PARIS | What’s there to say about French food that hasn’t been said before? It’s one of the most recognisable cuisines in the world, with a reputation like no other. France is known for its chefs, food, and techniques that have influenced cuisines and culture all over the world.
Paris is, of course, one of the best places in the world in which to eat French food. The city is filled with brilliant bistros and cafes, bakeries and patisseries, and plenty of places in which you will find excellent wine, charcuterie, cheese, and more.
What’s less known about Paris, though, is just how much the city’s food horizons have expanded in recent years. There’s a long immigrant culture in this city, and you’ll find great food from all over the world. In particular, those places that were once part of the French Empire. You’ll find these influences in some of the city’s more contemporary restaurants, which blend French tradition and technique with personal cultural influences.
Paris’ contemporary restaurants have also been influenced by chefs that have travelled, worked in kitchens abroad, and are keen to expand the idea of what French food can be. Of course, the traditional spots, and new spots which take tradition but zone in more than ever on things like sourcing and sustainability, are all worth a visit too.
In this Paris Food Guide, updated as at September 2025, I’ll tell you the places to visit if you want to experience the best food and drink in Paris.
I’ve placed the tips in alphabetical order, and they’re all worth checking out. Are any of your favourites listed below? Are there any places that you think should be on my Paris food guide?
Acmé
Pastry chef Margot Delacroix and sommelier Lucas Moissonnier’s restaurant, Acmé, is a warm, welcoming, intimate space, that evokes the lounges of 1980s Paris. Featuring a tasting menu that changes regularly, the menu is French at heart, but consists of influences from around the world.
Delacroix’s food combines innovative flavours, local products, and quality ingredients. Things like celeriac tatin pie with miso caramel and Isigny cream; beef tataki with sesame carrots, mango vinegar, and consommé; and a cookie with cookie dough, chocolate sorbet, and bourbon brown butter espuma.
It’s exciting food, that’s elevated by Moissonnier’s considered wine pairings, which showcase some of France’s best regional winemakers.
Au Petit Panisse
Housed in a former butcher shop, with simple décor, period tiles, and wooden furniture, Au Petit Panisse appears much like any other Parisian bistro. Indeed, it captures all of things that you want in bistro, but does enough to stand out from the pack.
The best quality seasonal French produce is used to create dishes that excite. It’s things like veal steak with anchovy sauce, blanquette sauce and spring vegetables; leeks with buttermilk sauce and mussels; and cabbage and rhubarb in consommé, with candied egg yolk, and pig’s ear.
The wine list features top notch natural French wines. To top things off, Au Petit Panisse is open on Mondays, when many of the city’s other tasty spots are closed.
Bar Nouveau
This award-winning bar, helmed by internationally renowned bartender, Remy Savage, is inspired by Art Nouveau. From the fittings, to the light fixtures, and glassware, there’s a real attention to detail in imagining what Bar Nouveau would have looked like during the peak of Art Nouveau’s popularity. Downstairs, the vibe is more nature intertwined with modern technology.
You’ll only find six cocktails on the constantly rotating menu. It’s an exciting selection of cocktails that riff on the classics, and creative signature creations.
Bistrot Des Tournelles
Step inside Bistrot Des Tournelles, and you might assume that it’s a classic French bistro that’s been around for over 100 years. It’s a fair assumption, given the way that Bistrot des Tournelles looks and feels. In fact, it only opened in 2022.
The warm interior features retro fittings like antique mirrors, art deco chandeliers, and vintage photos. Chairs are made by long-time cafe chair artisan, and have their own history.
Head chef Geoffroy Lalangella has put together a menu of well-executed bistro classics with an emphasis on technique, and the quality and providence of ingredients. Think creamy oeufs mayonnaise, Provencal beef stew, andouillette (seasoned pork chitterling sausage), and Cordon Bleu with comté & Prince de Paris ham.
To drink, its a tight selection of exclusively minimal intervention wines from some of France’s best winemakers, plus a few other things.
Candelaria
You may be wondering why I’m including a taqueria on this list when I stated that I’d be focusing on French food. While the taqueria is excellent, Candelaria’s inclusion here is for its hidden cocktail bar out the back.
In the low-lit, speakeasy-style bar you’ll find a menu filled with thematic, creative, seasonally-inspired cocktails and mocktails. Elizabeth Dane is a blend of whiskey, cascara, oolong tea, and fermented red fruits. PCT, meanwhile features tequila, tamarind, peanut, and arbol chilli. Agave spirits are a big part of Candelaria, with 13 pages of options on the menu.
Caractère de Cochon
If you like ham sandwiches, Caractère de Cochon, in Paris’ Marais district is a must visit. The tiny spot, which opened in 2013, is dedicated to the best quality hams and cured meats from across France, Italy, and Spain.
Their famed jambon beurre sandwiches are sublime. You can build you own, or go for one of the default options. Either way, you can’t go wrong. Simple, unfussy, and quality.
