer others, but if these don’t do it for you, I don’t know what will.
Please report back on your trip and what you thought about the restaurants.
For Sunday dinner with Paris virgin friends, top pick for me would be Aux Crus de Bourgogne on rue Bachaumont in the 2nd. The look/vibe/ trad cuisine/ history/ sparkle that first-timers expect. And one of the few trad places where you can share your time and space with some Parisians, rather than just other tourists.
For African cuisine, loads of choices but the right fit probably depends on your age/ style. Waly-Fay on rue Godefroy Cavaignac in the hip and happening 11th is probably the best one-size-fits all… mostly senagalese cuisine. I also like BMK Paris-Bamako on rue Fidélité in the 10th… mostly malienne cuisine but some other West African specialties… clientele is mostly trendy/hip under-40 and some oldies could feel out-of-place (but you will be welcomed by the restaurant and the other eaters)… there is also a sister restaurant in the Oberkampf/ 11th but a much pared down menu. Jujube on rue Dancourt in Montmartre could be another possibility but I am confused… when I went last spring (excellent meal) , menu was à la carte but now seems to be only table d’hôte and maybe for groups only.
“Sunday Lunch: Will probably do Falafel.” I assume you mean the lemming-effect tourist ritual of queuing up for a falafel at L’As du Fallafel on rue Rosiers/ 4th. Just to note that the falafels at Mi-Va-Mi just across the street and, on the same street, Chez Hanna, and Chez Marianne are just as good if not better… and usually no lemmings/ queues. For eating your messy falafel, there is a charming, almost hidden garden with grassy areas (maybe out of bounds in mid-Oct but not sure) and a few hard-to-find benches for an impromptu picnic… just off rue Rosiers (entrance at #10) in the direction of the descending numbers. There are also dozens and dozens of very good falafel places in other parts of Paris, reflecting France’s long historical connections with Lebanon and Syria as well as the large Levantine Arab and Arab Jewish communities in Paris. My faves: Daily Syrien on rue Faubourg-Saint-Denis/ 10th and Chez les Libanais on rue Saint-André-des-Arts. No falafels but you could also just take-your-pick of Japanese, Italian, Moroccan, crêpes, trad French, modern French, etc at the mini-restos and food stands inside the Marché des Enfants Rouges on rue Bretagne/ 3rd but can be very crowded for Sunday lunch. Rue de Bretagne also has a great selection of other food shops i.e. Maison Verlot charcuterie/ deli, Bontemps pâtisserie and salon de thé, Caractère de Cochon (on rue Charlot) for superb ham/ pork products and great sandwiches, Rôtisserie Stévenot for roast chicken, lamb, trad saucisse, etc for take-out… charming Square du Temple park for a bench picnic if weather is good.
Looking into Soces and Aux Crus Bourgogne for Sunday night, thank you. Aux Crus Bourgogne sounds fun (although I wish the food maybe had some twist on it versus being straight traditional). It sounds kitschy enough that maybe we would even just do it our first night instead of ethnic
Will definitely pass along those falafel recommendations onwards! I remember vaguely going to L’A many years ago - didn’t recall there being such a punitive line!
Are there any go-to Moroccan restaurants in Paris?
I was thinking more of your Paris first-timer friends rather than you when I suggested Aux Crus de Bourgogne for Sunday dinner. Auberge Bressane is kitschy/ rather touristy, Aux Crus de Bourgogne is not.
Couscous is almost always on the list of Parisians’ top 5 favourite dishes and so there are plenty of Moroccan (as well as Algerian and Tunisian) restaurants in Paris. Everybody has their go-to but, in my case, it’s Timgad off the place Saint Ferdinand in the 17th because it’s near my office and because I’m a huge fan of the North African specialty pastilla/bstilla (pigeon, chicken or seafood pie encased in filo dough) and Timgad does 3 different and very good versions of it. For sharing a very good couscous or tajine with friends, I also like Le Tagine on rue Crussol in the 11th… but, sigh, usually no pastilla on the menu.
I don’t think many people here will answer you about African restaurants, so here goes.
The first thing you should know is that you should avoid Waly-Fay, it’s just no good.
Then, I’m at loss. My favorite Beninese restaurant, Fifa, closed a few months ago for good. Chef-owner retired. Since I loved the place, I never bothered to go anyhwhere else. So I went searching and was surprised to discover that all the good African restaurants were closing one after the other. Have no idea why. I can only direct you to Rio Dos Camaroes, in Montreuil, chef from Cameroon, good reputation, and apparently still standing.
