A formule is the one price a Paris bistro asks for its set lunch. Below are the tourist office’s fair price range, how lunch compares with dinner, and the rules on what the bill must include.
The short list
8 places, in the order they appear below.
- 1BenoitClassic repertoireChâtelet
- 2Chez Fernand ChristineSlow-cooked dishes and a vast wine listSaint-Germain-des-Prés
- 3Chez NénesseA no-booking weekday lunch menuHaut Marais
- 4JaïsMarket cooking in an elegant roomGros-Caillou
- 5GavrocheMeat, house fries and BeaujolaisBourse
- 6BizetroDaily specials and bone marrowChaillot
- 7Café SinguliersA relaxed lunch with an open kitchenSainte-Marguerite
- 8À La RenaissanceBistrot classics in a restored corner caféRoquette
What is a lunch formule in Paris?
Ordering from the carte means choosing and paying dish by dish. With a formule you pay one price for the whole meal.
How much should a lunch formule cost in Paris?
Chez Nénesse keeps its prices small. Benoit is a different kind of lunch, at the top price band on our list (€€€€ against Chez Nénesse’s €€). The tourist office figures and the rules on what goes on the bill follow.
Which Paris bistros are best for a weekday lunch?
Three bistros on our list post a weekday lunch menu: Benoit near Châtelet, Chez Fernand Christine in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Chez Nénesse in the upper Marais. At one end is a room that has cooked the classic repertoire for more than a century. At the other, a family-run bistro that still looks like the decade it opened.
Benoit cooks the full Parisian canon. Start with pâté en croûte and house pickles, or escargots in garlic and herb butter, then finish with profiteroles under chocolate sauce or a savarin soaked in armagnac. The lunch menu gives you the same room and the same kitchen as dinner over two or three courses, Monday to Friday only.
Benoit
Hours: Mon–Sun 12:00–14:00, 19:00–22:00
Address: 20 Rue Saint-Martin, 75004 Paris, France
Chez Fernand Christine still has the look of an old Left Bank bistro, and its formule is the easy way in. The boeuf bourguignon simmers for hours.
Chez Fernand Christine
Hours: Mon–Sun 12:00–14:30, 19:00–23:00
Address: 9 Rue Christine, 75006 Paris, France
A man called Ernest founded Chez Nénesse in 1960, and it has kept its mismatched floor tiles and old oil stove. The Leplu family cooks here now, traditional bistro food with homemade desserts. You don’t need to book for the set lunch, which draws people who work in the upper Marais. Dinner is à la carte.
Chez Nénesse
Hours: Mon–Fri 12:00–14:30, 20:00–22:30 · Sat–Sun closed
Address: 17 Rue de Saintonge, 75003 Paris, France
Jaïs, in the seventh, has a small terrace on the pavement, and chef Jaïs Mimoun’s brothers run the floor. The menu follows the market. Whatever arrived that morning decides what’s on the plate.
Jaïs
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Fri 12:00–14:30, 19:30–22:30 · Sat 19:30–22:30 · Sun closed
Address: 3 Rue Surcouf, 75007 Paris, France
Where do office workers eat lunch in Paris?
Near the old stock exchange, bankers take the tables at Gavroche. In the sixteenth, Bizetro is busy on weekdays with colleagues lingering over lunch.
Gavroche is a family bistro, rough around the edges in the best way. Order the beef tartare, grilled andouillette or farmhouse pork chop, and get the house fries with it. The Beaujolais list is long. Pick a bottle rather than ordering by the glass.
Gavroche
Hours: Mon–Fri 08:00–00:00 · Sat 17:00–00:00 · Sun closed
Address: 19 Rue Saint-Marc, 75002 Paris, France
Bizetro keeps to French regional classics such as knife-cut duck tartare, escargots and eggs meurette, which suits the people from nearby offices who fill its tables on weekdays. The kitchen puts its effort into the board of daily specials. Regulars start with the roasted bone marrow.
Bizetro
Hours: Mon 12:00–15:00 · Tue–Fri 12:00–15:00, 19:00–23:00 · Sat–Sun closed
Address: 6 Rue Georges Bizet, 75116 Paris, France
Where can you have a casual lunch in Paris instead?
For something looser than a set bistro menu, two places in the eleventh serve proper cooking in a café setting. Café Singuliers near Sainte-Marguerite and À La Renaissance by Voltaire both open early and stay open through the day, so lunch can be as short or as slow as the afternoon allows.
From the street, Café Singuliers looks like a neighbourhood café. Inside, past the light-wood, Japanese-inspired room, an open kitchen cooks seasonal plates alongside croque monsieurs on house Japanese milk bread. Locals treat it as their canteen. Ask for a seat facing the kitchen, and save room for the cookies, which have a following of their own.
Café Singuliers
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Fri 08:30–17:30, 19:30–23:30 · Sat 09:30–17:30, 19:30–23:30 · Sun closed
Address: 2 Rue Titon, 75011 Paris, France
À La Renaissance is a century-old corner bistrot that kept its red neon and infinity mirrors. The kitchen cooks the classics with real technique: a vol-au-vent of seasonal vegetables, Iberian pork with chard and roasted onion, a floating island to finish. Food service stops long before the bar closes, so if you arrive late, order food first and settle in afterwards.
À La Renaissance
Hours: Mon–Wed 08:30–01:00 · Thu–Fri 08:30–02:00 · Sat 10:00–02:00 · Sun 10:00–01:00
Address: 87 Rue de la Roquette, 75011 Paris, France
Check each card for opening days before you set out; several of these bistros serve lunch on weekdays only.
