Where to go in Paris for great Michelin starred restaurants in 2022
4 excellent Michelin one-star restaurants in/near the Marais neighborhood
Now it is up to where to go for dining in style in Paris. More precisely, it is about Michelin starred restaurants here. This after giving details to a fabulous luxury boutique hotel on my favorite square in town, Place des Vosges, in my last post. It is about Hotel Cours des Vosges, a newly opened high-end lodging in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in the French capital, the Marais. All the four Michelin starred restaurants in Paris I am going into in the following are located either here or nearby. You can reach them all within twenty minutes walking distance from the accommodation in question.
It is not like that my husband and I have to dine at restaurants with Michelin stars every evening. Yet the selection of great gourmet dining near Hotel Cours des Vosges is enormous! You could stay a month without running out of restaurants within walking distance! And while many of the foodie spots are not exactly inexpensive, there is a great number of such ones which are priced reasonably. When checking out the area as to culinary highlights, I came across of lots of smaller eateries with modern cuisine, often by young chefs. And surprisingly enough, many are Michelin starred too. So, I could no resist and secured reservations at four Michelin one-star restaurants.
While all four dining spots were convincing – I would return to all of them – , I have two favorites, and I start with those.
1. Michelin 1-star Restaurant A.T Paris
5th arrondissement, 1 star Michelin, 16 points Gault Millau, 50 Best Discovery (by the makers of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants)
This small Michelin starred restaurant in the Paris’ Latin Quarter has been part of the city’s high-end culinary scene since 2014.
Here in these minimalist, Nordic inspired interiors you get light food that does not fit in any box.
While chef Atsushi Tanaka is Japanese, he insists that his cuisine is not Japanese. Instead he is influenced by many European cuisines in his cooking. He had worked in Spain, Scandinavia and in France. In addition, he is fond of molecular cuisine as well as Japanese techniques how to prepare food. All these experiences made him develop his own style that is truly unique.
On offer at A.T is a sole tasting menu costing 150€. You can add a wine pairing for 85€, which my husband and I did. It was well worth doing so. It suited us perfect and was served with lots of elan by a knowledgeable sommelier. And the food was grandiose, progressive and artistic likewise! Plus, it was served on beautiful handmade plates.
After three snacks and three amuse bouches they brought us the chef’s signature dish, called camouflage.
This is a mackerel filet buried under solid parsley and fromage blanc powder. And it was like nothing I have ever tasted! Next was some sort of noodle soup but made with squid instead of pasta, which was nothing short than ingenious. The feast was continued with two more sea food courses (lobster and red mullet),
before the meat course came, saddle of lamb. The latter was my least favorite dish, as the meat was barely cooked and not very tender. I was reconciled with two fruity-sweet desserts (mirabelle and timut as well as peach and verbena), which could connect with the previously experienced high quality level again.
2. Restaurant FIEF Paris, Michelin starred
11th arrondissement, 1 star Michelin (new since April 2022), 14 points Gault Millau
Here everything you get is FIEF, Fait Ici En France (Made Here In France). And it is done by a young chef who gained some fame as finalist in the French Top Chef edition of 2018. Victor Mercier is his name and I think that he might become a really big chef!
Here at his contemporary Michelin starred restaurant, opened end of 2019, he already does a great job. He does this visible to his guests as he and his team work in an open cuisine behind a guest corner with eight seats. Here you get the Big Degustation Menu (ten courses for 150€ at 8:00pm). In addition, there are 34 seats in a dining-area. On offer here is either a menu with meat (four courses for 85€) or a vegetarian one (four courses for 70€).
It is highly recommended to go for a seat at the guest corner, which is what my husband and I had intended to do. Unfortunately, they changed their dining concept after their summer break and and our reservation – made before – was wrongly allocated to the dining-room. But never mind, they were able to save the situation! The female maître d’ who had welcomed us seated us at a high table in front of the open cuisine where we could watch all the action. And we got the six-course menu we had signed up for. Plus, they did not charge for the champagne we had to start the dinner! To top it all off, the chef himself brought us almost all the dishes, accompanied by short explanations.
In the end, nothing stood in the way of our experiencing a fantastic dinner, which opened up new worlds of taste to us! The chef has a knack for crafting extremely flavorsome dishes that persuaded in all respects. Already the snacks made our culinary hearts melt. And it went on in the same furious manner: the smallest tomatoes as amuse bouche,
an eggplant variation, a celery creation, mussels and caviar as well as duck as main.
Then it was time for the sweet part: strawberry with fennel, a vegan Pêche Melba, figs and orange blossom ice cream, petit-fours and port wine from Burgundy. An uninterrupted series of highlights!
