Chez Benoit, the starry Parisian eating house
Chez Benoit is one of those c entenarias food houses that the Michelin, always generous when playing in its field, awards a star. Moreover, it presumes to be the only Parisian bistro with such an award.
An establishment founded in 1912 by Benoît Maltray in the image and likeness of a Lyonnais bouchon that soon became the favorite of the artists who populated the surroundings of the old market of Les Halles.
A story of comings and goings, setbacks and rebirths, until in 2005 Alain Ducasse incorporated it into his empire . Many feared that his arrival would be a Loss of identity and a standardization of the culinary offer but, somehow, it has managed keep its essence and has given it a patina of "civilized" rusticity, always at Parisian prices.
There they continue, emblematic dishes executed with the same idiosyncrasy and dignity as always.
The lubricious, almost obscene portions of salted butter . The hypercaloric slices of brioche that accompany the foie gras terrine, the birds that are carved – not very glamorously but with precision – in the room and the snails bubbling in a lagoon of melted butter.
Benoit is still a great place to soak up French food culture. The cuisine is solid and forceful, in abundant portions and with very few concessions to modernity.
Pâté en croûte, Lucullus de langue cake, a cassoulet that would feed Napoleon's Grande Armée and a veau tête with willow ravigote which requires standing up and singing the Marseillaise.
For dessert, the excellent tarte tatin, Savarin with Armagnac or the house profiteroles with chocolate . More than likely your stomach will explode with satisfaction.
The upstairs dining room is to Benoit what the Elba Island to France , exile, that is, try to ask for a table in the traditional dining room with the usual privileged ones.
The wine list follows that same obvious and overpriced line and the service, as it corresponds in Paris , is efficient, somewhat rushed and brusque. A wonderful place.