Bistrot des Tournelles
The mash beside the roast chicken at Bistrot des Tournelles starts with potatoes that Geoffroy Langella bakes first.4
Why go
Édouard Vermynck and Geoffroy Langella opened this bistro at the edge of the Marais in 2022. Vermynck told Le Fooding why: We wanted to open a traditional bistro, to make the things we liked to eat in restaurants but couldn't find anymore. Simple dishes with two or three things on the plate
(On voulait ouvrir un bistrot traditionnel, pour faire des choses qu'on aimait manger au restaurant mais qu'on ne retrouvait plus. Des plats simples avec deux ou trois éléments dans l'assiette
). Langella, a butcher's son, always starts his prep with the meat juices: I look first for the taste of the meat, without too many aromatics
(Je recherche d'abord le goût de la viande, sans mettre trop d'aromates
). The Fooding guide named it the best bistro of 2023 (Le Fooding).
Order the daube or the cordon bleu. Langella cooks the daube from a family recipe he got from his father (Europe 1). Emily Monaco of The Infatuation wrote in March 2026 that daube de boeuf, the Provençal answer to beef stew, is olive-studded gravy perfection.
Of the cordon bleu, she wrote that it oozes a lava flow of melted comté when you pierce it with your knife. (Watch out for hot cheese oil geysers!)
(The Infatuation)
Chefs eat here. Bertrand Grébaut of Septime recommended it for the wine list of natural wines from the Beaujolais region – and their steak au poivre.
The chef Jessica Yang called it our favorite traditional French spot. The best fries in Paris
(Service95, 2024). Tatiana Levha of Le Servan, in January 2023: It's very classic food – meat with French fries, very French – and very well made.
(MICHELIN Guide)
Out-of-towners have found it too. David Lebovitz says it has become quite popular with out-of-towners (and influencers), and some find the prices too steep
(David Lebovitz). Alexander Lobrano of Eater warns, As long as you accept it'll be noisy, you'll have a great time
(Eater). It stayed open in August 2026, when Le Fooding sent readers there for dream œufs mayo, a decadent croque-monsieur with comté and Prince de Paris ham… Madness!
(œufs mayo comme on en rêve, décadent croque-monsieur au comté et jambon Prince de Paris… Une folie !
) (Le Fooding)
Order this / avoid
- Order: the roast chicken with mash, 26 euros in September 2022. Aitor Alfonso, Time Out:
the dense and voluptuous cumulus cloud of mashed potatoes (€26). This isn't just a side dish – this is the stuff of dreams.
4 - Order: the andouillette (chitterling sausage), 25 euros in 2022. Alfonso:
a comforting artisanal andouillette sausage accompanied by a heap of excellent matchstick fries, arguably the highlight of the evening.
48 - Order: the daube, over mash. Heidi Ellison, Paris Update, September 2022:
tender chunks of beef in a rich, dark sauce with olives was served atop magnificent mashed potatoes.
5 - Order: the beef tenderloin au poivre. Emily Monaco, March 2026: it
swims in creamy au poivre sauce.
1 - Order: the chocolate mousse. Alexander Lobrano, Eater, 2026:
the chocolate mousse is required.
8 - Avoid: the aubergine millefeuille. Alfonso found it
resembling a cold lasagne with two thin layers that could have used a third
in 2022. Ellison, the same year:less exciting than I thought it would be.
Le Fooding called itincredible!
the same year.456 - Drink: Beaujolais, from the region the owner's parents come from. Jean Foillard's Morgon was 48 euros a bottle in 2022 (Le Fooding). Tatiana Levha drank
a very good fleurie from Dutraive
(MICHELIN Guide).
What locals & experts say
- Catherine Hanly, Hot Dinners, December 2024:
The chicken cordon bleu is a heart attack on a plate, in the nicest possible way.
9 - Aitor Alfonso, Time Out, 2022, on the ceps:
a small pan of buttery, garlicky sautéed ceps (at €21, it's not a cheap dish).
4
Good to know
- Book a month ahead. Emily Monaco found in March 2026 that the free tables are mostly the last slot of the second service, at 10:45pm. Walk-ins get only the few bar seats inside the door.1
- Dinner only, in two services. It opened Tuesday to Sunday in 2022.84
- Prices in 2022: 37 to 58 euros a head à la carte.6
- Come hungry. Lobrano says every main comes with fries and the portions are huge.8
- Phone: 01 57 40 99 96.4
Verdict
should-visit — Book a month out, or take the late table, for the Paris bistro that three chefs send people to. Have the daube or the cordon bleu, then split a chocolate mousse. Expect a loud room and a bill that some find too high.