Paris restaurants on the Plat Global Dining Offer – veggie option?

[Chas]

Does anyone have any specific recommendations for any of the restaurants in Paris which appear on the Amex Plat Global Dining Offer list? Key requirement is to have vaguely appropriate veggie options as a minimum (for my wife), which is very hard at the best of times anywhere in France if you want anything other than a goats cheese salad. There was one time when my wife complained about the lardons in her pasta dish having triple checked that it was veggie, only to be told by the waiter that she could pick them out….

Am thinking of doing a 1-nighter to Paris just to take advantage of this offer and to utilise a triple Eurostar points offer I have that needs booking in the next few days.

[can]

I’m in the same boat.

In the list there is Forest in Paris. I Haven’t been there but it seems to have a good location. Albeit the reviews are pretty awful.

But I am more positive about Paris high cuisine’s veggie offerings in general.

[Chas]

We haven’t been to Paris in many, many years (last NYE’s trip got cancelled by the change in Covid rules), but in general veggie options whilst eating out in France are woeful (at least in the Languedoc where we normally go as my parents have a place there).

My wife is perfectly happy with a goats cheese salad, but I think there would need to be a more imaginative veggie offering to entice her on a “restaurant run”… Are there any in particular that you’d recommend? Even if they’re not on the Plat dining offer list, it could be useful for other meals on any future trip. Those reviews of Forest are awful – I’m not even going to consider it as an option!

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[T_London]

Hello – I’m a vegetarian as well and I’ve been looking at the options to see where I’d actually be able to eat! Thinking of doing the exact same thing with another plat-holder friend – a night in Paris using Eurostar points and eating with the credit.

I haven’t been to this place but judging from the reviews it looks quite good and the menu works for me: Restaurant de l’Hôtel des Grands Boulevards. I’d personally go for their weekend buffet brunch (€38) and the lunch/dinner menus do have a couple of vegetarian options.

[can]

I lived in Paris for two years as a veggie. It was 8-9 years ago. In those years it required careful planning.

But now it is a bit better for French standards.

For high cuisine there are some options actually.

Many years ago I tried L’Arpage by breaking the bank. We had veggie and vegan tasting menu. It was wonderful. I also have David Toutain in my list. But I haven’t tried it yet. I think they do veggie with advance notice.

after your post I spent some time on the amex list. I found Coya, a Peruvian restaurant and Grand Boulevards. Maybe there is more. And I haven’t tried either of them.

I am now starting to consider Amsterdam or Berlin to avoid Parisian snobbery.

[Chas]

T_London wrote:

Hello – I’m a vegetarian as well and I’ve been looking at the options to see where I’d actually be able to eat! Thinking of doing the exact same thing with another plat-holder friend – a night in Paris using Eurostar points and eating with the credit.

I haven’t been to this place but judging from the reviews it looks quite good and the menu works for me: Restaurant de l’Hôtel des Grands Boulevards. I’d personally go for their weekend buffet brunch (€38) and the lunch/dinner menus do have a couple of vegetarian options.

Thanks – will check it out (and interestingly that same option is suggested by can below. I’ll be spending a far bit on wine though if I take a 38 euro lunch option!

[Chas]

can wrote:

I lived in Paris for two years as a veggie. It was 8-9 years ago. In those years it required careful planning.

But now it is a bit better for French standards.

For high cuisine there are some options actually.

Many years ago I tried L’Arpage by breaking the bank. We had veggie and vegan tasting menu. It was wonderful. I also have David Toutain in my list. But I haven’t tried it yet. I think they do veggie with advance notice.

after your post I spent some time on the amex list. I found Coya, a Peruvian restaurant and Grand Boulevards. Maybe there is more. And I haven’t tried either of them.

I am now starting to consider Amsterdam or Berlin to avoid Parisian snobbery.

Thanks – that’s some helpful insight. I’ll check out those options. Slightly frustratingly we were in Belgium the week before this offer launched, and it looks like we would have had a few different options to use the credit there had our trip been a week later. You win some you lose some!

[PeteM]

can wrote:

I am now starting to consider Amsterdam or Berlin to avoid Parisian snobbery.

Amsterdam has a few interesting options and will be trying one next week. I wouldn’t personally go to Berlin for the food!

[Chas]

PeteM wrote:

can wrote:

I am now starting to consider Amsterdam or Berlin to avoid Parisian snobbery.

