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These Brunches are SO Paris

By Paris Defined Magazine
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These Brunches are SO Paris

While the ~brunch~ scene has only hit Paris quite recently, these places have nailed the egg, waffle, and — sometimes — pancake combination. And whether your goal is to get toasted off mimosas or enjoy a stacked piece of avocado toast, these Parisian brunch spots will not disappoint. Warning for those going ‘off-script’ — in Paris, ‘brunch’ often means an all-you-can-eat cake and pastries table.…NOT what you have in mind when you get the pancakes-and-eggs tinglings. That’s how the Frenches do it, so keep in mind to seek out les foreigners for scratching that bacon itch. 

Jardin de l’Hôtel Particulier

Don’t get lost in the seman­tics: a hôtel par­ti­c­uli­er is a word for an old French town­house. The Hôtel Par­ti­c­uli­er Mont­martre is the small­est, most pri­vate hotel in Paris (which does not stop them from being luxe as heck), with an even small­er and more pri­vate garden/bar/killer brunch spot. Like the venue itself, a brunch at the Hôtel Par­ti­c­uli­er is com­pact and classy; hot bev­er­ages, a bread bas­ket, three cours­es of fan­cy dish­es rang­ing from savory to sweet, and great, neo-bistrot-type cook­ing. It’s the real deal in a gor­geous set­ting that just hap­pens to be a stone’s throw from Sacré Cœur. It’s also only avail­able through reser­va­tion, so best get on that.

ADDRESS: 23 Avenue Junot Pavil­lon D (18th arr.)

MÉTRO: Lamar­ck-Caulain­court (line 12)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Mont­martre

PRICE: €€€

HOW TO BOOK: online

NUMBER: +33 1 53 41 81 40

DEETS: hotel restau­rant, terrace

INSTAGRAM: @hotelparticuliermontmartre

Wanderlust

If you walk into Wan­der­lust for brunch one Sun­day morn­ing with an extreme case of déjà vu, it’s prob­a­bly because you par­tied there the night before. Wan­der­lust is a night­club with a pret­ty impres­sive string-light adorned, giant-green-tube graced ter­race that moon­lights (day­lights?) as a brunch spot on the side. Gor­geous­ly parked right on the Seine, Wanderlust’s offer­ings lean toward sim­ple and healthy; avo­ca­do toast, “healthy” baked goods (I’ll take it), and sim­i­lar ilk. Real­ly, it’s all about the phe­nom­e­nal set­ting and col­lect­ing any­thing you lost the night before.

ADDRESS: 32 Quai d’Auster­litz (13th arr.)

MÉTRO: Paris Auster­litz (lines 5, 10)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Gob­elins

PRICE: €€€

HOW TO BOOK: online

NUMBER: +33 6 87 39 43 55

DEETS: ter­race

INSTAGRAM: @wanderlustparis

Brasserie Auteuil

The Brasserie Auteuil might just be the vaca­tion from your vaca­tion. Trendy, spa­cious, gor­geous, and sun­ny, Brasserie Auteuil is an Ital­ian restau­rant with an idyl­lic, ivy-entan­gled rooftop ter­race (and a bright, open down­stairs din­ing room that also looks nice) that tru­ly trans­ports you miles away from the busy city. The food is clas­sic, tasty Ital­ian fare; bur­ra­ta, pas­ta, piz­za, beef, a selec­tion of Ital­ian desserts and sor­bets, and a size­able drink list from a size­able bar. Get­ting a seat in the restau­rant is easy enough, but to enjoy an after­noon on the ter­race, you must, like all well-exe­cut­ed vaca­tions, book well in advance.

ADDRESS: 78 Rue d’Au­teuil (16th arr.)

MÉTRO: Porte d’Au­teuil (line 10)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Auteuil

PRICE: €€€€

HOW TO BOOK: online

NUMBER: +33 1 40 71 11 90

DEETS: Ital­ian

INSTAGRAM: @auteuilbrasserie

La Bellevilloise

Two words: Jazz Brunch. The venue: a mul­ti­pur­pose cul­tur­al cen­ter found­ed in the mid 19th-cen­tu­ry that moon­lights as just about every­thing includ­ing a restau­rant and con­cert venue. The look: kooky as all heck. There are mis­match­ing chairs, gym-style hard­wood floors, a mas­sive sky­light that tricks you into think­ing you’re eat­ing out­side, and some­how it’s all cohe­sive and homey. The offer­ings: a buf­fet of crêpes, pan­cakes, pas­tries, fruit, fruit tarts, choco­late mousse, cheese, eggs, bacon, chick­en, quiche, French fries, you get the nev­er-end­ing point. The price: 30€ a pop for break­fast and a show. The jazz: jazzy. Worth: it.

ADDRESS: 19–21 Rue Boy­er (20th arr.)

MÉTRO: Gam­bet­ta (line 3)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Ménil­montant

PRICE: €€

HOW TO BOOK: online

NUMBER: +33 1 46 36 07 07

DEETS: jazz brunch

INSTAGRAM: @labellevilloise

The Hood

And we’ve found it, folks. The most hip­ster place for the most hip­ster meal (not that there’s any­thing wrong with that, embrace the deli­cious trendi­ness). Part Brook­lyn cof­fee house, part Asian can­teen, all style, and very cheap, The Hood blends cul­tures about as well as it blends cof­fee (very much so). In addi­tion to offer­ing a junk­yard-chic décor of old signs and old­er instru­ments ask­ing to be picked up and played (feel free), The Hood offers deli­cious Asian street food cour­tesy of their tal­ent­ed French-Viet­namese chef. Open sev­en days a week, they serve every­thing from Viet­namese fried chick­en and banh-mis to kim­chi and sweets. And of course, there’s plen­ty of cof­fee with gluten free and veg­an options as well.

