Paris Digest
Paris city guide since 1997
Art Nouveau restaurants in Paris are one of the marvels of the city. Mollard, Bouillon Racine, Train Bleu, Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse and Vagenende have an extraordinary interior. La Coupole is a world famous Art Déco restaurant. These restaurants serve top quality French cuisine. The perfect combination for a great time. Top Restaurants in Paris.
Paris has a rich legacy of restaurants from the Art Nouveau time (1890-1914), a lively and artistic period in the city, kicked off by the Eiffel Tower inauguration in 1889 and abruptly ended by World War 1. In addition to the selected top restaurants below, we also recommend Beefbar near Champs-Elysées and Bouillon Julien in the right bank.
Bouillon Racine represents over 100 years of culinary history close to the Sorbonne University in the heart of the left bank.
It was created in 1906 as a bouillon, the ancestors of Parisian brasseries serving food to working people. Its Art Nouveau setting made of carved wood, ceramics, mirrors and glass paintings, is one of the most beautiful in town.
Now listed as an historical monument, Bouillon Racine offers an immersion in the Paris of the 1900s. Where food is concerned, the chef Alexandre Belthoise has selected a subtle blend of modern day and more traditional dishes.3 course menu at 35 euros for lunch and dinner. Lunch review.
Paris metro: Cluny La Sorbonne metro station of Luxembourg metro station. Map.
Mollard was founded in 1895 by Mr and Mrs Mollard opposite Saint-Lazare train station to serve wealthy passengers doing business in Paris. Mollard has a superb Art Nouveau decor, large frescos in shades of green, blue and gold, beige and brown marble columns and ancient mosaics. Mollard is classified in the complementary list of historic monuments.
Mollard is a classical brasserie with fresh seafood and everything you could wish for an excellent meal. Choice of sea food is large: oysters, clams, mussels, sea urchin, crab, prawns, shrimps, craw fishes, sea snails. The choice of typically French deserts is great too: Omelette Mollard flambée au Grand Marnier, Profiteroles, Créme brulée.
35.10 euro 3 course set menu.
Paris metro: Saint-Lazare station. Map.
The sumptuous Art Nouveau interiors have been restored, awash with frescos, mirrors, period lighting and original curved wood trim. Add to that crisp white table cloths and gleaming crockery and cutlery. The service is stylish.
The menu remains faithful to tradition, with fresh seafood and traditional cuisine, which, without being pretentious, knows how to live up to its reputation. The fine leek tart and medley of tangy salad, the fisherman's pot with light butter and shellfish stock, the veal liver with crispy bacon and mashed potatoes, the hot chocolate profiteroles are among the classics. Good value for money.
Paris metro: Saint-Germain-des-Près metro station. Map.
Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse is the cheapest Art Nouveau restaurant in town. It takes no reservations.
Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse, opened in 1903 and closed in 1924, is back. Montparnasse 1900, a beautiful Art Nouveau restaurant in Montparnasse district has closed its doors to reopen under the name Bouillon Chartier he already had back in 1903. Created in 1858, the restaurant was bought in 1903 by the Chartier brothers, who had already opened the bouillon Chartier Montmartre in 1896. In 1906, important work was done to give birth to a sumptuous Art Nouveau decor of glass, mirrors, ceramics, moldings and woodwork. Sold in 1924, the Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse changed names and owners several times, until the group Gérard Joulie bought it in 2003.
Train Bleu is the largest and most impressive Art Nouveau restaurant in town. As Paris was about to receive a major new Universal Exhibition in 1900, the Gare de Lyon, with trains to Lyon, Marseille and the French Riviera, had to take the appearance of a palace. The project was entrusted to architect Marius Toudoire. He built the 64 meters clock-tower, the monumental facade of the sation and a prestigious buffet, symbol of travel, comfort and luxury. The Train Bleu, as it was called was inaugurated in 1901.
Gildings, mouldings, chandeliers, frescoes representing the cities served by the station cover the walls of the restaurant, giving it the appearance of a museum. Good classical French food. Expensive. First set menu at 49 euros.
