Nice! Yeah, Pierre Sang looks right up our alley so have to give it a try, despite ninkat’s review, who’s opinion I trust!
re steak frites, this plate is often disappointing to Americans who expect a certain level/style of meat and doneness. Although formulaic, Relais de 'lEntrecote guarantees tender meat with seconds. Particularly thinking of your teenager. No choice menu = simple salad, sliced steak , “secret” sauce, possibility of optional (extra fee) dessert. Several locations.
Touristy but fills the bill for many.
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Of the 3 addresses you listed I have stayed near the first 2. The 5th and 6th are heavily visited by tourists but hey, that’s what we are. I think either location would fine. Walkable to a lot of close by sights and restaurants. The NYC analogy would be staying in Soho or Tribeca. I would be less inclined go to the third address. Feels too commercial and office like in that area. My company’s Paris office is a short walk away. The NYC analogy here would be staying by Madison Avenue. In our recent trips, we have preferred to be closer to the Marais, that other hotbed of tourists.
ETA: I realized that when we stayed close to that second address you listed, there was a bistro that we discovered that we really came to like as our “local” place. Le Comptoir des Saints-Peres on the corner of Rue Jacob. If you stay by here, I would suggest trying it out. Very solid food.
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Thank you! Super helpful. The 3rd hotel is at a much lower price point, despite looking very nice, and so my suspicion was there had to be a location-specific reason. Your insight makes it a lot easier to understand why!
We stayed at this hotel years ago with our two teenage boys. They have a really nice garden to sit in although it may be too cold when you are there.
That same trip we left Paris for a few days and came back to stay in the Marais at this nice little hotel. Quiet and great location. Boys had their own room in both places. They were both very reasonably priced.
TBH after that trip we started coming back to Paris frequently starting 2009 and always rented an apartment when we had our kids and their girlfriend/spouses with them.
And to keep it food based, the Marais location would be close to Breizh cafe, Les Philosophies, Parcelles (delicious!) and walkable to Le Servan and Double Dragon, Kubri and many great restaurants in the 11th.
Maybe you could post something about what you ate that was so wonderful last month @ParnParis?
I reported back in late March when I was there what I found very disappointing about that restaurant (felt like they were seriously asleep at their wheel, and all they really cared about was their “gimmick” of making guests guess at dish ingredients). I kinda hijacked @Kjtravels’ post entitled Where we ended up eating in Paris, March23 so OP could go and read my impressions from then and decide.
Regarding “value,” again, not sure what @ParnParis and @BKeats ate that they found “amazing?”
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L’Ami Jean is a fabulous more traditional restaurant, IMO. I’ve only been once, but look forward to trying again. Hard to stay away from dairy (lactose?) there, I suspect, but if your wife can tolerate butter, that at least will make it easier!
I went with a group to Chez Denise about 7 or 8 years ago. It was popular on Chowhound and I enjoyed it. Probably a good spot for a traditional meal although would check to see if they’re open that week.
I was going to make the same suggestion of Relais de 'lEntrecote . We always find it fun, great place to take younger people, very good value, unlimited frites to go with your seconds of steak, you can go early if you like (and you have to line up, no reservations), open 7 days (though idk about Christmas Day or Christmas Eve), and the (secret) sauce has relatively little cream. It is without doubt touristy, and the overwhelming majority of diners will be tourists, though when we’ve been there not that high a proportion are Americans.
We went to Bistro Paul Bert once, and the steak frites with peppercorn cream sauce is arguably tastier, but the other food we had there wasn’t particularly impressive, and we had such terrible service I will never return.
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I suppose location depends on what kind of tourist you are. For me, the location of the Hotel Dame des Arts is too perilously close to the somewhat fake and tacky Fisherman’s Wharf-like epicentre of lowest-common-denominator tourism around Saint-Michel. But yes, very convenient for dedicated sightseers and for sharing almost all your time and space with other tourists. The Monsieur George is in a very rarified, rather boring, and monotone neighbourhood a little too close to the horrible Champs Elysées and not exactly known for the quality, variety, and value of its restaurants. So, a big yes for the relatively new and classy Pavillon Faubourg Saint-Germain… and it comes with the advantage of having its own excellent restaurant (Les Parisiens) for those nights when you are just too pooped from rushing from one tourist attraction to another and gawking at things to go out for dinner. Or even when you are not pooped and just want a very, very good meal.
If you are more lifestyle sampler than typical sightseer, I’d also suggest Hotel du Petit Moulin or La Chambre du Marais, both in the less touristy, very trendy and very foodie Haut Marais in the upper 3rd. And given the proximity to the République bus and métro hub, quite easy to get to other parts of Paris. Less convenient for the masochistic walk-everywhere types. https://www.hotelpetitmoulinparis.com/ and https://lachambredumarais.com/fr/
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I think it was my rec of Pierre Sang that got ninkat to try it, and I felt terrible when she reported back that she hadn’t liked it. I too greatly value her recs, and leaned heavily on them when we visited Rome this summer.
We’ve been probably a half dozen times now to Oberkampf (once each to Gambey, which we also really liked, and the more formal Signature, where the food is a little better but the experience imo a net minus, where at the other two it’s a huge plus), and have always loved it. It along with Les Parisiens are our two “must visit” places each time we return to Paris. We usually go on a Sunday, when many other restaurants are closed.
