Best Michelin Restaurants in Paris
2007 Paris Michelin Guide Selects the City's Best Restaurants
Love it or hate it, don't ignore the Michelin Guide. Its 2007 Paris edition picks out the city's best hotels and restaurants, including ten with three Michelin Stars.
The new 2007 Michelin Guide to Paris does its usual thorough job in choosing the best restaurants in Paris, which for many people also means the best restaurants in the world. For 2007 there are just ten Paris Michelin restaurants which get the coveted top accolade of Three Michelin Stars, from among the 390 Paris restaurants reviewed.
The Michelin Guide also covers Paris hotels, choosing 60 of the top Paris hotels from over 2000 in France's capital. These include the best top-range luxury hotels, such as the Plaza Athenee where Alain Ducasse has his 3-star restaurant, and the Four Seasons George V, where Le Cinq collects two Michelin Stars. Other top Paris hotels reviewed and praised include the Costes, the Crillon, Le Meurice and the Ritz.
But the Michelin Guide is about food, above all food, and for people who take their food and their dining seriously. And when you are in the world's culinary capital, with some of the world's best restaurants at your disposal, you need a good guide. The fact that a restaurant isn't in the Paris Michelin Guide doesn't mean it's not good. Some celebrated chefs like Alain Senderens have famously rejected the 'accolade'. But these are the exception, and the top chefs in Paris are here: Alain Ducasse, Guy Savoy, Joel Robuchon, Christian Constant and Pierre Gagnaire among them.
Where the Paris Michelin Guide scores is in the in-depth reviews it gives to the best Paris restaurants, based on regular and recent visits. Many guides visit a restaurant once, and the review remains unchanged for several years. Michelin visits all restaurants constantly, as if on a mission, checking that the city's top chefs are keeping their standards. When chefs like Alain Ducasse run several restaurants around the world, standards could be in danger of slipping – though not in the case of Ducasse, who was the first chef in the world to gain three Michelin stars in two different restaurants. His Paris flagship at the Plaza Athenee keeps its three-star status, a testimony to this superb chef's consistency and making it arguably the best restaurant in Paris, over the years..
Michelin isn't only about the most expensive and exclusive restaurants, though. It covers every neighborhood in Paris, and increasingly includes ethnic cuisines, from Belgian to Turkish. An index of French Classics tells you where to go to get the best French dishes, such as bouillabaisse, boudin, escargots and coq au vin. The best business restaurants are listed, and those with private dining rooms. There are also about 120 listings of restaurants where you can get a set-priced menu for less than €33 (£22/US$45).
So, what are the best restaurants in Paris for 2007, in Michelin's view? The ten which receive their three Michelin stars this year are:
- Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee
- L'Ambroisie
- Arpege
- Astrance
- Le Grand Vefour
- Guy Savoy
- Ledoyen
- Le Meurice
- Pierre Gagnaire
- Pre Catelan
The Michelin Guide Paris 2007 costs £9.99 in the UK. Visit the Michelin website by clicking here.
Read about the 2007 Michelin Guide to France here.
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