Restaurant in Paris, France
Michelin-recognised traditional French, easy to book.
A Michelin Plate address (2024 and 2025) in Paris's 9th arrondissement serving traditional French cuisine at the €€€ tier. With a 4.7 Google rating across 279 reviews and a Star Wine List White Star, it delivers consistent quality at a price well below the starred circuit. Easy to book, honest in intent, and a sound choice for a return visit to Paris.
At the €€€ price point, Benjamin Schmitt Restaurant on Rue Catherine de la Rochefoucauld asks you to spend meaningfully but not recklessly. What you get in return is a Michelin Plate-recognised kitchen — acknowledged in both 2024 and 2025 , serving traditional French cuisine in the 9th arrondissement, one of Paris's more residential and less tourist-saturated neighbourhoods. A Google rating of 4.7 across 279 reviews adds further weight to the case: this is not a one-visit fluke but a venue with consistent form. If you've already done the grand-room €€€€ circuit , [Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/alleno-paris-au-pavillon-ledoyen), [L'Ambroisie](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/lambroisie), or [Pierre Gagnaire](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/pierre-gagnaire) , Benjamin Schmitt represents the intelligent step sideways: fewer theatrics, more honest cooking.
The Michelin Plate is not a star, but it is not nothing either. In Michelin's own language, a Plate signals a restaurant where the inspectors found food worth eating , technique present, ingredients respected, cooking coherent. Two consecutive years of that recognition, 2024 and 2025, tells you the kitchen is not coasting on a single good season. The parallel recognition from Star Wine List, published in September 2025, suggests the wine programme is being taken seriously too. For a return visitor , someone who came once and enjoyed it , these credentials are your signal that the kitchen has held its standard and the cellar is worth exploring more deliberately on a second visit.
The Star Wine List White Star designation is given to venues where the list demonstrates range, quality, and curation above the baseline. At a €€€ traditional French address, that matters: it means you are not being handed a perfunctory bistro list, and it opens up the possibility of pairing more thoughtfully if that is how you want to spend your evening. If wine is a priority, this is a more compelling room than it might first appear from the outside.
9th is not the 6th or the 8th. There are no tour groups piling in from nearby monuments, and the street-level energy on Rue Catherine de la Rochefoucauld is Parisian residential rather than Parisian performative. For diners who find the tourist-facing version of Paris exhausting, that is a feature. The neighbourhood sits between Pigalle to the north and the Opéra district to the south, which makes it accessible without being obvious. If you are staying elsewhere in the city, the location is easy enough to reach without it being the reason you booked. You book Benjamin Schmitt for the cooking, and the neighbourhood simply doesn't get in the way. For a broader sense of what else the city offers across price points, [our full Paris restaurants guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/paris) covers the range.
Traditional French cuisine as a category is not shorthand for dated. At its leading , think the approach of places like [Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/auberge-de-lill-illhaeusern-restaurant) or [Paul Bocuse - L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/paul-bocuse-lauberge-du-pont-de-collonges-collonges-au-mont-dor-restaurant) at the heritage end of the spectrum , it is a commitment to classical technique, to sauces built over time, to proteins cooked with precision rather than provocation. At Benjamin Schmitt, that framing sets expectations correctly: you are not coming for boundary-pushing experimentation. You are coming because you want French cooking executed with discipline. The Michelin Plate confirms the kitchen is doing that at a level the inspectors considered worth noting.
For a first-time visitor, that clarity of intent is reassuring. For a returning diner, it means you can explore the menu with confidence rather than caution , order what sounds interesting rather than strategising around what might or might not land. The 4.7 rating from nearly 280 reviewers suggests the kitchen's consistency extends across the menu rather than concentrating in one or two showcase dishes. Compare this to similar traditional-leaning addresses in France like [Cave à Vin & à Manger - Maison Saint-Crescent in Narbonne](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/cave-vin-manger-maison-saint-crescent-narbonne-restaurant) or [Auberge Grand'Maison in Mûr-de-Bretagne](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/auberge-grandmaison-mr-de-bretagne-restaurant) , the category rewards loyalty and repetition.
