Brasserie Lutetia is a Paris institution, in the charming Saint-Germain-des-Prés district, on the corner of boulevard Raspail and rue de Sèvres. This is the restaurant with déhor (which in Paris optimistically calls “terrasse”) of one of the most beautiful hotels in the Ville Lumière, the only large hotel on the Left Bank, inaugurated in 1910 in Art Deco style and which still today, looking at it from far away, with its iconic white façade, it embodies the unattainable spirit of the Belle Époque.
The Brasserie Lutetia is a place where for more than a century Parisians and the city’s many visitors have loved to meet in the spirit of luxury flânerie, of the art-de-vivre of this unique city. The interior is vast and built in a single environment that revolves around the hotel courtyard. The environment is rationalist, the mise-en-places essential and contemporary. The cuisine is that of a high-level brasserie: it therefore offers classic French and international dishes enhanced by a little imagination. In this case the chef has been, since 2018, the expert Patrick Charvet, who gives a convincing personal touch to the solid brasserie menu. Among his creations there is certainly the “Homard Frites”, a lobster flambéed in cognac and nappa with a bisque maison, as well as the “Sole meunière, câpres et fines herbes”, which reinterprets sole.
However, I drew on the à la carte menu, which is quite vast and divided into sections different from those we are used to. There is a good choice of cold starters, including the half-cooked duck foie gras with seasonal fruit and its toasts, the leek truffle vinaigrette and the Salade Juliette, which can be had with tuna or half a Maine lobster. Anyone who wants can draw on the so-called “coquillages card”, which offers a wide assortment of seafood and oysters, even with pre-composed platters: ranging from the tasting of six oysters (Plates de Cancale, Utah Beach n° 3, Fin de Claires n°3) to the monumental Plait Large which for 169 euros offers a triumphal assortment of oysters, molluscs, scampi and lobsters.
But let’s go back to the classic menu: among the hot entrées we have the traditional onion soup, a French classic, the Burgundy Escargot with butter and parsley, the fish soup with croutons. The main courses are divided between fish and meat: I opted for a roasted turbot with shellfish and broccoli which turned out to be magnificently meaty. However, I also had the opportunity to taste some seafood linguine (defined as “like in Portofino”) which turned out to be much better cooked than I expected. After all, I never order pasta dishes abroad but in this case I was able to taste it from the plate of one of my companions. The tuna fillet tataki with sesame also proved to be excellent, a perfect example of a type of Japanese cooking excellently transported to Europe. I couldn’t taste the meats but the Suprême of chicken spinach, mushrooms and parmesan and the Beef fillet, pepper sauce and apple that I saw around the other tables are definitely attractive. School side dishes and very traditional desserts, such as the Tarte au citron, the exotic Pavlova (really beautiful) and the Profiteroles. The wine list is fair, not too monumental and naturally based on the great French appellations. The service was the only sore point of the evening, a little gruff and without much predisposition to the story. But my experience teaches me that abroad, professionalism in the dining room often does not rhyme with warmth.
Brasserie Lutetia is open every day for lunch and dinner. From Sunday to Wednesday in the evening a tasting menu is available with an entrée, a main course and a dessert, each with a choice of three proposals, for 68 euros.