Bon appétit! These are the best restaurants in Paris

Paris has long held its place as a culinary powerhouse, but today, its deeply rooted traditions are being reinvigorated with a much more bold, diverse and electrifying spirit than in previous decades. With influences weighing in from far beyond its borders (and from Japan especially) – but anchored in the richness of classical technique – the City of Lights' gastronomic identity feels more confident than ever. We’ve selected ten heavyweights that reflect this thrilling evolution of Parisian haute cuisine in full force.

The best restaurants in Paris to book now

Arpège

When Chef Alain Passard dropped meat from the Arpège menu in 2001, the dining world deemed him eccentric. This bold move, however, enhanced his sphere of influence, as he pushed vegetable cookery into new territory, initiating a newfound respect for it. The design of the bright, quietly opulent room was also his vision, blending an art deco style with pastel hues and subtle, natural elements. Today, the vegetable-centric menu is rooted in Passard’s three kitchen gardens, each with distinct soil types, and explored in the kitchen through the open flame. Techniques like roasting, grilling, and flambéeing are applied with the goal of preserving vegetables’ natural textures, colours, and perfumes. The result? Showstopping dishes such as beetroot sushi and onion gratin, which reveal their magic only when tasted.

Arpège is located at 84 Rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris, France

Le Clarence

Housed in a 19th-century mansion owned by Prince Robert of Luxembourg, who designed the space in collaboration with a team of artisans, Le Clarence is one of the grandest-feeling dining rooms in the city. Ornate carpets, damask walls and aristocratic splendour form the backdrop, but the food is far less fussy. Christophe Pelé’s two-Michelin-starred cooking is instinctive and seafood-led, built around seasonal herbs, fruits and flowers, and the meeting of land and sea. Dishes shift constantly – often daily – and pairings can feel surreal on paper (think blue lobster with blueberries and bone marrow; tuna, strawberries and lardo; and eel, foie gras and capsicum flowers) but come together with clarity and purpose. Service is warm but razor-sharp, while the wine list is at once classical and progressive, featuring decades of vintages of Château Haut-Brion (also owned by the Prince), but also packed with France’s most exciting biodynamic producers.

Le Clarence is located at 31 Av. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 75008 Paris, France.

Le Gabriel

The flagship restaurant of La Réserve hotel offers a refined yet courageous dining experience in a sumptuous, gold-studded room – designed by Jacques Garcia – and finished with Versailles parquet flooring. With Jérôme Banctel at the helm, it became the city’s latest three-star restaurant in March 2024. Beyond an exceptional-value 98-euro lunch menu, there are two enticing options: ‘Périple’ takes diners on a global journey, while ‘Virée’ pays tribute to Banctel’s native Brittany, and is the best way to first experience Banctel’s cuisine. Standout dishes include a theatrical mackerel course, barbecued in a cedar wood wrapping (a Japanese technique) and finished tableside with steaming white wine poured over hot rocks. A squid tagliatelle with duck jus and Kristal caviar demonstrates Banctel’s intuition for original flavour combinations, while a sophisticated dessert combining kumquat, yoghurt, and chestnut honey showcases the pastry kitchen’s finesse. Phenomenal wine pairings elevate the experience.

Le Gabriel is located at 42 Av. Gabriel, 75008 Paris, France.

Hakuba

Opened in 2024, Hakuba is the collaboration between Hokkaido-born sushi master Takuya Watanabe, three-Michelin-starred chef Arnaud Donckele and pastry chef Maxime Frédéric. The decor includes a walnut bar, with bronze edging by Ingrid Donat, a Tsukubai stone fountain, and handcrafted Japanese tableware to match the exceptional cuisine. The first courses are contemporary expressions of premium seafood, such as red mullet, aki ebi (scarlet shrimp), and the standout unagi (freshwater eel) rice. Diners then witness Watanabe’s impressive shari (rice pressure control) technique as he assembles oyster, lobster, sardine, and toro (fatty tuna)nigiris. Desserts display similar levels of textural precision, combining French patisserie and Japanese traditional sweets, with flavours like chestnut, matcha, hojicha and black rice. Hakuba provides a world-class dining experience enjoyed alongside exceptional wine and sake, and the affirmation that Paris is the best city outside Japan for washoku.

Hakuba is located at 8 Quai du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France

Kei

Kei Kobayashi made history as the first Japanese chef to open and fully own a restaurant in Paris, taking over a small space in the 1st arrondissement in 2011. He earned his first Michelin star just a year later, followed by a second in 2017 and a third in 2020, cementing his place among the culinary elite. Trained under Gilles Goujon and Alain Ducasse, Kobayashi’s avant-garde style fuses precise French technique with a distinctly Japanese sensibility that’s at once meticulous, graceful, and deeply imaginative. The silvery-grey dining room feels both intimate and futuristic, its mirrored walls studded with sparkling glass and crowned by a Saint-Louis chandelier inspired by the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The tasting menu is sculptural, vivid, and complex – with dishes such as hay-smoked langoustine with squid ink sauce and pigeon liver, and the signature salad that redefines the form entirely.

