Is This the Best Classic French Restaurant in Paris¿ (Honest Review)

This restaurant opened in 1935. It's been feeding the Les Halles market workers and half the celebrities in Paris. And now it's a Michelin-rated restaurant. Whoa! And it claims to have the best steak tartare in Paris. Now, here's the problem. Every iconic restaurant in Paris claimed to have the best this and the best that. But most of them are living off the reputation that they earned like, you know, 40 to 50 years ago. So the three of us, me, Colleen and Mick, are going to go and check it out for you. Mick is testing the tartare, I'm on the steak au poivre, and Colleen is judging the profiteroles au chocolat. I'm happy here. We should come here more often. Which she takes very seriously. And at the end, we'll tell you whether it deserves the title of best tartare in Paris. All right, here we go. Today, it's La Poulapeau, near Les Halles, in the heart of Paris. Hey, guys! Hey, Peter! You ready? Yeah. I'm hungry. Let's go. And I know what I want to get. Okay, let's go. So, my darling. Yes. La Poulapeau. What are you having? Fricassee de volaille. That could be nice too. So the signature dish would be the chicken in the pot. That's tournedos de filet de boeuf. Flambé au poivre. I'd go with that. You have the tartare. I have the tournedos. Tournedos. And madame? Fricassee de volaille. Excellent choice. Thank you. So here's our champagne. We're wearing our label because it's a small collaboration we did for the 90th anniversary of La Pulpo. 90 year anniversary. Oh, nice. 10% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Meunier, and the rest is... Meunier. Exactly. 75% Pinot Noir. I start every day more snobby than champagne. Thank you. Definitely. The glasses are really nice. Very nice. Yeah, very nice. What it feels like is inherited champagne glasses. Yeah. Like the thing that you got from a whole family reunion or something. Yeah, exactly. I would totally expect Grandma to have glasses like this. Yeah. Let's see. Oh! And we're getting more stuff. Oh, look at this! That's like a little thing. That's a way to serve pâté I haven't seen in a long while. Terrine, pardon. We call it pâté. Please forgive me. So what's amazing is like, yes, it's true that this place is a little more expensive than other places. Yeah. But it feels like a whole show. Like you're paying for an experience and not just food. Like it's definitely noteworthy. Yeah. So this is salt. Salt. Yes. Mick and I are both salt snobs, so this works. But when you get the salt, you have to sprinkle it like just a little bit on top of your own. Oops, that's a lot. We'll just move the, oops. I should let everybody get their own, I guess. And what is this thing? I'm not sure. I don't always get this with it, but. Mmm, it's like sour cream. Sour cream or crème fraîche? It's very strong. So it's canu cereal, something that's slightly lemon-like and very fresh, and it balances well with the fatty taste of the amole. Yes, thank you. I'm going to take a little piece of this crispy, crunchy bread, and this is exactly what it looks like. It is a bone. They cut it in half, and they grilled it, roasted it, and so we're just going to eat the bone marrow. Just like that. It looks like Bowie Booglooie. If I was going to say it very simply, it's like meat jelly. It's so good. It's just awesome. Very good, chef. Thank you, it's very, very good. It's perfect. Thank you, chef. I'm going to do it one more time, and I'm going to try it with the sauce over here. Creme fraîche with some other little ingredients. I've got cracked pepper, some citrus, some chives. The sauce has a very strong, very distinct taste, and I like it better when I can taste more of that. So I would put a little bit less of that or not use this one. But you keep filming, because I'll keep eating. It's exciting. Oh, yeah. I like it when it cracks like that. That's a really nice terrine. Yeah, and it's thick. Like, I'm glad we're sharing this. I got to tell you that. It's really dense. Yeah. And then you take a little piece of pickle like that, and a little thing like that with bread. Yeah, I like to put my pickle on top, to have, like, a perfect toast. There's more French than me. That was a big piece, and it's good. That's good terrine. Everything goes with champagne. Yeah, perfect. Those little peppers, actually, are great with the terrine. Yeah, it's really