If the MG restaurants (Côte d’Ivoire) are still open, I also recommend them. MG le 17 (10 rue Lambert in the 18th) and MG le 18 (18 rue Brise-Echalas in Saint-Denis). Quality is good and I had a fantastic attiéké-poisson there years ago.
Founti_Agadir is near where we are staying, and Le Tajin close enough. So will likely hit one of those two and hope for some chicken lemon olive magic.
FlemSnopes (HO member from the D.C. area) came to NYC last month and joined a bunch of us for a couple of group dinners. At one of them, I wound up talking to him about his trips to Paris & where he ate. He mentioned an out of the way African place that he went to & really liked, but that no one had ever heard of. I think I surprised him when he said it was Fifa & I told him that my wife and I had joined Carmenere for dinner there one evening. We commiserated about it now being gone. Oh well.
As for Waly-Fay, I agree with Carmenere. Unless the one meal we had there (with her) was completely different from their usual fare, it is not worth the visit. It was a trendy place with very mediocre food.
Ref: Auberge Bressane vs Aux Crus de Bourgogne
Based on a little bit of research on both, I would like to chime in my two cents pertaining to the above.
Unless I am missing something?!.. However, a closer look at both their websites makes me come to the conclusion that we are not comparing real apples with apples?! I found the menu and choices of Auberge Bressane to be way more diverse, sophisticated and featuring more interesting ’ Traditional French ’ dishes…crayfish, veal, pigeons, sweetbread, froglegs, morel mushrooms, souffle…etc. On the other hand, the menu of Aux crus… look very ’ limited ’ and run-of-the-mill…especially the mains! Of the 7 offered, 5 are variations on the ’ beef ’ theme!
As well, I’ve been reading various remarks about Auberge being too touristy. If the food preparation is delicious, does it matter if the decor and ambience is a bit gaudy, ornate and some patrons are foreign?!.. but all with one goal in mind…having fun and hoping to enjoy great tasting food?!
I’m always very wary of making judgments based on online menus.
I see the current online menu for Aux Crus de Bourgogne is for summer 2023 and, because of seasonality so important in French cuisine, the autumn menu will be different. Perhaps some game. Online menus also rarely include the 2 or 3 daily specials.
And a few corrections. 1) Always two and sometimes 3 dishes at Aux Crus include morilles/ morel mushrooms. 2) The daily specials sometimes, not always, include veal and squab (mostly considered an autumn dish in any case) although less gamey farmed pigeon have become common year-round). 3) Soufflés are occasionally on the menu at Aux Crus… I should note that, in general, I much prefer the desserts at Aux Crus over those at Auberge B… and also note if I have a yen for souffles I’ll go to Le Récamier near Sèvres-Babylone in the 7th or Philippe Excoffier in the Gros Caillou quartier of the 7th. 3) Froglegs ?? I think you are a century or two too late. Yes, you can can still find them as a standard item at one of two restos in the tourist zones and as daily specials at, surprisingly, non-trad restos but hardly typical trad parisian cuisine.
Glad to know Aux Crus de Bourgogne offers a few daily specials. Maybe I’ll check down the road before making my decision between the two.
As for frog legs, I noticed a few including some highly rated bistros like ’ Sacree fleur ’ , ’ Petit fleur ‘, ’ Paul Chene’ , L’Escagots '…all have it on their menu.
Oops. I’ll correct myself and say there is a small handful out of 10,000+ restos in Paris that serve froglegs. I’ve never heard of “Petite Fleur” but suspect (confirmed by a quick look at reviews on lowest-common-denominator Tripadvisor… 3x times as many reviews in English than French) that it is just another tourist favourite like Sacrée Fleur and L’Escargot Montorgueil that offer as many clichés as possible that many foreigners wrongfully consider to be typically parisian.
For someone like myself who LOVE frog legs but were brought up in the Orient and hence more used to them being prepared the ’ Chinese way '. Any opportunity to savor them, I will try not to give up the chance. As such, as long as the end products are delicious, I really do not care whether the dish is typical Parisian or not , or whether the establishments that offer them cater solely to local Parisian or tourists?
Bottom line to me as a foodie …only matter is the taste of the food.
Hemicycle sounds too corporate and not a fun vibe for a 4 person couple. I had originally thought Auberge Bressane, but recent reviews here were not very positive on ambience or food (nor can I be sure they are open on Sunday). This is with another couple and their first time to Paris. I’m finding many restaurants closed on Sunday (and wish I had booked Clown Bar Sunday instead, or at least made a backup at Les Parisiens, Rotissie de Argent etc!). Am thinking Soces could be an option here, although perhaps the couple would prefer something more ‘trendy’ or ‘cozy’ (I don’t know).
