Top 5 Paris authentic French food restaurants

Top 5 Paris authentic French food restaurants

When you go on vacation to France, and especially in Paris, you are supposed to be discovering the “Capital City of Food“. You want to eat frogs, snails, oysters, mussels, and discover why French people like those weird things. But also, you want to discover the taste of a real baguette, a real éclair, a real coq-au-vin! To help you, here is a top 5 Paris authentic French food restaurants, according to a local!

1.) Le Coq Rico (98 Rue Lepic, in the eighteenth arrondissement)

Forget about KFC. Here is the place to properly eat chicken in Paris. A lot of traditional French meals are made with chicken, for one simple reason. It used to be cheap to raise, and everyone could get one. But it does not mean that this restaurant will be cheap. Amongst the only restaurants in Montmartre with a valet (see picture), the Coq Rico offers meals that will not get under thirty euros per course. The Coq Rico is surely one of the best traditional French food restaurants in Paris, because you will be able to get the famous poule-au-pot, which is the restaurant’s specialty! Click here to find out more about the restaurant.

2.) Le Train Bleu (Gare De Lyon, in the twelfth arrondissment)

Le Train Bleu restaurant is surely one of the best places in Paris to eat authentic French food in an exceptional place. Founded in 1900, this restaurant has a typical Belle Epoque architecture. This is the only place in Paris where you can eat in this kind of setting. But let’s speak serious, let’s speak food. You will have there the best authentic luxury French food. This restaurant is quite expensive (about forty euros for a main course, fifteen euros for a starter, and I won’t even speak about wine…), but I ensure you that it is totally worth each penny. I advise you to taste the Côte de Veau Foyot, among the best things I have ever eaten in my whole life. And I am French. Click here to find out more about the restaurant.

3.) Aux Delices Du Palais (60 Boulevard Brune, in the fourteenth arrondissment)

There could not be a list of top traditional French food restaurants without a good address to eat a baguette. This one is the best. Each year, there is a contest for the best baguette in Paris. The winner earns the right to provide the Elysée, the French Presidential Palace, with baguettes during one year. In 2014, this bakery won this prestigious prize. So if you want to eat the same baguette as Emmanuel Macron, do not hesitate anymore and get one!

4.) Coquelicot (24 Rue Des Abbesses, in the eighteenth arrondissment)

Another bakery? Another restaurant in the eighteenth arrondissement? I admit it, I have a secret love for Montmartre and its fine French food restaurants, and for the authentic atmosphere of typical French bakeries. Le Coquelicot (“The Poppy Flower”) is known to be the only bakery in Paris that serves breakfast until 6pm. But also, it is one of the cheapest good traditional French food restaurants in Paris I’ve ever been to. You’ll spend only €4.40 for a slice of a (very good) quiche with salad! After the first ones, I had to propose to you an alternative cheaper way to get fine and authentic French food. 

5.) Roger La Grenouille (28 Rue Des Grands Augustins, in the sixth arrondissment)

Finally. A good place in Paris to eat frogs. The best, actually. In the Roger la Grenouille restaurant, you will eat every kind of frogs, in every possible way to cook them. If you want to know why French people like eating frogs, which have about the same taste as chicken and that we don’t eat this much, do not hesitate to try it. This is surely one of the best authentic French food restaurants!

You now know a top 5 Paris authentic French food restaurants, according to a local! You will love French food, especially if you go to these restaurants. If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, you will also like reading this one about French food specialties you can get while in Paris! Also, feel free to tell us what kind of authentic French food you would like to taste, so we can make another article about travelers favorite French dishes! If you want to have an amazing French food experience, you can join our food tour to try the best there is! Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need further information about anything. I hope to see you soon in one of our tours!