good, yeah. Are they spicy? A little bit, but it's not like extra spicy. I think Antoine would... They're not like... Oh, I wouldn't... Spicy for French people. French people don't do spicy. For the tartare, do you want it spicy or not spicy? A little spicy, yeah. Rather spicy? Yeah. Dill, corn, onion, parsley. Everything? Perfect. Oh, that looks good. Yeah, that does. This is not the first time this guy put that together. No, it's my first tartare. It's your first tartare ever? Yeah, exactly. That's the chunky steak cut style, yeah. Oh, this is getting serious here. Mmm. Holy moly. Oh, wow. I feel like you're regretting you didn't order that. You know, this is a special tartare. It's called Boeuf Tartare. It's prepared by a good-looking guy. Do you know why? Why? Because I made it. That's exactly it. It's prepared by a good-looking guy. That looks awesome. Yes, merci. Holy moly, I mean, this is serious now. This is awesome. And this is why he doesn't have a long beard. Exactly. He used to be ZZ Top before. Oh, that's a steak au poivre. Oh, merci. That is a round table. That's a round table. Amazing fricassee, steak tartare, frites, steak au poivre. We're in paradise, my darling. Yep, I'm happy here. We should come more often. We should come here more often, yeah. I have rice pilaf. I'm gonna put some of that rice pilaf on my dish. Some of my chicken fricassee. Uh-huh. Oh, with the morel mushrooms. Oh. Oh, yeah. And then... Yes? I'll just start with this piece right here. Just a nice little piece. Dark meat, just what do you like? I do, I prefer the dark meat because it's usually juicier, it has more flavor. I need a little piece of mushroom to go in there. I like everything. Oh, yeah. Merci bien. They didn't cook it for me table-side, but it's fabulous. The moment of truth of the tartare. Of the steak tartare. You know, it's one of my favorite dishes, though. This one, actually, just the smell of it. Yeah. It's really good. It has a lot of flavors. Because usually the meat has a strong taste, so you want to also have a bunch of spices to bring, like, structure and volume to... Mm-hmm. So is this the best steak tartare in Paris? Well, yeah, it's really good often in many places. Like the preparation is, you know, not always done with the correct ingredients or not always done properly. Sometimes they even buy it already made or prepared. This one was actually done right behind us. So we know that this was like literally made. So is this the best steak tartare you've ever eaten in Paris? That's what we want to know. In a restaurant? Yeah, probably. Yeah, it is. It's the best steak tartare. We have wine now coming. Oh, yay. Merci. On a ce qu'elle a. C'est sur bougogne pour les trois. C'est sur bougogne pour les trois. Thank you. Okay, super. Merci, on est bon. This is time for the moment of truth. Oh, look at that. Exactly perfect in the... Yeah, I asked it for saignant, which is rare. I'm going to see if this is the best. It looks good. Wait, wait, wait. I don't know if you can say if it's the best one. Without backup. Do you have a bite to share? Thank you. You see what she's doing? Is this piece sufficient for you? Oh my god, that is gorgeous. Okay. Do that too. This steak au poivre is like next level. The meat is so tender. The pepper is really subtle throughout the sauce. I haven't had nearly enough steak au poivre around. I don't know what I'm around for right now. That is a memorable dish. Look how perfectly cooked this is. This is next level ----, I'm sorry, but this is the best steak au poivre I've had in Paris so far. I've had a few one, but this is the best. So there are restaurants at just about every street corners in Paris. I mean from this place where we are here there probably are a hundred restaurants to choose from. Some are good, some are great, some are amazing, and some unfortunately a complete tourist trap. So we've put together a list of 125 of our favorite restaurants sorted by arrondissement, sorted by style, by price. All in one PDF guide. So scan the QR code right here on the screen or click on the link in the description and see if it's a good fit for you. We have crème brûlée. Crème brûlée. A glass of vanilla, vanilla ice cream. Yeah, a glass of vanilla. Noisette et caramélisée. Yeah, caramelized hazelnut. Profiterole vanille chocolat. Classic. And then chariot de dessert de la poule aux poudres. It's a chariot, and it has dessert on it, which makes it a chariot of dessert. Yeah. Oh, that's a chariot. I smell it. Cinnamon. Yeah. Cannelle. Cannelle. Then here you have some natural strawberries, the magnificent clafoutis. Is it Mirabelle? Mirabelle, exactly. Excellent. And so right there, the pink praline pie. Nice. What are we doing? The profiterole? I think I'm going profiterole. Profiterole three, one profiterole three. One profiterole, three spoons of coffee. Okay. On the cap, please. OK. