Restaurant in Paris, France
Serious Breton food, no tasting-menu tax.
Chez Michel is a Michelin Plate-recognised bistro in Paris's 10th arrondissement serving Breton and traditional French cooking at €€ prices. Chef Thierry Breton's sourcing-led approach gives the menu a regional specificity that is rare at this price point. Open weekdays only; easy to book and worth it for a focused, mid-range Paris dinner with genuine identity.
Chez Michel earns a firm recommendation for anyone who wants to eat serious Breton cooking in Paris without committing to a €€€€ tasting menu. The kitchen runs on traditional technique and regionally sourced ingredients, the price stays accessible at €€, and the Michelin Plate recognition two years running (2024 and 2025) confirms the cooking is consistent and considered. If you are visiting Paris with one mid-range dinner slot and want something with actual regional identity rather than generic French bistro output, this is a strong choice. Book it.
Chez Michel sits at 10 Rue de Belzunce in the 10th arrondissement, a neighbourhood that rewards guests willing to look beyond the obvious tourist circuits. The room itself is compact and close-set in the way Paris bistros often are, with a spatial intimacy that makes it better suited to pairs or small groups than to large tables. Do not arrive expecting a grand dining room — the proportions are modest, the seating is dense, and the atmosphere comes from the food and the regulars rather than from architectural spectacle. For a second visit, the counter or window seats are worth requesting specifically; they offer a better vantage point over the room without feeling crowded.
The editorial angle that matters most at Chez Michel is sourcing. Chef Thierry Breton has built the menu around Breton produce, which means the kitchen is operating with a degree of regional specificity that is genuinely unusual at this price point in Paris. Brittany supplies some of France's leading shellfish, buckwheat, lamb, and butter, and a menu anchored to that larder has a clarity of identity that many Paris bistros at twice the price cannot claim. The seasonal shifts in what the kitchen offers are driven by what is actually available from those sources, not by a marketing calendar. That is a meaningful distinction, and it is the reason the cooking here tends to feel grounded rather than generic.
For returning guests, the practical advice is to focus on whatever the kitchen is doing with seafood and buckwheat-based preparations — these are the categories where Breton sourcing gives Chez Michel a genuine competitive edge over a standard Paris bistro. If you ate here once and ordered broadly, a second visit is the moment to go narrower and deeper into those specific areas.
The Opinionated About Dining ranking places Chez Michel at #443 in Europe's casual category for 2025, a slight movement from #397 in 2024, but both rankings sit within a competitive band that confirms the restaurant holds its position in a field of strong regional contenders. The Google rating of 4.4 across 741 reviews adds a broader validation layer: this is not a venue coasting on a single good year.
Service hours follow a tight pattern from Monday through Friday, with lunch seatings at 12:00 to 13:30 and dinner from 19:00 to 21:30. The restaurant is closed on Saturday and Sunday. Those windows are narrow , particularly the 90-minute lunch service , so plan accordingly. Arriving late to lunch is a real risk at a room this size.
The 10th arrondissement location means Chez Michel is easy to reach from central Paris by metro, putting it within range as a standalone dinner destination rather than requiring you to build a neighbourhood itinerary around it. For context on what else to do in the area, see our full Paris restaurants guide, our full Paris hotels guide, our full Paris bars guide, our full Paris wineries guide, and our full Paris experiences guide.
If you are building a France itinerary that extends beyond Paris, the regional sourcing philosophy at Chez Michel sits in interesting contrast to how other French chefs handle terroir at higher price points. Flocons de Sel in Megève, Mirazur in Menton, Bras in Laguiole, and Troisgros in Ouches all operate sourcing-led kitchens at the highest level, and Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern and Paul Bocuse in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or offer a longer view of how regional French cooking has been codified over decades. For Paris-specific comparisons within the contemporary French scene, Arpège is the reference point for ingredient-led cooking at a higher price tier, and Kei shows what happens when French technique meets Japanese sourcing discipline. For the international context on what tightly sourced seafood menus can achieve at the leading end, Le Bernardin in New York City and Atomix are useful reference points.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chez Michel | €€ | Easy | — |
| Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Kei | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| L'Ambroisie | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Le Cinq - Four Seasons Hôtel George V | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Pierre Gagnaire | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Paris for this tier.
It works well for a low-key celebration where the food matters more than the setting. Chez Michel holds a Michelin Plate and an OAD Casual Europe ranking (#443 in 2025), so the cooking carries enough weight to mark an occasion — but the €€ price point and casual 10th arrondissement address make it a poor fit if you need a grand-room atmosphere. For a milestone dinner with full ceremony, Le Cinq or L'Ambroisie are the appropriate step up.
Book at least two weeks out for weekday lunch or dinner; the restaurant runs a tight lunch window (12:00–13:30) and closes Saturday and Sunday, which compresses available slots. Breton-focused restaurants with OAD recognition in Paris fill quickly, so don't leave it to the week of travel. Dinner service ends at 21:30, so factor that in if you're arriving from another side of the city.
Yes, at €€ for OAD-ranked, Michelin Plate-level Breton cooking, the value proposition is straightforward. You're getting chef Thierry Breton's regional cooking at a fraction of what comparable culinary credentials cost elsewhere in Paris. If you want to spend more, Pierre Gagnaire or Alléno Paris will oblige — but for the price-to-quality ratio, Chez Michel is hard to argue against.
The kitchen focuses on Breton and traditional French cuisine, so expect hearty, regionally anchored plates rather than contemporary tasting-menu formats. The address is 10 Rue de Belzunce in the 10th arrondissement, away from the tourist-heavy centre, which is part of why it stays under the radar. Lunch runs only 90 minutes (12:00–13:30), so don't arrive expecting a leisurely two-hour sitting — and note it's closed all weekend.
Reasonably so. The casual format and €€ pricing make it a comfortable solo lunch stop, and there's no pressure of a long tasting-menu commitment. A weekday lunch slot is your most practical option, given the short 90-minute service window and the weekend closure. Solo diners who want more counter-seat energy might find a Parisian bistro with bar seating a better fit, but Chez Michel won't feel awkward for one.
For Breton or traditional French cooking at a similar price, look at other OAD Casual Europe-ranked bistros in Paris. If you want to spend more for a formal experience, Kei bridges French technique with Japanese precision at a mid-luxury price point, while L'Ambroisie and Le Cinq represent the top end of classical French dining. Pierre Gagnaire and Alléno Paris are the go-to options if a full modernist tasting menu is the goal — but none of them match Chez Michel's value at €€.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
