Le Maquis
At Le Maquis in April 2023, Time Out France's critic ate pollock in a tempura
as light as a squadron of clouds,over flamed leeks on a quilt of house béarnaise.1
Why go
Paul Boudier and Albert Touton met at Le Chateaubriand. After a few trips to Italy that stayed with them, they took over Le Maquis on rue des Cloys in 2019 (Fulgurances). That year Le Fooding and Mastercard's Best New Bistro award went to them by public vote, with this from the judges: In the classic sense of the term, the French bistro never should have been anything other than this.
(Taste of France)
Go at lunch on a weekday. The MICHELIN inspectors call it unbeatable value for money at lunchtime
in the 2026 guide (MICHELIN Guide). Time Out put the room eighth among the city's classic bistros in March 2025 for a set lunch that offers knockout dishes with disarming simplicity, clockwork precision, and clever pairings
(Time Out). Gilles Pudlowski found it at 18 euros in October 2019 and called it a gift
(c'est cadeau
) (Gilles Pudlowski). Antoine Besse of Time Out France ate it at the counter in April 2023, gave it five stars out of five and summed it up as low profile in the decor, high level on the plate
(Low profile dans le décorum, mais high level dans l'assiette
) (Time Out France).
The Italy shows. Alexander Lobrano of Eater writes that many of the dishes have a Southern French or Italian accent, including superb house-made pastas, ceviche with shavings of poutargue (bottarga), and pork belly cooked in cider with roasted fennel
(Eater).
Heidi Ellison of Paris Update was cooler after a lunch in June 2019: a solid, better-than-average neighborhood bistro. I wouldn't hesitate to return to if I were in the area, but I wouldn't go out of my way to go there again.
(Paris Update) Fulgurances came away that autumn saying, We had almost forgotten that a restaurant can be a party
(On avait presque oublié qu'un restaurant peut être une fête
) (Fulgurances).
Order this / avoid
Lunch runs on dishes of the day and the dinner menu changes every week, so these are dishes the kitchen has sent before, with the year they were eaten.51
- On the menu: the cockles. Antoine Besse, Time Out France, April 2023:
flamboyant cockles fired up by an Asian broth and Sichuan pepper
(de flamboyantes coques énervées par un bouillon asiate et du poivre de Sichuan
).1 - On the menu: candied mandarin cake. Besse, April 2023:
soft as a senator's seat
(moelleux comme un siège de sénateur
).1 - On the menu: mussels. Heidi Ellison, Paris Update, June 2019:
a lovely, buttery white-wine sauce spiked with little hits of chili pepper.
7 - On the menu: Parmesan agnolotti in watercress velouté. Le Fooding, 2019:
sinfully good.
9 - Drink: natural wine from a short list that Besse said
knows how to behave on price
(sait se tenir sur les tarifs
) in April 2023, with Guillaume Lavie's muscadet at 40 euros and Jean Foillard's Morgon at 49.1
What locals & experts say
- Paul Boudier, from his days as Iñaki Aizpitarte's sous-chef at Le Chateaubriand, quoted by Fulgurances in 2019:
Cooking isn't meant to be boring
(La cuisine, c'est pas fait pour s'emmerder
).6 - Alexander Lobrano, Eater, 2026:
this laidback neighborhood bistro pulls a discerning crowd of locals and word-of-mouth customers from other parts of Paris.
4 - Gilles Pudlowski, October 2019, with his complaint:
The service is a little short, admittedly, and the Beaujolais should be served cooler
(Le service est, certes, peu court, le beaujolais devrait être servi plus frais
).8
Good to know
- Days: lunch and dinner Tuesday to Friday, shut Saturday to Monday (MICHELIN Guide). It also opened on Saturdays in 2023, so check before a weekend (Time Out France).
- Dinner was a five-course set menu at 60 euros that changed every week, in April 2023.1
- Phone: 01 42 58 87 82.6
- Right address: 53 rue des Cloys. Another Le Maquis trades on rue Caulaincourt.7
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Local tongue rec for bistro and timeout; looks solid."
Verdict
should-visit — Take a weekday lunch at the counter on rue des Cloys. Two cooks from Le Chateaubriand run a cheap set lunch that Time Out France gave five stars in April 2023. The 2026 MICHELIN guide still lists the room.