{ Paris this week } - Elsass

I know, Belleville isn’t the first place your mind goes for Alsacian food, but stick with me!

We went for lunch at Elsass at the end of a long week, craving something a little more indulgent than our usual quick bite, and it turned into a proper high-end treat. It sits on the Belleville-adjacent stretch of avenue Parmentier, just a short walk from Canal Saint-Martin too, so it’s an easy one to pair with a stroll along the water afterward.

First surprise: space. Actual space! :)

If you’ve spent any time eating out in Paris, you know “cosy” is often code for “your elbow is in your neighbour’s plate.” Not here. Elsass gives you room to breathe, which somehow makes the food taste even better.

What we ate at Elsass Paris

We started with mushroom raviolis, a runny egg, and shiitake in a creamy Parmesan sauce, easily one of the best things I’ve eaten in the neighbourhood this year. The spinach on the side was barely cooked, just enough to keep its bite, and it balanced out all that richness perfectly. There was also a tarte fine with eggs and jambon, thin, savoury, and exactly the kind of dish you want to steal a bite of from someone else’s plate.

Then, the main event: a proper choucroute, fried until golden, piled with pork and boudin blanc. Comfort food dressed up for a Friday lunch.

But it was the fish that really got me. Served over a purée of petits pois, with roasted tomato and a fried basil leaf on top, it was creamy, balanced, and just the right amount of indulgent. The skin, though. The skin was thin and shatteringly crunchy, the kind of detail that tells you someone in that kitchen actually cares.

We paired it all with a white wine from Alsace, which felt like the only sensible choice alongside the entrée and the fish, especially given the whole cellar here is 100% Alsacian.

I’m a big lover of profiteroles, and this one deserves its own photoshoot: glossy warm chocolate poured over vanilla ice cream in a bed of choux pastry. Sweeeeettt babbyy Jeeeez.

And a pain perdu with berries, a vanilla ice cream, poached pear, and caramel, the kind of dessert that makes you order a coffee you didn’t need just so you can sit there a little longer.

In the kitchen is Michalis “Mike” Papafilis, Greek-born but classically trained in some seriously grand Parisian kitchens, including Yannick Alléno’s Le Meurice, Eric Fréchon’s Epicure, and La Tour d’Argent. That pedigree shows up on the plate: this isn’t folklore-Alsace with the checked tablecloths and cuckoo clocks, it’s Alsace filtered through a very precise, very Parisian gastronomic lens.

Elsass is proof that Alsacian cooking, usually associated with cosy winter bistros, works beautifully as an elegant, generous lunch. Add in the rare luxury of actual elbow room, and you’ve got an address on the Belleville edge worth crossing the city for.

Elsass, 153 avenue Parmentier, 75010, a few steps from Canal Saint-Martin. Open Thursday to Saturday for lunch and dinner, Tuesday and Wednesday for dinner only, closed Sunday and Monday. Reservations recommended.

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