Agapé, Restaurant gastronomique Paris 17ème — Restaurant in Paris

#41 see my reviews of all the Paris Michelin Stars. Humble and Flamboyance. Endearing duo.

The interesting thing here is the result of two different characters. You have Laurent Lapaire, the flamboyant owner that spotted future multiple stars chef. You can feel his influence in the styling of restaurant for example. It’s very « cosmopolitan « , with modern design, beautiful tableware and even waiters that are not the typical old school étoilé staff. The other influence is the love for the good product and his passion for haute cuisine (basically, he goes to Michelin Stars during his spare time…). Interestingly enough, he s the type of character that you encounter with old school chef that owns their restaurant, very lively, opinionated, with a little light in his eyes. It’s more typical of the old school big name chef. Still, I appreciate a strong character with a passion. I’ve noticed in some reviews here, that’s some may be put off by that. I understand. Still, you have to recognize that he brought some great chef to the Michelin world. I’m fine with a strong character from Brittany as long as he delivers. Which brings me to the second point: the chef. I had the good fortune to speak with him after the meal. He’s just like his cuisine. Very humble, hiding his maturity, playful, just enjoying making great cuisine by making the most out of the seasonal ingredients. He’s not there for the fame, nor the money, he’s there for the beauty of it. I find it very refreshing and it does give me hope in an era geared toward the show and the visual (top chef, Instagram - on which I am ;-)). The interesting result is it does work. The combination of those two different characters manages to work, and I guess it’s because they have in common the love for the good ingredients. The mood/dressing code seems to be modern yet relax. I had a business friendly lunch, I saw birthday, I guess it can also work for couple. Still, I’ll put it more in the Haute Cuisine side, even if the character of chef is not pretentious. It’s a very solid one star. I had a great experience, and it grew on me after a couple of days (I never write the reviews just after, like the wine, you want to let it develop), resulting in a very endearing memory.

Update 2022: After years of helping chefs reach new stars (the list is so crazy with Septime, Toutain, Alliance etc…), the Agape manager found a Madonna. And it does bring a change in the house to have a lady. Ok, the Madonna reference was there because the new chef, Rebecca Lookwood, was her personal chef. Her resume doesn’t stop there by far. Top chef star in Brazil, formally trained in one of the best school in Paris, she even became journalist for a while. Ok, what’s interesting? What does it mean for you? It means that the angle and even some of the ingredients will be very different from your average one star. She brings this diversity in the plate, with yet an attention to balance it. Interestingly, she’s from an English/Brazilian marriage, and I guess she’s used to be in between cultures. I would also note that being from Amazonia she is naturally eco concerned with a touch of interest in the ingredients medicinal power. Extremely interesting and I’m looking forward to see her grow with Laurent s help. Speaking of medicinal power, he’s a strong advocate for the “vin nature” (organic wine), which makes this restaurant way more “eco concerned “ and “exotic “ than it looks (and than others that are more into communication).

Even if it’s a new chef, given both track records, it’s definitely still a...

Unsure why this restaurant has been given a Michelin star. Actually I am unsure if they have one. Regardless, service was hectic as servers kept dropping and breaking utensils on the floor. We were unfortunate enough to be seated right next to the kitchen where all of these were happening. I don't mind it breakages as accidents happen during dinner service but it got frequent throughout my 2.5h of dining experience there and it made the ambience very unmichelin-y.

My partner ordered the wine pairing and the lady explained the pairings from the start and stopped when we got to the main dishes which I thought it would be more important to know what the wine pairing is etc. However, certain waiters/managers were excellent and friendly so I wouldn't fault that. 700+€ for both parties + 2 bottles of still water + wine pairing. The food was alright, we had better food at other Michelin restaurants; not mind-blowing per se. Some dishes were awesome, some were just.... alright. We really wished we could enjoy all of the dishes but no. However, the food presentation is aesthetically pleasing to the eyes; bright and colourful. I think the food theme was seafood and we had a dish that was japanese inspired that we enjoyed.

I booked Agapé on Thefork for Valentine's Day as I am unfamiliar with the fine dining scene in Paris. I should have went with my gut when I saw the ratings here and book elsewhere for Valentine's Day. I felt like our money and time would have been better spent at a restaurant with no michelin stars with better service and food. That being said, I have never eaten here on a normal dinner service where the kitchen/staff weren't rushed so perhaps service and ambience might have been better on those days. Would we go there again? Probably not on special days. Is the food worth the money and the amount of time we spent there? No. But I am willing to give this restaurant a second chance seeing reviews from other people.

Disclaimer: this is not our first time eating fine dining, we enjoy eating at Michelin restaurants regardless so I wrote this review with unbiasedness towards fine dining and only for future diners to...

A rather average experience, given that this establishment is a one Michelin star, in comparison to other in Paris.

Service was ok, it was lukewarm some staff were more affable than others.

However I am not here for the service. This year the restaurant celebrates its tenth year. I went to lunch, lunch is usually the cheaper option in comparison to dinner service. That is not to say i did not splurge.

What I did like were - the lobster dish & the sweetbread.

What I dislike were - This is an easy fix, temperature in the dinning room should be comfortable, i know it’s cold and wet outside in Paris, as a dinner I don’t want to feel like I am in the kitchen with the chef. The anniversary menu was more expensive & was suppose to be a surprise, well everything on it were on the a la carte menu..if that was the surprise then yes it worked.

There were several options ala carte,3 courses, 5 courses and the anniversary menu which is effectively 7 courses. My advice if you decide to go choose the 3 courses or 5 courses or a la carte.

Overall there were some exceptional cooking, even with simple dish of beetroot collection was exceptional, however the 2 full size deserts was very unexpected and tipped the experience to feeling like you’ve been overfeed and feel liked a stuffed turkey. Also very surprising was the absent of a cheese course, seems like a serious misstep for a French restaurant.

So these were the reasons...