It may be a city where fashionable restaurants count as heritage, but Paris dining is far from fusty. Today’s food scene centres around néobistrots and iconoclastic wine bars that compete with anything Brooklyn, Copenhagen or London have to offer.
Named top concierge by Monocle, not to mention Paris’ Hottest Food Blogger by Women’s Wear Daily, and Paris’ ‘Bad Boy’ blogger by Newsweek/Budget Travel, Adrian Moore balances his life between his day job working at one of the world’s most glamorous hotels, writing freelance for international magazines, guides and websites, and sucking the marrow from the bones of the City of Light.
Here are some of Adrian’s favourite restaurants in Paris…
Agapé Substance
66 rue Mazarine, Paris 6ème (+33 1 43 29 33 83; www.agapesubstance.com)
Run by David Toutain, a 30-year-old chef who cut his teeth under Passard and Veyrat, this 20-seater communal table turns out flawless dishes with unheard-of ingredients.
La Compagnie des vins surnaturels
7 rue Lobineau, Paris 6ème (+33 9 54 90 20 20; www.compagniedesvinssurnaturels.com)
Just opened by the boys behind the Prescription Cocktail Club and London’s ECC: a cool wine bar off the Marché Saint-Germain.
Le Bal Café
6 impasse de la Défense, Paris 18ème, (+33 1 44 70 75 50; www.le-bal.fr)
Two English gals invest a Clichy photographic gallery with head-to-tail Brit cooking, amazing coffee and the best brunch inle tout Paris.
Au Passage
1 bis, passage Saint-Sébastien, Paris 11ème (+33 1 43 55 07 52)
Located in the bobo hinterlands, this tiny bistro run by Audrey, former Spring sommelier, with Australian chef James Henry, is inexpensive, hip and the best deal in town.
Club Silencio
142 rue de Montmartre, Paris 2ème (www.silencio-club.com)
This strange private underground club, designed by David Lynch, is dedicated to ‘artistic exchange’ and opens to the public at the witching hour. During a previous incarnation, Zola’s ‘J’accuse’ was printed here.
Frenchie bar à vins
6 rue du Nil, Paris 2ème (+33 1 40 39 96 19; www.frenchie-restaurant.com)
Can’t get a table at white-hot Frenchie? Try the wine bar across the road, with compelling natural wines and excellent small plates mirroring the quality of the maison mère.
Septime
80 rue de Charonne, Paris 2ème (+33 1 43 67 38 29; www.septime-charonne.fr)
This tiny, modern open kitchen, controlled by former Agapé chef Bertrand Grébaut, offers seasonal products, impeccable technique and a long waiting list.