3. 1-star Michelin Restaurant Auberge Nicolas Flamel Paris
3th arrondissement, 1 star Michelin (new since April 2022), 14 points Gault Millau
I must start by saying that my stomach was a bit upset, when dining at Paris’ oldest dated house (1407).
And this is of course never a good basis for a fair review of a restaurant’s performance. In addition, it was a hot late summer evening, and we were seated right next to a mobile air conditioner on the second floor. While my husband could benefit from a cold draught, I became hot and hotter. When we finally changed places, my husband noted that the air conditioner’s exhaust house was right under my (former) seat. So, the circumstances did not help my enjoying the evening.
Having said that, this should not dissuade you from coming to chef Grégory Garimbay’s new restaurant. Because he is not only a very talented cook but also a charming person. He gave me a nice smile, when we were passing the open cuisine located on the ground floor.
And you are in here not only for a feast for the stomach but also for the eyes. The city’s oldest house underwent a complete renovation in 2021. And it is a true gem, its interiors kept in a modern Scandinavian style without denying its ancient roots (exposed beams, original facade).
Food at this Michelin starred dining spot is immaculately prepared yet not always on the light side. You can choose either from an à la carte menu or opt for the signature menu (five courses 110€, six courses 130€). A specialty of the chef is his virtuosic handling of whole animals. That means, you get here lots of meat in every conceivable way. That already started with the snacks with lots of bacon (in the bone). It went on with tuna belly paired with cucumber. After a meatless course (grey zucchini with pine nuts) it was up to seafood (The most excellent blue lobster!).
Another great dish was the poultry in combination with romaine lettuce. And imagine, there were two surprise dishes along with these two courses showcasing lesser known parts of the animals!
To end the meal, there was a refreshing pre-dessert, a delicious chocolate variation and some nice petit-fours.
4. Restaurant Automne Paris, Michelin starred
Here in this unassuming street in a non-touristy area you find chef Nobuyuki Akishige’s small Michelin starred restaurant.
It is an old bistro, partly updated yet rather cramped. And unfortunately, our first impression of it was not that favorable. When we arrived as first guests, we could choose a table out of three. Unfortunately, none of them suited us completely. Upon request, the polished maître d’ let us know that all the other spots were out of the question. We left it at that and settled for the least bad one. Maybe the computer allocated the seats like that, I do not know. Though we had reserved quite some time ago. And the better tables – as we noticed later on – did not go to patrons or so, as it seemed.
Anyway, after this somewhat unpromising start, everything developed smoothly. Maybe the service was a bit slow and the portions were a bit too much on the small side. Yet the food was skillfully done and arranged, creative and light. And the maître d’ turned out to be pleasant, attentive and knowledgeable, especially when it came to wines. The chef was visible all the time yet he did not leave his front position in a semi-open cuisine, which seemed quite small.
In terms of food, you can make your choice between five or seven courses out of a Degustation Menu (85€ or 125€). This time, we were content with the smaller one. After some crackers with their accompaniment we were treated to an amuse bouche, a tasty slice of bonito. A zucchini variation was next, followed by monkfish with a mini fennel. The main course, partridge “au sang” (with blood),
was exquisite as was the dessert (blanc manger – almond pudding – , with tarragon, lemon and olive ice cream).
And some delicious petit-fours completed the fine meal.
Overall
I was astonished to see that there is such an abundance of great Michelin starred restaurants in the Marais area and its neighborhood.
Many of them offer a contemporary dining experience in an equal setting. And mostly you get value for money too. Apart from the ones I chose there are lots of other establishments that appealed to me, but of course we had only four nights. Moreover, we had to juggle things a bit as lots of eateries in Paris are closed on Sunday and Monday. Exceptions here are Restaurant Automne (open on Sunday) and Restaurant FIEF (open on Monday).
Other dining spots that sound promising are for example Le Rigmarole, Septime or L’Initial. If you should have the chance to dine at them, let me know how it was! And also check out my last post about my Paris stay of January 2020. Here I mentioned three more establishments with great food. Especially, I would like to point out Restaurant Alliance (still has a Michelin star)
and Restaurant Contraste (got a Michelin star at the latest awards)!
Date of visits: September 2022
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The post Where to go in Paris for great Michelin starred restaurants in 2022 first appeared on Swiss Traveler
Thanks for the great tips, will try some out during our next trip. L’Initial has been our favorite for a while, amazing value. And since the renovation last year, wonderful minimalist Japanese setting.
Glad you liked it! Actually, we had planned to dine at L’Initial – as it receives great reviews and it was near our hotel -, but unfortunately it was closed for vacation on our stay.
Paris fait rêver – due to this wonderful post with plenty of extremely valuable ideas, restaurants and hotels. All of them are handpicked and tested by an expert with fantastic taste. Thank you so much. We will follow your footprints with great pleasure!
So nice of you to say, thank you very much! Wishing you happy travels!