When Chef Stéphanie Le Quellec earned her 1 Michelin star in 2014, the newly opened gastronomic restaurant, La Scéne, was even more thrilled with their new hire. One of only a handful of Michelin-starred female chefs in France, this young woman's style of passion, fun and grace reflected in her cuisine was learned under two outstanding mentors: Philippe Legendre of George V and then Philippe Jourdin of Terre Blanche. The concept of this restaurant is to put the chef and her team at center stage, literally. The kitchen is the main focal point of the elegant wood and marble dining room which faces out onto the historical landmark mosaics in the courtyard for which the property is famous. A firm believer in using products at the height of their most flavorful, you will find creative dishes here that make for exquisitely fine lunch and dinner dining
Recommended for Fine Dining because: A fine young chef who just earned her first Michelin star last year, Stéphanie Le Quellec is a Parisian chef to watch.
Paige's expert tip: The chef's southern France origins delicately flavor any one of her dishes with her signature "sophisticated simplicity." For dessert: the "vanilla in five layers" by pastry chef Yann Couvreur. The way the restaurant is arranged, with the open kitchen in the middle, truly makes this a theater of fine dining.
Truly the labor of love of a barely 30-something chef, this gastronomic restaurant tucked just up in front of Pigalle, is one of those little places you dream of finding on that trip to Paris. Chef Indra Carrillo was named by Gault & Millau (esteemed French food guide) as the Young Chef of the Year in 2016. So it's no wonder he decided to forge ahead on his own and open this restaurant here in the trending Parisian neighborhood. The experience is fine dining and the pleasure comes from knowing that the chef and his team are having the time of their lives whipping up these marvellously creative dishes in the small kitchen. Tempura fried leaf served on the base of a flowering plant, pumpkin seed and black-olive-tapenade crackers, a spoonful of steamed kale wrapped around a savory morsel - and these are just the amuse-buches, precursors to the starter.
Recommended for Fine Dining because: Here you genuinely feel that you are sharing a moment with people, chef, kitchen and waitstaff, who have truly found the joy in their calling.
Paige's expert tip: Put on your flying gear because this chef is going to take you to gastronomic heights, the likes of which you may not yet have had the good fortune to experience. And whether or not you opt for the wine pairing, the dishes will all stand on their own. Service is warm and impeccably gracious. The menu is fixed with a set price for wine pairings should you so choose. The decor is minimalist dark green velvet seating and plain walls, so that the focus of the energy and activity is on the kitchen/stage behind the glass partition. Chef Carrillo's La Condesa is a restaurant to enjoy when you have the privilege of time and the good company to enjoy every single morsel that is presented to you and which subsequently delights your senses as it passes through your palate.
The chef's table was the brainchild of Head Chef Jean-Fran�ois Rouquette, a surprisingly humble professional given the stature of this Palace Hotel's gastronomic restaurant. The restaurant itself is constructed in-the-round where the open kitchen, featuring its signature Tuscan grill burning vine shoots is fully on display, as are the hard-working Chef and his team. But back to the Chef's Table � this seats four to six people at the table directly overlooking the open kitchens. Diners can choose from the restaurant's creative menu , such as abalone with parsley and ginger, or can innovate a menu themselves a few day's prior. Wines that accompany include Krug Vintage and one wine per dish. A spectacular dining experienced singular in the city. For dessert, it will be next to impossible to choose just one, since pastry chef Fabien Berteau earned himself the distinction of Best Pastry Chef of The Year.
Recommended for Fine Dining because: Exquisite, delicate appetizers tease your appetite for the main dishes that follow. Best to indulge here in the chef's tasting menu.
Paige's expert tip: As you enter into this restaurant, you instantly feel as if you are entering a luxurious island filled with France's best wines. When the (lady) sommelier wheels around the ice bucket full of small-producer gems like Larmand-Bernier rosé champagne, you know then that you have awakened inside of a dream.
This is the gastronomic restaurant of the Danish House (Maison du Danemark) that proudly waves its flags on the Champs-Elysees, just at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe. After its fairly recent renovations, a new, young chef was recruited from the homeland to show off Denmark's considerable national heritage of cooking savoir-faire. This chef is Andreas Moller and his tattoo-covered arms speak of a man whose interests and accomplishments are not only in the kitchens of the world's capitals. Though there is where he certainly excels. His devotion to authenticity is evidenced by his insistence that all products be flown in directly from Denmark fresh daily. The Art de la Table here speaks of that Scandinavian simplicity and elegance. This is a food connoisseur's table, with the more casual dining experience on the ground floor of the Maison du Danemark.