Place Louis Armand 1st floor Gare de Lyon 75012 Paris. Paris metro: Gare de Lyon. Map.
An Art Nouveau iconic restaurant, Chartier is over 100 years old and still very much alive. The restaurant is dear to native Parisians, which might help explain why it is just as beloved by tourists from the world over. In 1896, the Bouillon Chartier was born out to provide a decent meal at a very affordable price and give customers good service in order to earn their loyalty. 50 million meals, and four owners later, the recipe is still every bit as much a success. The dishes are traditional but with a wide range of choices at frankly unbeatable prices. Enjoy leek vinaigrette, hard-boiled eggs with mayonnaise, vegetable soup or snails for starters; meat, fish or stews come next. The menu is a long one, the meals are authentic and the mains are around 10 euros. For dessert, ask for the famous home-made Chantilly cream. Chartier takes no reservations and if there’s a big line. Wait in line. It's worth it. Metro: Grands Boulevards station, line 8,9. Map. Close to Grévin Museum. Chartier opened in 2019 a second restaurant, Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse. Beautiful art nouveau decor.
The City of Lights has a rich legacy of restaurants from the Art Déco time (1910-1930), the revival time after World War I. In addition to the selected restaurant below, the list includes among others Prunier and Café du Commerce.
Well known since 1927 in Paris artistic circles and a true Art Déco masterpiece, La Coupole is the most famous Parisian brasserie in the world. In the heart of Montparnasse district. Very large room, confortable, beautiful decoration.
With passion, the chef regularly updates the menu to keep pace with the seasons. One of the most beautiful seafood arrays in all of Paris, Chicory and scallop tatin style tart with orange and a citrus white butter sauce, gorgeous sole meuniere or plancha, seafood sauerkraut, Indian-style curry with lamb. Each dish is a subtle balance of originality and tradition. Set menus at lunchtime start at 19.50 euros.
Paris metro: Metro station Vavin on line 4. Map.
The City of Lights is less famous for Art Nouveau than Barcelona. Nevertheless , the Art Nouveau restaurants are not the only examples in town of this beautiful style
The metro entrances designed by Hector Guimard have become emblematic examples of Art Nouveau. The city was also the site of the Exposition Universelle in 1900 which introduced the movement to people from across the world.
Some of the structures built for the occasion and still standing today also represent the new style, in particular, the gallery of the Grand Palais. Some people even consider the Eiffel Tower, finished in 1889 to be an Art Nouveau structure.
Located 14, rue La Fontaine, Le Castel Béranger, designed in 1898, is one of the major masterpieces of Art Nouveau in Paris. The owner of the land, Mrs. Fournier, asked Hector Guimard, still young and virtually unknown, to design a thirty-six apartment building. Hector Guimard applied the principles advocated by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879), mostly rejection of flatness and symmetry. The first two floors and the left side of the castle are made of stone; for the rest, Guimard used pale pink brick patterns and millstone.
This achievement first offended Parisians who were not used to these new forms. But finally, in six months, Mrs. Fournier rented the 36 apartments, to bourgeois seduced by the clarity and perfect convenience of the apartments. The Castel Beranger brought Hector Guimard the glory, the price of the "most beautiful facade of Paris" and many orders. When asked where he got his inspiration from, he replied from the observation of nature. The latter had according to him three principles: logic, harmony and feeling.
Hector Guimard was not the only architect to produce Art Nouveau designs in Paris. Built in 1901 by Jules Lavirotte, the seven-story building at 29 Avenue Rapp is probably the most extreme example of the ornamental delirium that Art Nouveau brought to the city. Jules Lavirotte collaborated with his friend, the ceramist Alexandre Bigot,and other fellow sculptors, to create this flamboyant and voluptuous façade, making them winners of the annual architectural frontage competition of Paris that same year.
Due to its asymmetry, organic forms and color tones, and use of modern materials, the building was very much an object of gossip at the turn of the century, unsurprising when you’re confronted with it the first time. 29 Avenue Rapp presents an extraordinary amount of erotic wit, visually translated through stone in both abstract motifs and figurative symbols that were immediately understood by fin de siecle minds.
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