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Attends, attends, attends. Yes, yes, I'm ready. Yes, yes, I'm ready. I don't know. Oh! Oh! Yes, yes. Yes! Ah, the crème brûlée! Yes, thank you, chef. Thank you, thank you. No, no, no, it goes in the middle. You see how she is? But here's the middle. Okay, Mick, you ready? I'm sorry. All right, let's go. Un, deux, trois. Un, deux, trois. Oh, wow. You guys are savages. It doesn't feel like vanilla ice cream. No, it's not. Well, it could be. Chin chin. Chin chin. Cheers. Chin chin. Yeah. It's crazy to me that it's just ice cream and a cream puff and chocolate sauce, but when you put it together, it tastes like so much more than that. Yeah. Oh my god. Guys, calm down. You're savages. We're not savages. If you're busy filming, that's just a job hazard. Actually, oh man, oh wow. You're filming again? Can I taste it? Thank you. Wow. Merci. The île flottante is a meringue. It's like a spongy, fluffy, white meringue. And this one, it's like a rose praline, so it's like nuts and things. And then it's a creme anglaise, so flottante is a floating island because it's swimming in that creme anglaise sauce. That's right. Yeah. Sometimes when you have a rose flavoring on things, Sometimes it can taste like soap, but this doesn't taste soapy. It's a dessert you can eat without being hungry. Yeah. Or feeling stuffed when you're done. It actually does not have any calories, according to the Richter scale. Okay. So Amélie Poulain. Amélie Poulain likes to crack. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Chin chin, darling. Chin chin, my darling. Don't be delicate about it. I don't understand a few Parisians. I like to start from the side. I don't like to start from the middle. A little. Sometimes it's a bit overcooked. Then it's like you're really chewing. And what I love in that you really don't see often is all the little black dots in the cream, which means it's real vanilla. It's real vanilla. Yeah. Yeah, all here. I am so stuffed. I'm eating it anyway. Ha ha ha ha ha! A chartreuse, it's not alcohol, darling. It's digestive. Think about it like medicine. Yeah. Merci, merci, merci, merci, merci. What is this? It's kind of like lime. It smells like medicine. Making faces because it's not good. It's strong. There's fire in that stuff. Fire. I'm not gonna let you breathe. Better now? So now the verdict about this restaurant, La Poule d'Or, an iconic restaurant in Paris that has been here almost 100 years, actually 90 years as of last year, so 91 years. Mick, you go first. Steak tartare. The experience, the preparation, the taste, and even the combination with the fries was perfect. It's the best experience I've had this far. Prove them wrong. I mean, if you think there's a better place... And I'll go and try it. Yeah. So for me, steak au poivre has often been my go-to dish when we go to Paris. This is what I miss the most when I live in the U.S., the quality of the beef, the quality of the sauce and the French fries. I am going to declare that this was the best steak au poivre experience and taste. that I've had in Paris to date. And I've had some excellence. I will put Le Bon Georges out there. I would put La Bourse de la Vie out there as excellent choices. But I'm just going to say in 2026, La Poule d'Or was definitely the best one. And the profiterole? I think in the past we said that Le Chabot is extraordinary for profiteroles. Yeah. Yeah. But I'll say that this one is better. Okay. Yeah. Wow. That's the thing, you know, it's not the cheapest restaurant in Paris. If you want a cheap restaurant, go to a Bouillon. But for a restaurant where you're coming out to enjoy something and you're ready to pay for a nice meal and a nice experience, definitely this is a top list. Yeah, I mean, the service experience, the staff, even the decor. It's so classic French. Completely classic. And that's what I love with the place. Yeah.