Kei is located at 5 Rue Coq Héron, 75001 Paris, France

Maison Sota

Sota Atsumi made his name at cult restaurant Clown Bar, but his own restaurant, which opened in 2019, is where his singular culinary perspective shines. Set in a warm, clay-toned room with shellac-finished wood, and an open kitchen built around a wood-fired oven, the design by Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects mirrors the cooking: organic, stripped-back, and quietly radical. The Tokyo-born chef brings a wabi-sabi lightness to French technique, favouring purity over fireworks. Dishes are anchored by exquisite sauce-making in surprising ways, such as a salad of mizuna grilled courgettes and green beans, lifted by a pistachio crème and an albufera sauce cut with foie gras. Other recent highlight dishes include black pig with rosemary sauce, confit onion and wood-fired Jerusalem artichokes, as well as raw scallops, seasoned with porcini garum, and served with sliced white asparagus and horseradish oil.

Maison Sota is located at 3 Rue Saint-Hubert, 75011 Paris, France

Plénitude

Ranked 18th on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2025, just four years after opening, the three-Michelin-starred Plénitude reflects Arnaud Donckele’s uniquely alchemical approach to cuisine. Every dish revolves around one of his signature absolutes – intricate, house-made sauces, such as Velours Number One, a blend of bonito belly, seafood consommé, chestnut honey, and citron essence. Sauces, at Plénitude, are the main act. One recent standout, Ange de Basco, features lamb, truffle, and herb pie, plated like an Arshile Gorky canvas – with curves and drips sweeping across the plate in surrealistic, sensual gestures. The interiors, designed by American architect Peter Marino, bring a luminous, curvilinear and elegant energy to match the food.

Plénitude is located at 8 Quai du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France

Septime

Over a decade since it opened, Septime remains worthy of the hype. Chef Bertrand Grébaut’s cooking balances surprise and restraint, delivered in a menu full of reverence for vegetables and seafood. Meat often plays second fiddle to vegetable centrepieces, such as braised endive adorned with gossamer-thin lardo, pickled mustard seeds, and a glossy chicken-walnut jus. The restaurant popularised cutting squid and cuttlefish into tagliatelle-like strips, recently serving cuttlefish ‘noodles’ with ajo blanco and chipotle oil. When featuring meat, it sources only the absolute best, like Jersey ribeye with white kimchi and allium miso purée. Wines are natural, hard-to-source, and often revelatory. The interior mirrors the food’s unfussy precision – bare walnut wood and patinated walls create rustic elegance without affectation. Grébaut is still at the pass most nights, maintaining the quiet confidence of a place that helped define a new, cosmopolitan Parisian kitchen.

Septime is located at 80 Rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris, France

Le Servan

Founded by sisters Tatiana (ex-L’Arpège) and Katia Levha in 2014, Le Servan remains one of the sharpest expressions of Parisian bistronomy today. Raised between France, Hong Kong, and Thailand, and shaped by a multicultural upbringing rooted in their French father’s and Filipina mother’s heritage, the sisters serve kaleidoscopically colourful plates of flavour-forward, culturally fluid cooking in a relaxed, bistro setting. The effortlessly stylish room – sun-swathed at lunchtime – is a refurbished bar, with the original ceilings revealing white, ornate mouldings, and a weathered fresco of swirling turquoise and golden yellow. Menu highlights include marinated sardines on thinly sliced brioche, flamingo-pink veal tartare lifted by smoked mayo and dashi jelly, and sweetbreads served with a bold chilli chutney. Nothing, however, tops the fried boudin noir wontons – which is a candidate for the single best bite in Paris and an embodiment of the restaurant’s brilliantly unique philosophy.

Le Servan is located at 32 Rue Saint-Maur, 75011 Paris, France

Table by Bruno Verjus

A former writer and food critic, Bruno Verjus has become Paris' most visionary chef, a feat recognised by him reaching number three in 2024’s World’s 50 Best awards. Entirely self-taught, he coined the phrase la cuisine du moment to describe his instinctive, produce-driven style – a radical departure from traditional haute cuisine. Each dish is composed on the day, based on what his small network of trusted producers brings in. His signature single lobster claw arrives in a warm shellfish jus – not quite raw, not quite cooked – served with crème crue and citrus zest. The masterful chocolate tart – another signature dish – is both delicate and intense. The open kitchen pulses with stage-like excitement, while the minimalist dining room – with its emerald-hued walls and slate floors, designed by Verjus himself – exudes his low-key, analogue philosophy.

Table by Bruno Verjus is located at 3 R. de Prague, 75012 Paris, France