Fantastic qualité-prix, if not always the best food, especially the meat course. The most recent time we were there 3 months ago might have been our best visit ever, and the meat was a fantastic veal with gochujang that was one of our favorite bites of the trip. But YMMV, menu changes very frequently.
For other French-Asian “fusion”, you might consider Ze Kitchen Galerie and Kitchen Galerie Bis. And if you want to spend a bit more (though not a lot more), I and several of us here have found Parn-rec Perception to be excellent. The chef is ex-Ze Kitchen Galerie, and the restaurant is “‘French-by-a-Korean-chef”, with touches of Korean/Asian to it. I won’t be surprised if it gets a Michelin star soon, and we can’t wait to try it again.
I should add that oysters and fruits de mer/ shellfish are very iconically parisian and, at that time the year, a huge part of Christmas/ New Year noshing. For a family with teens (especially if one of the teens is a girl), the vibrant and somewhat flirty Huguette on rue de Seine just off the boulevard Saint-Germain in the 6th is perfect for experiencing the parisian love of oysters.
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We usually use AirBnB in Paris, so I have no input for you on particular hotels. In terms of location, if your family is anything like mine:
- your teenagers might prefer the 5th
- if you have no issue with the reality that it’s mostly tourists, your wife will likely prefer the 6th
- the 11th/upper 3rd (Haut Marais) is our current favorite for foodie area, it’s less expensive than the 6th, and because it’s near the Marais (lower 3rd) which is another favorite tourist shopping area for my wife.
We tend to alternate between the 6th and the 11th/upper 3rd. The 6th is somewhat more central for doing touristy things.
And whether you stay at Pavillon Faubourg Saint-Germain or not, in or near the 6th or not, make sure to go to Les Parisiens for the fish! (Hat tip, Parn.)
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I debated staying at the Petit Moulin but ended up at hotel national des arts et Metiers. If they need two rooms both those places are expensive hence my Jeanne D’Arc suggestion. I would also pick upper Marais. Much better food options and you can still walk to lots of sights or hop on metro.
I laughed at your fisherman’s wharf analogy. Was dragged there many years ago by out of town relatives who wanted to eat at Bubba Gumps (shudder). Still traumatized from that meal…
I can’t add much to the steak frites discussion because I rarely order it at bistros or restaurants. But I do enjoy a good high-quality steak at one or other of the very enjoyable butcher shop/ resto combos in Paris. i.e. Boucherie Les Provinces on rue d’Aligre (great area for sampling the non-tourist Paris food culture on steroids) in the 12th and Bidoche on rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud in the hip Oberkampf quartier in the 11th. http://www.boucherie-lesprovinces.fr/ and https://bidoche.fr/
Well, I can confirm Ninkat’s opinion of Pierre Sang. The place used to be interesting years ago. It has dwindled over time and is now rather mediocre. And the little guess-what-you’re-eating game that they play (since 2015, a lot of people have learned what ssamjang is, really) is now a tad worn-out.
I would probably go to Bistrot Paul Bert for steak more often if there weren’t better opportunities for that in Paris, like Le Bœuf Volant (in the Batignolles) or, duh, Le Relais de Venise, which remains the most reliable place for steak-frites that I know in Paris.
Personally, I think one should skip Double Dragon, unless they have considerably improved since the last (first, and only) time I went. It has the recurrent flaw of “would-be” Chinese restaurants designed for 11th-arrondissement yuppies but generally inferior to Mom-and-Pop neighborhood “chinois-vietnamien” joints that have been going on for decades without attracting any media attention, and are far less pretentious. http://foodandsens.com/made-by-f-and-s/a-la-petite-cuillere/double-dragon-ou-comment-paris-goute-asie/
Le Relais de l’Entrecôte is a knockoff of the original location, Le Relais de Venise. So it’s better to go directly to the real McCoy. Not that the knockoffs are to be avoided, but they tend to be less convivial, the quality fluctuates from one place to the other, and there’s never been an off day at Le Relais de Venise since it opened in the 1950s. The only Relais de l’Entrecôte that I found to be almost better than the original was the one in Bordeaux, near the Grand Théâtre. It was flawless.
If you’re in the vicinity of one Relais de l’Entrecôte or another, you can let yourself be tempted, especially if you don’t want to trek to the Porte Maillot. It’s still good. Just avoid La Maison de l’Aubrac, which has become a genuine ripoff.
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Maillot is the only one I’ve visited. A bit of a cattle call at opening but a definite scene.
There is no one-size-fits-all restaurant in the world. Nevertheless, I am creating a scorecard for Pierre Sang Oberkampf. On Hungry Onion, 2 against and 3 or 4 (or maybe 5) very enthusiastic plus a score of 4.5 out of 5 from thousands of other reviews. And the winner is… ?
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We’ve only been to Double Dragon once and it didn’t blow me away but it was good for a change. The place I wanted to check out in May, Brigade du Tigre, was closed the week we were there. I’m also a big fan of Kunitoraya (in the 1st) and their udon noodles.