Recommended for Fine Dining because: A gastronomic restaurant in a spectacular setting overlooking the 'most beautiful Avenue in the world,' the Champs-Elysees.
Paige's expert tip: Lunch here is a light fare and all about tasting the chef's chosen menu of the day. Dinner is an altogether classier affair, though both highlight Chef Andreas Moller's skilled accomplishments in the kitchens.
The Avenue Gabriel is the small street that fronts between the American and British Embassies. This is where you will find Laurent, the quiet and classy 1-Michelin starred dining establishment that counts Presidents, Ambassadors and the elite of international business among its regular clientele. Chef Alain P�gouret creates dishes that marry flavors and colors in perfect harmony. Ever imaginative, he comes up with 30 new dishes each year, following the seasons. A perennial on the menu is his medley of Roots Vegetables, so colorful that it appears as a painter's palette. The terrace is the true gem of the restaurant and at once offers soothing seclusion and the feeling that you are ensconced somewhere off in a private villa in the French countryside. This oasis was restored by Hittorff in 1842, at the same time as he was commissioned by King Louis Philippe to design the Champs-Elys�es.
Recommended for Fine Dining because: Chef Alain Pégouret visually creative, delicious cuisine. The soothing setting, all creams, ivories and pastels welcomes you into a haven of grace and good taste.
Paige's expert tip: Dining on the terrace in the summer time is a Parisian experience absolutely not to be missed. The shade of the centuries-old chestnut trees put you in a place far, far away from the city center. Perhaps this is why the restaurant is so favored by French VIPs.
Radical simplicity is the approach that talented chef Christophe Saintaigne uses to unveil his hand-picked, hand-harvested exceptional raw ingredients at one of Paris' top tables. This under-40 chef works as second to Le Meurice Executive Chef Alain Ducasse but exercises a good degree of autonomy in the kitchens here, and is integral in the planning of the ever-changing menu. Voted Paris' most delectable dish recently, their lobster main, cooked for 1 ½ minutes in a searing bath of hot water, served with paper thin scalloped potatoes presented in a form that resembles scales of a fish is nothing short of an unforgettable culinary experience. Of the many splendid small details the staff present you throughout the meal, tthe fresh herb tea cart, where your white-gloved server snips citronelle, mint, sage or rosemary leaves into the silver teapot, lends to that feeling of warmth and welcome of a shared meal.
Recommended for Fine Dining because: Once an artist has earned his stripes (or stars) he can explore and push boundaries. This is what Chefs Ducasse and Saintagne are doing here.
Paige's expert tip: Your main dish is preceded here by a pot of delicately arranged steamed baby vegetables meant for you to enjoy together. The vegetables are cooked to seduce their peak flavors and the sense of a shared plate underlines the notion that breaking bread together is an act of shared humanity.
Chef Sylvestre Wahid has that rare combination of mastery, humility and personability. These traits translate directly to his dishes which are infused with talent and taste. Dining in a Michelin star restaurant - this one has 2stars - can be an investment, also in time. What 'le Sylvestre a Paris' offers, however, is a veritable dining excursion where your tastebuds, eyes and olfactory senses are lead on a delightful adventure through a serving of about 10 courses. The chef himself tends to describe his cuisine as somewhat 'feminine' in that it is ever so light and flavorful. It plays with refined delicacies such as sugar crystallized dried sea lettuce and fermented, blackened garlic, which, surprisingly, has a slightly sweet taste profile to it. The intimacy of this upstairs restaurant, hidden like a secret jewel above the famous downstairs brasserie, affords a luxury of dining in a setting that entices conversation and time taken for genuine person-to-person interaction. The refined touches of toasted, fresh-cut bread, the bone china pottery made by an artisan-craftswoman elevates, quite literally, the delicately crafted food served in such a setting.
Recommended for Fine Dining because: After spending time at the Essex House in NYC, Chef Sylvestre Wahid returned to Paris where he quickly earned his 2 Michelin stars.
