Honestly, I don’t want to tell you what the most amazing restaurant in the world is. If I tried to get a reservation, and you booked it up and let’s just suppose I was in Paris for one night only and couldn’t get in, there would be trouble.
My coworkers and I attended a fabric show in Paris last year for work. None of us had attended this show for a while. We are very fortunate we get to experience some amazing places.
But, let me tell you we work. At a show you can do a good 5-10 miles of walking, talking to hundreds of people and looking at probably thousands of pieces of fabric all in one day.
On our second or third night, in a taxi on the way back to the hotel, we wanted to find a small restaurant with a home cooked meal like mom would make. As we left the hotel to go to our “usual” place for dinner, we spotted it.
Across the street was a man standing outside of a door, under an awning which read “Chez Marcel”. We walked over and asked, “is this a restaurant”. He said “yes, it’s amazing, you have to go”. Well, that’s all we needed to hear. We couldn’t get a table for that night, but they had one the next night, our last night in Paris. YES!
A jovial man greeted us as we walked into the 30-seat restaurant. Ornately decorated with a bar which extended halfway down the right side and tables lined the rest of the walls. There was so much to look at. The kitchen was directly in the back. We sat down and the experience began. Recommendations were made, but why not just go with iconic specialties. Artichoke, sautéed mushrooms, escargot (for some), small clams, potatoes, coq au vin and finally mousse au chocolat, SUPERBE. The service, top notch. The story telling and time spent with customers, Ritz Carlton level. The owner proceeded to sit and talk to us, giving us the history of the restaurant, free tastes of a variety of delicious drinks and foods.
It felt like a guilty pleasure. After 8 hours walking the show, we sat here for 3 hours enjoying French cooking, cozy ambiance, and exhilarating conversation. The three of us found our WOMENT at Chez Marcel.
I cannot wait to go back! I can taste the chocolate mousse now.
We were supposed to go to Paris a week from today. So much for that! Being eternally optimistic, we’ve moved all our reservations back exactly one year. Chez Marcel has been added to the list of “must sees”! Merci, mes chers amis!