Benoit Paris — Restaurant in Paris

#44 follow my Michelin Stars Marathon on my public list An extremely rare species: The old school French bistro!

The Bistronomic phenomenon is something you can’t miss when you’re exploring the Michelin stars. It had a huge impact and revitalized the Michelin Stars that were becoming bourgeois and old. The gastronomic scene has to thanks this mouvement that is one of the 3 trends that shaped the last 10 years. But, what about the origin? The old school bistro? Well, here you have one of the oldest in Paris. You’ll notice that the ones who survived were quite high end (there are some wonderful bistro/brasseries from the end of the 19th and early 20th, they have wonderful ceilings, decorations etc…Extremely charming and some with very few tourists. I did a lot, I need to write the reviews once this is done). Still, as I explained for “la poule au pot”, it’s one of the hardest segment to get a star. You have to be manage by Alain Ducasse like this one to get a star. Why? Because it’s close to impossible to get a star for snails, foie gras, cassoulet etc… all this very traditional, not especially high end, not haute cuisine. And I have to thanks Alain Ducasse for putting his name out there to defend this part of the French culinary heritage. So what is it like? Very charming! You travel in time. The food is the very classical bourgeois (not haute cuisine like relais louis XIII), you ll get all the famous French cuisine: Snails, rillettes, foie gras, blanquette, boudins, profiteroles etc… it’s awesome! And it’s so difficult to find at a star level. Let’s be fair, if you want haute cuisine, or fashionable Bistronomie, this is not the place to go. But, if you want old school with the service and the atmosphere that matches: you’ve got a match! The crowd was family and friends. You can do business, but may be friendly like I did, because the food is not the lightest and I do not see myself setting up a business eating snails… on the other side, I saw a French guy with his foreign wife bringing her relatives. They had fun. The dress code / mood: it’s relax but it’s just respect the setting: don’t be too relax. It does deserve its star, and I hope that others will help him fight for preserving this heritage. My experience: oh my good! I did not speak of the Savarin and the deserts! Watch my videos. It’s crazy regressive. I love it! Again not the classical étoilé but fun and good. I had a great experience. One week after, I’m still thinking of it. I guess I’ll do like the other French guy, I’ll invite some foreigners and we’ll have a blast.

Edit 2022: Went back after a year. I have to say the experience was a notch lesser than the first time. They may be lacking one or two persons in the staff because you could feel the service was at the limit, as was the kitchen. Still I recommend if you want old school, as it still...

I had dinner here because it was a 1 Michelin star restaurant, probably the most affordable one in Paris. I wanted to try classic French cuisine, after having had mediocre food for a few days. I wanted to see for myself if I didn’t like French food or if I have only been to tourist traps.

So take this review as a reference only - understand that it may be me who doesn’t like French food.

The free cheesy bread was good. Nice, like, yet cheesy/creamy.

The waitress recommended the lobster with green beans as starter. It was indeed delicious. However these two were the only two dishes I enjoyed.

I ordered 2 mains: half a portion of Organic Tigre calf’s head, ravigote sauce, and the Gourmet casserole of veal sweetbreads, cockscomb, kidneys of cockerel, foie gras, truffled jus.

The waitress assured me every item on the menu is worth trying, and that the casserole is the chef’s specialty.

Now, as a Vietnamese person I was no stranger to foods like brains, kidneys, liver, snails, even intestines. After all there is a clear French influence on Vietnamese cuisine, and I thought I was an adventurous eater.

Being raised in a Vietnamese household meant it was a sin to waste food. Even if I didn’t like the food, I would always make my best effort to finish the food to pay respect to the person preparing it.

I couldn’t finish my mains despite my best efforts. I didn’t have the heart to tell the waitress that I didn’t enjoy my food at all.

Because of the aftertaste of my mains, I was also not able to enjoy all the cheeses served afterwards, which was a shame because I would have really enjoyed those cheeses.

The dessert was okay, I had the millefeuille and wished I have gotten ice cream instead. I had never had this dish before but the waitress told me it had ice cream it in. Turns out it actually was whipped cream, not ice cream but I guess that was a bit of a language barrier. I should have just Googled what millefeuille was…

So if it was up to me I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant, but again I probably just don’t like classic French food. So despite being one of the more affordable 1-Michelin star restaurants in Paris, I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant. And this may be the first time I disagree with the Michelin guide. Service wasn’t bad, but also wasn’t perfect. I appreciate them making sure I got fresh cutleries for each course, but it would’ve been nice if I could actually...

TLDR at the end.

Let's start by saying that this place is not bad per se, this review reflects the disappointment me and my wife experienced due to Benoit having a Michelin star.

For context we had the duck and the cassoulet as mains, the taste of the cheese and fountainebleau for dessert. We only had water as we do not drink wine.

Service was good, but not the best. The biggest complaint is we we got our mains with a good 2 minutes of time in between. Then after our mains the bread and butter we were eating got taken away before we recieved the cheese tasting. We did get more bread later, but I assume the one that got taken away was trashed, same with the butter. For the rest, the waiters were good, and cleaned up our table from crumbs in between each serving.

As for the food, the duck was cooked to perfection and was for sure a premium cut, but we did find the sides and the sauce unremarkable. The cassoulet was also good but unremarkable, I can totally picture eating a similar dish in any local restaurant for likely half the price. We were then presented with 4 tiny slices of local french cheese with a meager teaspoon of fruit compote. While the cheese was definitely all delicious alongside the bread and the compote, we felt it was pretty lazy to just present a plate with 4 slices of cheese just kind of thrown on it. Finally, the dessert was definitely the part we enjoyed the most, with a delicious homemade whipped cream and tasty fresh strawberries.

We were full, with for sure help from the fresh bread, but pretty disappointed. While the atmosphere is nice and the service was ok, the food failed to impress us. So to us it came down to what we were paying for it. Our bill came down to EUR120, including an outrageous 9€ bottle of water, which was completely scammy and quite frankly embarassing for a restaurant like this, which should price its dished high based on their quality, not trying to rip off their costumers with water bottles like any other lame tourist trap. Hence the 2 stars, not a place to avoid by any mean, just know what you're walking into.

TLDR Nice place and location, Okey service, good quality food but mostly unremarkable and overpriced, scammy pricing of water bottle for no reason. Felt like a...