Eating out in Paris - Auberge Bressane, Le Bon Georges and Juveniles

An explanation for why so many restaurants in Paris look the same. Plus three worth seeking out for paid subscribers.

Have you ever wondered why so many restaurants in Paris not only serve the same food, wine and coffee but have the same look with similar awnings, signs and furniture? It's because of the Auvergnat mafia who control the restaurant trade in Paris.

This was explained to me by Oliver Woodhead from L'Entente, which I looked at last week. The Auvergne was traditionally one of the poorest and most heavily wooded parts of France. It's a mountainous area in the middle of France - the definition of la France profonde. In the days before gas and electricity, men from Auvergne would travel to Paris to sell charcoal to restaurants. Once they had sold all their wares, they would buy coffee to sell to inns they stayed at on the journey home. Gradually they began buying up first the places en route and eventually establishments in the capital itself. They lent money to each other and slowly came to dominate the Parisian restaurant trade. They even had their own newspaper, published from 1882 to 2019, called L'Auvergnat de Paris.

The Auvergnats moved away from running restaurants to supplying them, which they still do to this day. So, according to Woodhead, if you're starting out, the easiest thing to do is simply handle everything through your local Auvergnat, who will provide not only the food and wine but also the décor - which is why so many Paris bistros look the same and all serve the dreaded Café Richard.

Furthermore, many restaurants in Paris, like those in London, are part of chains. Standards are slipping, as documented in Edward Chisholm's A Waiter in Paris, with prepared food replacing sauces made from scratch and the ping of the microwave becoming increasingly common.

There are, however, plenty of good independents in Paris (you can read my review of Le Baratin here). Here are a few of my favourites:

Auberge Bressane, 16 Av. de la Motte-Picquet, 7ème

My wife and I have occasionally made some bad ordering choices in Paris. There was the time when we ordered a Châteaubriand between us for lunch which was so rare that we were like a couple of lions who had just devoured a zebra. We were meant to attend a party that evening but lasted one drink before we had to return to our hotel to sleep off the meat.

Something similar happened at the Auberge Bressane. This place came from a recommendation by Nicholas Lander on Jancis Robinson's website. With its faux-medievalism, it feels like the sort of restaurant in which George Orwell might have worked in Down and Out in Paris and London. You can't move for fleur-de-lys, and the cooking is classic old-school French food with the emphasis on cream.

We arrived straight off the train, intending to have a long boozy dinner. We began with a glass of house champagne, and then to start I had a crayfish gratin - the tails cooked in cream and grilled with cheese. A bubbling bowl of gout, essentially. Absolutely delicious. Slightly to the disappointment of the waiter, we ordered just a half bottle of wine, Côte de Brouilly from the peerless Château Thivin, but I was certain we'd be hitting the Armagnac or Rivesaltes at the end of the meal.

When the mains arrived, however, it was clear we had both made a terrible mistake.