ADDRESS: 80 Rue Jean-Pierre Tim­baud (11th arr.)

MÉTRO: Couronnes (line 2)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Oberkampf, Folie-Méri­court

PRICE: €€

HOW TO BOOK: online

NUMBER: +33 7 80 97 54 38

DEETS: cof­fee house, Asian can­teen, gluten free options, veg­an options

INSTAGRAM: @thehoodparis

Monsieur Bleu at Palais de Tokyo

Ok, this place has every­thing: Style. Cul­ture. A view of the Eif­fel Tow­er. Brunch. Locat­ed in the Palais de Tokyo, the largest con­tem­po­rary art muse­um in Europe, Mon­sieur Bleu embraces its art déco past with a strik­ing olive din­ing room and high vault­ed ceil­ings. It’s chic, it’s cos­mopoli­tan, and if it’s not up to your brunch stan­dard (some­how), they also have a ter­race right along the riv­er with, you guessed it, a view of the Eif­fel Tow­er (and oth­er pret­ty things in that vicin­i­ty). Muse­um cafés, no mat­ter the classi­ness, are noto­ri­ous­ly expen­sive and Mon­sieur Bleu is no excep­tion. How­ev­er, they do offer a great selec­tion of sal­ads, eggs, tarts, desserts, and gaz­pa­cho that, con­sid­er­ing the fan­cy ingre­di­ents like bour­bon vanil­la and truf­fle, are actu­al­ly kind of rea­son­able (you’re pay­ing for the view, okay? I don’t make the rules. Worth it tho).

ADDRESS: 20 Avenue de New York (16th arr.)

MÉTRO: Iéna (line 9)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Tro­cadéro

PRICE: €€€€

HOW TO BOOK: online

NUMBER: +33 1 47 20 90 47

DEETS: arts cen­ter, 16th arrondissement

Holybelly 5

Don’t be that tourist and ask for a crois­sant here, because the serv­er will look at you with dis­dain in their eyes and tell you point-blank non (true sto­ry). This is a hearty break­fast place — think Amer­i­can din­er but much less grub­by, with meals that won’t leave that greasy-pit-in-your-stom­ach feel­ing. The pan­cakes are on point, and the added bacon and maple syrup kick off that ‘brunch‑y’ feel. Remem­ber, this is a hip­ster place, so it comes com­plete with some chia pud­ding infused with car­damom, house­made gra­nola, and Flat ‘Wal­ter’ Whites (if you don’t get it, then I don’t know how to explain it to you). Try the hot sauce, because, gosh darn it, it’s good despite being made in France (the French have many qual­i­ties, but their intake of spice isn’t one of them). There are gluten-free and veg­an options, and make sure to come ear­ly because the line for week­end brunch is insane. Go dur­ing the week, or use the Skeep­it app to vir­tu­al­ly queue.

ADDRESS: 5 Rue Lucien Sam­paix (10th arr.)

MÉTRO: Jacques Bon­ser­gent (line 5), Château d’Eau (line 4)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Saint-Denis

PRICE: €€€€

HOW TO BOOK: no reser­va­tions

NUMBER: +33 1 82 28 00 80

DEETS: brunch, 10th arrondissement

INSTAGRAM: @holybellycafe

Cafe Méricourt

You’ll often see a cast iron pan pass­ing by filled to the brim with a sauce made of toma­toes, pep­pers, haris­sa, and two poached eggs nes­tled snug­gly on top. You know you’re going to order it once the smell hits you, but no need to awk­ward­ly ask your neigh­bor­ing din­er what it is because we’ll tell you—it’s chak­chou­ka, one of Cafe Méri­court’s spe­cial­ties. Anoth­er sig­na­ture is their green eggs and feta (they total­ly failed to cap­i­tal­ize on puns here), which can all be washed down with their great cof­fee. Like many places in Paris, it’s tiny, so go ear­ly or dur­ing the week. If you’re a brunch puri­tan adamant, con­vinced that it’s only meant for the week­ends, then use the Skeep­it app for vir­tu­al queu­ing. Friend­ly advice: don’t come here nurs­ing a Fri­day night hang­over, the blind­ing white decor will add to your headache.

ADDRESS: 22 Rue de la Folie Méri­court (11th arr.)

MÉTRO: Oberkampf (lines 5, 9), Saint-Ambroise (line 9), Richard Lenoir (line 5)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Oberkampf

PRICE: €€

HOW TO BOOK: online

DEETS: 11th arrondisse­ment

INSTAGRAM: @cafemericourt

immersion republique

Immersion

This place was opened by an Insta­gram influ­encer who scout­ed the best brunch­es in Paris after get­ting a taste of them while liv­ing in Australia—so you know it’s got­ta be legit after all her years of *ahem* ‘sci­en­tif­ic’ research. And eat­ing her way through thou­sands of brunch­es, have result­ed in your brunch ‘must-have’s’ like avo­ca­do toast, waf­fles, and french toast. It’s a bit too pret­ty (I like my brunch­es a lit­tle more…messy) so if look­ing for a brunch that’s super Insta­gram­ma­ble, then this is your place. Plus, it’s oppo­site Holly­bel­ly 5, so if there’s a queue there, cross the street to here. But most prob­a­bly there’ll be a line here too.

ADDRESS: 8 Rue Lucien Sam­paix (10th arr.) / 23 Rue Danielle Casano­va (1st arr.)

MÉTRO: Jacques Bon­ser­gent (line 5), Château d’Eau (line 4)

NEIGHBORHOOD: République

PRICE: €€

HOW TO BOOK: no reser­va­tions, use the Skeep­it app to get in line…whilst 

DEETS: 10th arrondisse­ment

INSTAGRAM: @immersionparis

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