Address: 17, rue de Beaujolais
75001 Paris
01 42 96 56 27
Métro: Palais Royal Musée du Louvre

The place is not a museum, but you can experience a bit of French history here where Bonaparte and Josephine, Victor Hugo, Cocteau and Malraux among others have dined, and whose names were engraved on the copper plates above the fitting red velvet benches. The menu becomes more inventive by the day, with such outstanding creations as almond-milk flan in sorrel bouillon, lightly cooked salmon terrine with eggplant aspic and basil shortbread topped with candied fennel. A true chef d'oeuvre is the milk-fed calf's sweetbreads studded with truffles and gently cooked with a broad bean jus. Great Alpine dishes are offered as well (the chef is a native of Savoie) and you may try out a double chop of farm-bred pork swaddled in smoky bacon. The Grand Véfour offers inspiring setting: carved boiserie ceilings, painted allegories under glass, snowy napery and fragile Directoire chairs. There is also a lavish wine cellar. The service is as elegant as the cosmopolitan clientele. The lunch menu here is offered for €70.