Paige's expert tip: For a short time, in honor of spring in Paris, this one-of-a-kind restaurant is offering an extraordinary invitation to bring a guest with you when you dine here. This will certainly be one of the best 2star Michelin meals you will ever have in Paris. From the wines served to the dishes exquisitely prepared. This is one of those meals you will still be talking about next Valentine's Day.
Sampling the Chinese haute and courtly cuisine of Huaiyang invites a complete re-defining of one's reference points for Chinese food. In this refined gastronomic tradition of ancient China, fine slicing of ingredients is paramount, as are minimal uses of salt and oil. This is one of China's original 'four great cuisines' and it is the elevated prestige of this one in particular that made it the choice of the PRC (People's Republic of China) to be served at their 50th anniversary state banquet. Chef Alfred Leung now proudly bears 5 Michelin stars, 2 for his Shanghai restaurant and one each for Singapore, his hometown, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. What Mr. Leung has brought to this most exquisite of Chinese cuisines is his innovation of using the best of ingredients from around the world. So you may have caviar from Madagascar (which he likes to serve with fluffy egg whites), Iberian ham, steamed Alaskan king crab or cod fished from Brittany that morning - all incorporated in Chinese dishes like dim sum or 'Xiao Long Bao.' Lacquered Peking duck is the house specialty. Mr. Leung's career began in the kitchens of Hong Kong, but now he consults with his chefs daily and oversees his restaurant empire. His son, Kenny, a trained architect, guided the modern; art-filled interior decoration of this latest Paris jewel on their culinary crown.
Recommended for Fine Dining because: Paris is considered the culinary capital of the world, along with its close rival, Singapore. And now it has its own courtly, Michelin-ranked imperial treasure.
Local Expert tip: The Huaiyang cuisine is considered China's courtly cuisine and was a favorite of the 18th c. Qianlong Emperor. Its history dates back to 770 BC and it is considered the haute cuisine of China's four great cuisines (a more common one in the west being Sichuan.) Chef Alfred Leung's family-run restaurant empire brings to this dynastic heritage his love of fine ingredients, sourced from the world over. The Lacquered Peking Duck is raised for at least 40 days and expertly served at table by a specially trained carver. Wines to accompany this meal of lunch or dinner extend from a range of by-the-glass to a Burgundian bottle of Armand Rousseau.
Located now at the Monnaie de Paris, this newly opened and already celebrated restaurant serves contemporary haute cuisine in a just redone - though historical space - overlooking the Seine on the Quai Conti. The Monnaie de Paris is the oldest French institution and was founded in 864 under the reign of Charles II. It offers, now, in this newest incarnation, spectacular views overlooking the Seine. The interior design has notes of the theatrical, with tables placed just so, to capture the natural lighting. Salmon, flown in direct from Scotland, is served on its bed of ice at table, seasoned before your eyes with a triad of citrus before gingerly being sprayed with a consomm� of citrus.
Recommended for Fine Dining because: This is a talented chef of world-repute who is confident enough to allow his protegés expression of their creative talents in his kitchen, too.
Paige's expert tip: If the exquisite meal here has left you sated, and you absolutely must pass up the signature house brioche, don't fret. Just down the street, Team Guy Savoy has opened up a Brioche Takeaway so now you purchase this lovely, doughy (sweet and savory) goodness to bring with you.
When Parisians speak of Chef Alain Passard's restaurant, Arp�ge, it is in hushed, reverential tones. Descriptions of meals enjoyed here invariably include mention of vegetables; also that it requires a good three hours of dining time spent at the table. Vegetables have become, since the early 2000s, the chef's signature. He still serves meat and his preferred method of cooking is still over an open flame, a technique his grandmother taught him. But in the past decade he adapted this talent of flamb�ing, grilling and roasting to vegetables: "Learn how to travel delicately with your pan on the open flame guaranties texture, taste, color, light and transparency with your vegetables," declares this illustrious French chef. He maintains three of his own vegetable and herb gardens to assure the highest quality ingredients: "Between the gardeners and me, we discuss carrots and beetroot like others speak of Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc!"
Recommended for Fine Dining because: The pioneer in this today fashionable trend of allowing vegetables their full epression within a meal, Chef Passard has led the way for a decade.
Paige's expert tip: This is the only restaurant in the French capital today to manage all its own fresh vegetable, herb, red and black fruit production. The restaurant's name is inspired by the chef's second love: music. Makassar wood furnishings and Lalique crystal ware round out the clubby d�cor.