Soupe à l'oignon is the slow-cooked onion soup that the Les Halles market porters of Paris finished at 03:00 with toasted baguette and gratinated Gruyère. The dish defines French winter.
Onion soup, in its garlic-stock-and-bread peasant form, predates Paris by centuries. The Parisian version with melted cheese on top emerged in the markets of Les Halles in the 18th century, where the night porters and traders ate a fortifying late bowl to warm up before the dawn close. Au Pied de Cochon, founded 1947 at the Les Halles edge, kept the porter tradition alive past the 1969 market move to Rungis. The dish requires 45 to 60 minutes of patient onion caramelisation in butter, a beef or chicken stock, a splash of dry white wine, and a generous gratinated finish under the broiler. Every bistro in the city now serves a version; few earn it.
4 editor picks for Soupe à l'oignon in Paris, ranked by editorial score. All Paris signature dishes · Soupe à l'oignon across every city.
Le Comptoir du Relais ★ 4.4
6e · 9 Carrefour de l'Odéon, 75006 Paris
Yves Camdeborde's Le Comptoir du Relais in Paris helped invent the term bistronomie in the 1990s and still serves the dining-room version every weeknight.
Au Pied de Cochon ★ 4.2
6 Rue Coquillière, 75001 Paris
Au Pied de Cochon in Paris is the 24/7 Les Halles brasserie that fed market porters from 1947 and still pours onion soup at 03:00. Trotters, oysters, foie gras.
Bouillon Chartier ★ 4.0
9e · 7 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009 Paris
Bouillon Chartier has run a workers' canteen of a brasserie in Paris's 9e since 1896. The menu still puts œuf mayonnaise on for less than €3.
Polidor ★ 3.9
6e · 41 Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, 75006 Paris
Polidor in Paris has run a Latin-Quarter bistro at the same address since 1845. The carte still holds bœuf bourguignon, blanquette de veau, tarte tatin.