Le Cinq Mars is the kind of Paris room a gallerist takes a writer to: red banquettes, chalkboard, an endive salad with Roquefort and walnuts that has not.
Signature: Endive salad with Roquefort, Pot-au-feu
Order: The endive Roquefort salad and pot-au-feu in winter; vitello tonnato in summer.
Tip: Lunch is open to walk-ins; dinner books a week ahead, two weeks for a weekend.
Tomy Gousset's Tomy & Co in Paris's 7e earned a Michelin star in 2018 and still runs the seasonal kitchen everyone in the embassy quarter books for a long.
Signature: Sweetbreads, Pithivier of game
Order: Sweetbreads in winter, pithivier of game in autumn, the soufflé to finish.
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. The five-course tasting at €98 is the deal of the room on weeknights.
Le Bistrot Paris in the 7e runs a classic carte where the lunch menu rotates daily and dinner stays close to the Lyonnais playbook. A regulars' room.
Signature: Steak tartare, Profiteroles
Order: Steak tartare with a poached egg, profiteroles with hot chocolate sauce.
Tip: The lunch menu at €24 is the city's most under-rated set, including coffee and a small carafe.
Le Petit Cler in Paris sits on Rue Cler, the embassy market street, and runs an all-day bistro carte of croque-monsieur, steak frites and Lyonnais salads.
Signature: Croque-monsieur, Steak frites
Order: Croque-monsieur at lunch, steak frites at dinner, a glass of Brouilly.
Tip: The terrace catches sun until 19:00 in summer; the back room is the warmer winter pick.