Le Chartier entranceway

Night 1
Le Chartier ($$)
Le Chartier is in the Monmartre district of Paris on a winding street full of shops and cafés and is easy enough to get to from the Grand Boulevards Metro station in the 9th District (9eme Arrondissement). Once inside the doors it feels like an old boarding school dining hall with rows and rows of tables all seating 6 or so people. The beauty of this place for the solo traveller is that you have to sit with other people — no choice. The night I was there I sat with a couple from Paris, a professor from Paris who looked straight out of some old French Movie, a hair product salesman from Barcelona, and a restauranteur from Corsica. None of us spoke that much of each other’s language, but somehow we had an excellent time trying to get to know about each other over dinner. The food was alright, and reasonably priced, but the highlight was meeting a bunch of interesting people both local and travellers.

View of the kitchen from the bar at L'Atelier Joël Robuchon

Night 2
L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon ($$$$)
The restaurant concept behind the original Paris L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon restaurant was so popular that he has now opened similar restaurants in Tokyo, New York, London, and Las Vegas. Joël Robuchon, one of the world’s most successful chefs and mentor to Gordon Ramsay, decided to open an upscale modern restaurant that only contained bar seating. The Paris location is one of the top ranked restaurants in the world on the 50 best list.

Everything centres around the kitchen much like a sushi bar, but think darker and sexier. The food was absolutely to die for, and I’m honestly not entirely sure what the names of everything I ate were, but I ordered the menu degustation (discovery menu) which was an amazing selection of smaller feature portions.

Blurry pic view of the kitchen

The service was absolutely top notch, and the wines recommended by the sommelier all paired exceptionally well. The lady next to me ordered a dessert which was some type of ice cream inside a metallic looking chocolate ball. The waiter pours hot chocolate sauce on top of it and the metallica ball melts gracefully around the ice cream. Next time I’m ordering that. My meal was entirely over-indulgent both in food and Euros, but worth every penny. If you are looking for an upscale Paris dining experience without the stuffy atmosphere and having to sit in the corner at a table by yourself, I highly recommend the chic L’Atelier Joël Robuchon. Oh, and don’t go here if you are short on money this month. A one person meal with wine by the glass could easily set you back around $150-$200 USD and beyond that the sky is the limit.

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