Booking difficulty here is rated easy, which at a Michelin-recognised Paris address in 2025 is genuinely useful information. You are not competing with the frantic reservation windows of starred rooms. A week's notice should be sufficient for most dates, though weekend evenings at any well-rated Paris restaurant will always move faster than midweek. If you are planning around a specific date , an anniversary, a milestone dinner , book two to three weeks out to be safe, but you are unlikely to find this one fully locked up the way a three-star address would be.
The €€€ tier in Paris currently spans roughly €60–€120 per head with wine depending on how you order. Without specific menu pricing confirmed, budget toward the upper end of that range if you intend to explore the wine list properly, given the Star Wine List recognition. For context on what else is available at nearby price points, [Le Violon d'Ingres](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/le-violon-dingres-paris-restaurant) and [Allard](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/allard-paris-restaurant) offer useful comparison points in the traditional French register.
Book Benjamin Schmitt if you want a Michelin-recognised traditional French meal in Paris without paying €€€€ or competing for a table weeks in advance. It is the right call for a returning visitor who wants to eat well in an honest room, or for someone who finds the grand-dining circuit exhausting and wants cooking over ceremony. Skip it if you are specifically hunting for modern creativity , [Kei](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/kei) or [Le Cinq at the Four Seasons George V](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/le-cinq-four-seasons-hotel-george-v) will serve that instinct better, though at a higher price. For everything else the city offers around this tier, [19.20 by Norbert Tarayre](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/1920-by-norbert-tarayre-paris-restaurant), [Anecdote](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/anecdote-paris-restaurant), and [20 Eiffel](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/20-eiffel-paris-restaurant) are worth knowing about before you finalise your Paris itinerary.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Schmitt Restaurant | Traditional Cuisine | €€€ | Easy |
| Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen | Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Kei | Contemporary French, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown |
| L'Ambroisie | French, Classic Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Le Cinq - Four Seasons Hôtel George V | French, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Pierre Gagnaire | French, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
What to weigh when choosing between Benjamin Schmitt Restaurant and alternatives.
At €€€, yes — if traditional French cooking is what you're after. Two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024 and 2025) confirm that inspectors found food worth eating here, and the 9th arrondissement address keeps you clear of tourist-inflated pricing. For the same budget, you could push toward Kei for a French-Japanese contrast, but Benjamin Schmitt is the stronger call if you want a classically grounded meal without paying €€€€.
Specific menu formats and pricing are not publicly documented for this venue, so a definitive call on tasting-menu value isn't possible here. What the Michelin Plate recognition does confirm is kitchen competence at the €€€ price point. If tasting-menu format is a firm requirement, verify the current offering directly with the restaurant before booking.
Booking difficulty here is rated easy, which is genuinely useful at a Michelin-recognised Paris address in 2025. You are not competing with a six-week waitlist. A few days' notice is likely sufficient for most dates, though weekend evenings in peak tourist season warrant booking a week ahead to be safe.
For traditional French cooking at a comparable or higher register, Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen and L'Ambroisie are the benchmark addresses, both at significantly higher price points and with much harder bookings. Kei offers a French-Japanese angle at a similar prestige tier. Pierre Gagnaire is the choice if avant-garde technique matters more than classical roots. Benjamin Schmitt is the practical pick when you want Michelin recognition at €€€ without the lead time or spend of those alternatives.
No specific dietary policy is documented in available data for this venue. Standard practice at Michelin-recognised French restaurants is to accommodate common restrictions when notified at the time of booking — check the venue's official channels at 41 Rue Catherine de la Rochefoucauld, 75009 Paris to confirm before your visit.
No dress code is explicitly documented for Benjamin Schmitt. At a Michelin Plate address in the 9th arrondissement at €€€, the reasonable expectation is neat, put-together clothing — not formal black tie, but not casual either. Think the kind of outfit you'd wear to a considered dinner with someone you want to impress.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
