the wine bars, long lunches, small plates and one very good picnic we would genuinely recommend to a friend.
We’re big believers in only sharing wines we’d genuinely recommend to a friend, so we thought we’d do the same with the places we drink them.
Paris felt like a good place to start.
Some of these we planned, most we stumbled upon, and all of them helped convince us that maybe we should just move to Paris. This isn’t meant to be a definitive guide to the best wine bars in Paris, because we were only there for a few days and there are approximately one million more places we still want to try. It is just everywhere we drank and loved enough to tell you about afterwards.
There were candlelit wine bars, bottles chosen for us because we couldn’t decide, very good small plates, one long lunch that turned into drinks, and a picnic beneath the Eiffel Tower that was probably a little bit clichéd but still completely worth doing.
So, if you have a trip coming up—or you are just looking for another reason to book one—these are the places we would send you.
chez yvette, a parisian bistro in the 9th
Chez Yvette was the kind of place we hoped we would find in Paris without really knowing what we were looking for.
We walked in for lunch and ended up staying much longer than planned, which is usually a very good sign. It feels like a proper old Parisian bistro: little tables close together, lots happening around you, homemade French food and the sort of atmosphere that makes ordering another glass feel like the obvious thing to do.
We had steak and frites, because sometimes you are in Paris and there is simply no need to overcomplicate things. We also tried a few orange wines after asking the staff what they thought we should have. This became a bit of a theme throughout the trip. We love a wine list, but sometimes the best way to order is to tell someone what you normally like and let them choose the bottle they are excited about.
The recommendations were very good. The steak and frites were exactly what we wanted. And there was a resident cat wandering around the restaurant, which obviously made the whole thing better.
Chez Yvette describes itself as a place for long Sundays and tables where people put the world to rights, and that is genuinely how it feels. It is relaxed enough for a spontaneous lunch but still feels like somewhere you would be very pleased to have booked for dinner. Go hungry, ask them what they are pouring, and don’t plan anything too tightly afterwards.
go for: a long bistro lunch, steak and frites, orange wine and the cat.
rojo, a candlelit wine bar in the haut marais
Rojo was one we had saved before the trip, mainly because it looked so beautiful, and thankfully it wasn’t one of those places that is all interior and no substance.
It is tucked away in the Haut Marais, just around the corner from Marché des Enfants Rouges. From the outside, the huge wooden doorway makes it feel slightly dramatic before you have even walked in. Inside it is dark, warm and candlelit, with red details, small tables and the sort of lighting that makes everyone look good. Very romantic without feeling too formal about it.
We sat upstairs first, but there is also a cellar downstairs that is worth having a look at. It feels like the kind of place you could go for one drink before dinner and then realise, a few hours later, that you never actually left.
They do wine, cocktails and small plates. We went for wine and let the evening carry on from there. It is lively, but not in the way that makes it impossible to have a conversation, and polished without losing that slightly hidden-away feeling.
Rojo is walk-in only, so we would go early if you really want a table—especially on a Friday or Saturday. It opens in the afternoon, which also makes it a very good option if your version of sightseeing involves stopping for wine at 4pm. Ours usually does.
go for: a date, a late-afternoon glass that turns into an evening, and one of the prettiest rooms we drank in.
de saison, a wine bar and bottle shop in sentier
De Saison was one of our favourite accidental finds.
We came across it on Rue de Damiette, a tiny pedestrian street in Sentier, and stopped because it looked exactly like somewhere we wanted to be. Part wine bar, part bottle shop, with bottles lining the walls and a few seats in the window—it was quiet, unfussy and very easy to settle into.
There wasn’t a big, intimidating wine-list moment. We told the staff what we liked, they chose for us, and that was that. This is honestly one of our favourite ways to drink wine when travelling. You end up trying something you probably wouldn’t have picked from a list, and you get to hear why the person pouring it loves it.
We sat by the window, drank what they brought over and ordered tacos. Not necessarily the meal we expected to be talking about from Paris, but very good and exactly right at the time.
This is the place on the list we would send you to when you want a genuinely nice glass of wine without needing it to become a whole occasion. It can be a quick stop, but the combination of the little street, the window seats and someone else choosing the bottle makes it quite easy to stay.
De Saison also serves seasonal plates and sharing dishes in the evening, so you could make more of it than we did. But we liked it precisely because it was so simple: walk in, find a seat, ask what they recommend and see what arrives.
go for: a quieter glass, staff recommendations and the joy of stumbling across somewhere you immediately want to save.
frenchie bar à vins, sharing plates on rue du nil
Frenchie Bar à Vins was the busiest stop on our list, but in a good way.
