The shiny castle - Le Chateaubriand, Paris

Dear Friends,

First of all, I hope all of you had or are having great holidays?!

I didn’t really enjoyed holidays myself this since I am working now in Zürich and settled down in a new flat.

Today I want to talk to you about a restaurant I visited early June in Paris with my parents and their friends: Le Chateaubriand.

I just learned last week that this restaurant was famous for a really long as one of Paris best Italian restaurant. But, a few years ago, a young and creative chef named Inaki Aizpitarte took over and transformed it in one of the first Bitronomical restaurant of the capital. Since then, Le Chateaubriand evolved a lot and it is now ranked n°9 in the San Pellegrino ranking oft he best Restaurant in the World!

But the concept is still the same: a chilled-out and relaxed Bistrot atmosphere, a compulsory menu (which price is between 45 and 60€ depending of the ingredients and that you can adapt if you have allergies/dislikes...), a very nice and efficient service and some wine you never heard oft hat are simply amazing!

I warn you directly, you need to love proximity with strangers o go there! You are basically park at your table like a sardine in a can and you should better hope that your neighbours are having a great cultural conversation cause you are going to hear every bits and pieces of whether you want it or not.

But then...the food...is just amazing! The chef is just always surprising you with great texture, new ways of cooking ingredients or original associations of tastes!

We started of with some delicious „amuses-bouches“ including homemade salty „chouquette“, a consommé with couteaux and crazy mushrooms.

Then, it went on with „pousse-pied“, a special seashells that is also called „Sepce“ in Portugal and that I really love ! It is quite hard to find, especially good ones and you can imagine how happy I was when the plate arrived.

The rest oft he dishes were mainly oriented towards the sea and we tasted great pieces of Tuna, of Daurade and other delicacies. All these dishes were really original and the sides were only here to put the product in the spotlight.

Of course, it was not a 3* restaurant (like Troisgros for example), but it doesn’t pretend to be one. It is a place were you were you enjoy a great cuisine with your friends. My parents, who were a bit reluctant at first when I told them I’d booked Le Chateaubriand were really happy and conquered in the end.

The place is a little bit out-centred (it is in the 11th) but it is really worth the trip!

I recommend you to go there with a little group of friends (6per maximum, ideally 4) and tob e patient because you need to call them 2 weeks in advance to book (I called them for 2h non-stop to finally get an answer) for a nice diner.

You should also go there a bit early and enjoy glass of wine tot he restaurant’s “tender”: Le Dauphin, a white marble Parisian bar designed by Rem Koolhass, which serves fantastic Tapas.

From Zürich with love,

Mr. Nico

Le Chateaubriand

129 avenue Parmentier

75011 Paris

+33 1 43 57 45 95

For more details about this restaurant, don’t hesitate to check out the restaurant’s page on my partner’s website Itaste.