City Of Light Coffee
Paris’ coffee scene has come forward by leaps and bounds in the past decade. Gone are the days when your only option was an average at best filter coffee. Today, there are several great coffee spots brewing brilliant espresso and filter coffee, using the best locally roasted beans sourced from around the world.
One such place is City of Light Coffee. Opened by couple Charles and Catalina at the start of this year, it’s a great little spot featuring coffee beans that are roasted on site, in locally-made, custom ceramic cups.
They also sell a few non-coffee drinks like limonada de coco, along with baked treats like chocolate brownies, cinnamon rolls, and croissants.
Debauve & Gallais
Debauve & Gallais was founded in 1800 by Sulpice Debauve, former chemist to French king Louis XVI. One of my favourite chocolate spots in Paris, they’re famed for their Marie-Antoinette Pistoles and other fine chocolates.
Beyond chocolate, you’ll find a small selection of other products, including one of my favourite teas, Saints-Pères. It’s an intoxicating blend of Chinese black tea, cocoa nibs, dark chocolate, red berries, rhubarb, and caramel butter.
Gilou
Located down a quiet street in a former butcher shop, Gilou is all about unfussy, seasonal, produce driven and ingredient-focused cooking. It’s compact menu of contemporary French bistro food at heart, with nods to co-owner/chef Chris Woolard’s English roots and his experience cooking in the UK, Italy, and France.
To start, it’s things like potato rosti with beef tartare and mustard, chicken terrine with pickles and apricot chutney, and leek and cheddar croquettes. For larger dishes, you’ll find options like saffron cavatelli with , and cuttlefish fideua with mussels and aioli. It’s all very tasty stuff, with the quality of the produce shining through.
Co-owner Dan Humphris’ wine list features a compact selection of minimal intervention wines from some of France’s most exciting winemakers. There’s also craft beer from nearby Les Bières de Belleville.
Harry’s New York Bar
Harry’s New York Bar is one of Paris’ iconic bars. Moved piece-by-piece from New York City in 1911, the bar is still owned and run by the family of original bartender, Harry MacElhone.
The dark, mahogany bar evokes memories of a time long passed, with historic college sports paraphernalia and old newspaper clippings dotted about. It’s a casual place, where you’ll encounter people from around the world conversing and singing together. There’s a piano bar in the basement, where George Gershwin composed ‘An American in Paris’.
There’s over 400 cocktails and 350 whiskeys on the menu. Several of what are now classic cocktails were were (as best anyone knows) invented here, including the Bloody Mary, French 75, Sidecar, Blue Lagoon, and Monkey Gland.
Hoppy Corner
Hoppy Corner is a cosy little spot to visit if you’re into craft beer. There’s 15 different beers on tap, with a focus on craft breweries from across France. You’ll also find collaborations and tap takeovers from breweries further afield.
Staff are happy to give you a little try of any of the beers if you like. There’s also a small selection of wine and other drinks. If you’re hungry, there’s also a food menu with a selection of pub and bistro classics.
Jean-Paul Hévin
Starting as the pastry chef at Joël Robuchon in 1976, Jean-Paul Hévin developed a passion for chocolate, and eventually started his own chocolaterie. Today, there are six Jean-Paul Hévin locations in Paris, all selling some of the best chocolate in town.
Several of the boutiques contain cafes, where you can enjoy not just chocolate, but an assortment of cakes, pastries, and drinks.
La Crêperie de Josselin
Paris’ Montparnasse neighbourhood is known for its many crepe spots. One of the best is La Crêperie de Josselin, which has been consistently busy with locals and visitors to Paris for decades.
The old school, dark timber, traditional, venue specialises in buttery, thin, and crispy Brittany-style crêpe bretonne. You can choose from a variety of savoury and sweet options like cheese and ham; cheese, egg, and onion; and salted butter caramel flambéed with Grand Marnier. Enjoyed with some cidre breton, you can’t go wrong.
Le BaB Opera
Le BaB Opera is a low key place, close to the Place de l’Opéra, that’s a great option for lovers of craft beer. There’s 11 mostly French craft beers of varying styles on tap, along with an impressive can and bottle list. If you’re with someone that doesn’t like beer, Le BaB Opera also have a decent cocktail list, over 20 single malt whiskeys, and wine.
Le Mary Celeste
Le Mary Celeste opened in 2013, and remains one of the best places in Paris to visit if you want a sense of what’s exciting about French food and drink today. It’s a small venue, cantered around a long u-shaped bar, with tables inside out. Drinks and snacks are prepared at the bar, while more substantial dishes are prepared in the kitchen.
Creative cocktails are Le Mary Celeste’s calling card, and there’s also a sizeable wine list featuring drops from some of France’s most exciting young winemakers.
Food wise, it’s a small but mighty menu that champions small French producers and flavours, with flourishes of head chef Amandine Sepulcre-Huang’s Sino-Réunion and Moroccan heritage.
Aged Comte with clover honey is joined by things like terrine with pickles, veal tartare, and devilled eggs cured in soy and sesame and topped with pickled eggs and toasted wild rice.