It is opposite the original Frenchie restaurant on Rue du Nil and is much more relaxed: no reservations, small tables, seats at the counter and plates made for sharing. We arrived early, which we would definitely recommend, because it filled up quickly and stayed full.
The whole room had that slightly chaotic, energetic feeling that makes you want to order more food and keep the night going. People were squeezed around high tables, dishes were coming out constantly, and there was always another bottle being opened somewhere. It is not the place for a quiet, candlelit conversation—that is what Rojo is for—but it is very good when you want the evening to feel busy and fun.
The food was one of the main reasons to go. Everything is designed to share, so our advice is to order more than you initially think you need and let the table fill up. The menu changes, which means we can’t responsibly tell you to order one exact dish forever, but that is also part of the appeal. Choose a few things, ask about the wine, and don’t get too attached to a plan.
There is a wide selection by the glass, so it is a good place to try a few different wines rather than committing immediately to one bottle. Although, realistically, we are rarely against committing to the bottle.
It is open every evening and doesn’t take reservations. Get there close to opening if it is high on your list. If there is a queue, we would wait—within reason, obviously—but earlier is the move.
go for: excellent sharing plates, a busy room and the kind of dinner that feels like the start of a night out.
amatxi, basque food and natural wine in the 11th
Amatxi was our favourite meal of the trip.
It is a small Basque restaurant in the 11th, and the whole experience felt personal from the moment we sat down. There wasn’t really a conventional menu-and-wine-list situation. The staff talked us through what they were cooking, what had changed and what they thought we should have. We gave them very little useful direction and trusted them with the rest.
This is exactly the sort of place we love: small, warm, a little bit loud once it fills up, and run by people who actually want to tell you about what is on the table. Nothing felt overly explained or formal. It was simply, “this is what we’re making, this is what you should drink with it,” and they were right.
We had a series of plates to share and the duck was the standout. It was the dish we talked about afterwards and the one we would order again without even pretending to consider the alternatives. The wines were chosen for us too, based on what we were eating and the very broad description of what we normally like.
If you find wine lists overwhelming—or if you just enjoy not being responsible for every decision—let them take over. It is much more fun. The whole reason wine is interesting is that there is always another bottle, place or producer you would never have found on your own.
Unlike a few of the walk-in wine bars on this list, we would book Amatxi. It is small, and this is the one place we would be genuinely upset to miss on a return trip.
go for: the duck, Basque sharing plates, natural wine and letting the staff decide your evening for you.
a wine picnic beneath the eiffel tower
This obviously isn’t a wine bar, but it deserves a place on the list.
One evening we went to a local caviste, chose a few bottles, picked up garlic butter, tomatoes, bread and anything else that looked good, and took everything to the grass beneath the Eiffel Tower.
Was it an original idea? Absolutely not. Would we still recommend it to every friend going to Paris? Yes.
There is something very nice about having one evening with no booking, no menu and nowhere else you need to be. We opened a bottle of sparkling wine, ate everything straight from the bags and watched the tower light up. It was simple, slightly chaotic and one of our favourite parts of the trip.
The caviste is the important part. Rather than grabbing the first recognisable bottle from a supermarket, find a small wine shop near where you are staying and ask for help. Tell them where you are going, what food you have and roughly what you want to spend. You will probably leave with something more interesting and a story to go with it.
Bring proper cups if you are more organised than us, something warm for when the sun goes down, and enough bread for the amount of garlic butter you think you need. Then add more bread.
go for: sunset, sparkling wine and a night that requires almost no planning.
if you only have time for a few
We don’t really think you can compare all of these because they suit completely different moods, but this is what we would tell a friend who was trying to narrow the list down:
-
for our favourite meal: Amatxi
-
for a romantic glass of wine: Rojo
-
for a long Parisian lunch: Chez Yvette
-
for sharing plates and a lively night: Frenchie Bar à Vins
-
for a quiet, unplanned stop: De Saison
-
for the memory: a picnic beneath the Eiffel Tower
The real answer is to leave a little room in the itinerary. Save the places you really don’t want to miss, book Amatxi, arrive early for Frenchie, and then let yourself stumble across the rest. Some of our favourite moments in Paris happened because we saw a few bottles in a window and decided to go in.
Which is probably how wine should be, really. A recommendation from someone you trust, a bottle you haven’t tried before, and enough time to stay for another glass.
Save this for your next trip x
0 comments