No restaurant writer can expect too much sympathy when they sit down to extol the charms of eating out in Paris. But a little understanding is, I hope, not too much to ask for. The unadulterated pleasure that the many Paris restaurants can give is tempered by two unrelated facts. The first has to do with the fact that Paris evokes such powerful memories, of romance or the initial introduction to great French food and wine, that I find myself drawn back to places that have left these strong impressions, rather than wanting to explore somewhere new — a disadvantage for a restaurant critic. Achieving either of these two ambitions is not helped by the fact that I am usually in Paris at the weekend, and still today many top restaurants are only open Monday to Friday. This is changing, with the newer restaurants closing Sunday and Monday. But not fast enough for this Paris lover.
AUX LYONNAIS
32 rue St Marc, +33 1 42 96 65 04, auxlyonnais.com
Aux Lyonnais has been serving classic bistro food since 1890 and its interior still invokes that less frenetic era: a zinc bar at the rear, large posters on the walls and an immediate sense of jollity in the air. It is now managed by the Alain Ducasse Group, which also runs the similarly-priced Rech in the 17th for fish lovers and Benoit in the 4th, and which has restored the integrity of the kitchen to match the dining room's authenticity. Our meal involved an excellent terrine of chicken livers, the classic Lyonnais dish of pike quenelles with a lobster sauce, a creamy Saint Marcellin cheese and a dramatic kirsch soufflé with cherries. The reasonably priced wine list ranges far and wide across France. Most novel is a small section on the menu that lists dishes the kitchen will be serving in the coming weeks.
LE GAIGNE
12 Rue Pecquay, +33 1 44 59 86 72, http://restaurantlegaigne.fr
Le Gaigne, close to the Pompidou Centre, is the type of restaurant that many would like to exist right round the corner from where they live. It is very intimate, seating around 20 in one room, and is run by Aurélie and Mickäel Gaignon (the restaurant's name is the diminutive of their surname). Such is their determination to serve only the best that is in season that the menu stipulates the month of the year on the first page. We took great pleasure in sardine spring rolls, a refreshing soup of Charentais melon and watermelon; beef with an absolutely correct Béarnaise sauce and an intelligent reinterpretation of that classic dessert, peach Melba.
MANDARIN ORIENTAL
251 rue Saint-Honoré, +33 1 70 98 78 88, mandarinoriental.com/paris
This swish new hotel has just opened on the Rue St Honoré, Paris's smartest street. And the view as we took our seats in the courtyard of Camélia, its more informal restaurant, was intriguing: two expensively dressed Parisiennes of a certain age were drinking Champagne, smoking thin cigarettes and continually stroking two diminutive lapdogs. When our eyes were not meandering, we enjoyed the first menu that has been created by chef Thierry Marx, who has been lured by Mandarin from Bordeaux to rival the long established Hotel Bristol nearby. Highlights were two main courses: a spelt risotto with squid and a confit of lemon and a large triangular raviolo stuffed with lobster, Swiss chard and diced almonds, as well as the low-alcohol cider and pear drinks made by Eric Bordelet in Normandy.
TAILLEVENT
15 rue Lamennais, +33 1 44 95 15 01, taillevent.com
Taillevent is now 62 years old and on the surface little seems to have changed. The welcome is still as warm; the wine list is one of the best in the world; and the cooking, under Alain Solivérès positively purrs along from the moment the warm cheese pastries, a speciality of Chablis, arrive until the petits fours with the coffee. But, most annoyingly, it still closes at the weekend. And because its ethos is labour intensive, both in the kitchen and dining room, the à la carte menu in the evening is expensive, at around €150 per person for the food. This is, however, somewhat offset by the generosity with which they serve the most expensive ingredients: the lobster, langoustines, foie gras with the pigeon and the Bresse chicken for two. The €80 set lunch menu makes Taillevent an impressive business venue.
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