Le Servan
French-Filipina sisters, Katia and Tatiana Levha’s restaurant, Le Servan, is an exciting spot that blends French ingredients and technique, laced with strands of Asia. Seasonal, organic, produce is directly sourced from sustainable local producers, and is allowed to shine through each dish.
It’s things like boudin noir (blood sausage) wontons with sweet chili sauce, and linguine-like strands of raw cuttlefish, topped with tempura perilla leaves, served atop a bed of gelée, Datterino tomatoes, and chilli sauce.
The wine list features an excellent selection of interesting bottles from some of France’s most exciting minimal intervention winemakers. Many are available by the glass.
Marché des Enfants Rouges
Marché des Enfants Rouges is Paris’ oldest food market, dating back to 1615. It’s a vibrant, buzzing market filled with rows of vendors selling all sorts of tasty things. There’s fruit and vegetable vendors, places selling cheese and wine, and places selling hot cooked meals.
You’ll find vendors cooking up food from around the world, many from countries that were once French colonies. Most of the vendors have stools if you want to eat in, and there are several tables and chairs dotted around the outskirts of the market.
Mokoloco
Mokoloco is a small restaurant by couple Omar Koreitem and Moko Hirayama. They are the duo behind excellent French-Lebanese bakery and café, Mokonuts, and Japanese bakery Mokochaya. While Mokonuts is all about food that blends the best of France and the Middle East, Mokoloco takes things in a different direction.
It’s where they invite residence chefs to showcase the food from their country of origin. It’s a way to get an exciting taste of Paris from some of the city’s young up-and-coming chefs. Residencies can last anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on the chef.
Motors Coffee
Motors Coffee is a great spot if you’re looking for excellent coffee in Paris. It’s a modern space where you’ll find an assortment of hot and iced espresso and filter based coffees, made using beans roasted by some of the world’s top coffee roasters. There’s a small pastry section if you’re looking for a bite to eat – all made in house and top notch.
Pierre Hermé
Pastry chef Pierre Hermé‘s cafes can be in several cities around the world these days, but the massive growth hasn’t impact the quality of the products. Their famed macarons are still some of the best you’ll find anywhere, and their chocolates, pastries, and teas are also excellent.
One of the best flavours, found in several creations at Pierre Hermé’s, is Ispahan. It’s a fragrant blend of rose, raspberry, and lychee.
Sadaharu Aoki
Pastry chef Sadaharu Aoki is known for using traditional Japanese ingredients and flavours in French-style pastries. His minimalist creations blend the two cultures brilliantly, resulting in some of the best baked treats and chocolates in Paris.
His eponymous café opened in 1998, and has since expanded to several locations in Paris and Japan. If you’re a fan of the flavours of either country, a visit to Sadaharu Aoki is a must. Two of my favourite creations are the matcha éclair, and the zen cake. The latter features sweet sesame pastry, a matcha macaron, matcha dacquoise biscuit layer, sesame cream, white chocolate cream, and cognac.
Tanat
Formerly known as Kawa, Tanat is one of the best place for coffee in Paris. They have three locations, and have ranked highly in several international coffee awards over the years. Tanat source their beans from the best coffee growers in the world, and roast all their beans in-house.
There’s a tight selection of hot and cold espresso and filter coffees on the menu, including multiple rotating single origin options.
Tiba
I chanced upon Tiba while wandering around Le Marais with a few hours to spare. I’m glad I did, as I was treated to a coffee experience on par with the best I’ve had in Melbourne.
The owner, Kevin, is so personable and passionate about coffee. I loved chatting with Kevin and his coffee-loving regulars, learning about Paris’ evolving coffee scene and roasters. There’s also high quality teas and matcha, and a small selection of excellent house-made cakes pastries.
Union Boulangerie
Union Boulangerie opened in 2021 and has become one of the best bakeries and patisseries in Paris. Everything is made using the highest quality French ingredients. There’s all of your classic boulangerie items like baguettes and sourdough loaves, along with things like cornbread, and Nordic rye breads. There’s also seasonal creations, like this summer’s spicy Merguez harissa baguette.
On the patisserie side, it’s favourites like croissants, macarons, and chocolate eclairs, and more seasonal and limited goodies, like a bûche with confit citrus and basil mousse. I wanted it all, but ended up settling on a pain au chocolate, chocolate éclair, and apple pie croissant for later. All three were outstanding.
Bonus Venues
I had a large list for my most recent trip to Paris, and wasn’t able to try everything on there. Here’s a few recommendations that I researched, and by all accounts are excellent, that I haven’t personally been to, that you should know about.
- Pertinence – Modern French/Asian cuisine
- Picotte – Inventive, regional bistro dishes
- Racines des Pr̩s РSeasonal, contemporary French food
- Restaurant Au Passage – Modern French share plates
- Septime – Modern French cuisine
- Substance Cafe – Coffee
Have you been to Paris before? What are your favourite things to eat there, and your favourite place to eat them? What would you add to this Paris Food Guide?