Amsterdam has a few interesting options and will be trying one next week. I wouldn’t personally go to Berlin for the food!

Any of the Amsterdam options you’d particularly like to call out if we went there instead?

[PeteM]

Chas wrote:

Any of the Amsterdam options you’d particularly like to call out if we went there instead?

Can I come back to you w/c 8/Aug? 🙂

[Chas]

PeteM wrote:

Chas wrote:

Any of the Amsterdam options you’d particularly like to call out if we went there instead?

Can I come back to you w/c 8/Aug? 🙂

I’m going to sound very rude and needy if I say no aren’t I….?! 😉. Enjoy your trip – I look forward to reading your response when I’m lying by the pool of Domes Noruz!

[can]

I guess in Berlin I’d go to Tim Raue for a vegan lunch (not sure the dinner is worth it)
or
The Grande for a vegan “steak”.

In Amsterdam I’d try George WPA
or
Vinkeles if my wife allows me
or
Ron Gastrobar (they have a star after all)

I am not a big fan of winter in Amsterdam but, I am more inclined to it than Paris, it seems

And this is a note-to-self, too 🙂

[can]

Is there any update on this?
Has anyone tried Coya in Paris?

I am off to Paris next month.

[Chas]

Sorry, not from me – we went to Amsterdam instead of Paris in the end.

[can]

Any advice for Amsterdam? After all, I’ll still have this credit Next year 🙂

[Chas]

We ended up using our double credit (my wife has her own card) at two places, and to be honest we wouldn’t go back to either. 75% of the credit was spent at The Duchess, a 1 Michelin Star place at the W. Nothing wrong with the food, and my wife had plenty of options as a veggie, but in our opinion it wasn’t deserving of a star. Annoyingly, when we arrived we were told that the “concept” (oh oh….) was for sharing plates and the dishes would come from the kitchen when they were ready. Nowhere on the website does it explain that, and it doesn’t work when you’re dining as a couple and one is veggie and one isn’t. It struck me as a cop-out for the kitchen not having to worry about getting dishes to the pass in a co-ordinated manner. My wife had virtually finished her starter before mine arrived.

We spent the remainder of the credit at Mr Porter (the other restaurant at the W), and we didn’t have the same positive experience which Rhys had when he reviewed it. Possibly an odd choice with a veggie partner (the restaurant is a Steak restaurant), but there was an option which my wife was happy with. Food was really decent (except the Mac and cheese my wife had which was stodgy and unappetising initially – we sent it back and the replacement was a world apart). The problem was the service – in general we were treated like we should be lucky to be there (over the half the tables were empty), and the hostesses who greeted us were rude and pretentious, initially seating us at the bar above the dishwasher. After a while an English waitress asked us how we were enjoying our evening, and we politely gave some feedback. We got the impression that we weren’t the first customers to have said similar things…. Your experience might be different if you go there, but we still had a lovely time in Amsterdam.

[Aston100]

Are you veggie people confident that there won’t be cross contamination in the kitchen, or are you just happy when there isn’t meat on your plate?

[Lady London]

Personally I’d go to Italy instead. No issue being veggie there

[can]

Lady London wrote:

Personally I’d go to Italy instead. No issue being veggie there

The Amex list for Paris is poor, but, compared to a decade or two ago, Paris is now much better — including starred restaurants.

[JDB]

can wrote:

Lady London wrote:

Personally I’d go to Italy instead. No issue being veggie there

The Amex list for Paris is poor, but, compared to a decade or two ago, Paris is now much better — including starred restaurants.

The list in Paris may be better than it was, but the reality is that French cuisine is no longer the premier offering around the world. They also have zero interest in catering for vegetarians, let alone vegans. Many of the starred restaurants in Paris simply wouldn’t have those stars unless they were in Paris. You will generally eat better, for less money, in Madrid, Lima, Buenos Aires, Sydney or Tokyo. My family is very English, but we lived in Paris in the 1970’s and early 1980’s and I was lucky enough to visit the top restaurants and many ordinary restaurants in Paris which were incomparably better than their so called equivalents in London that I also visited. Many of those restaurants are still there and they together with the newer starred ones just wouldn’t cut it elsewhere and are ridiculously expensive. In the French provinces, there is actually much more innovative cooking than in Paris that remains stuck in a time warp. As @LadyLondon says, if it’s good food and value you are after, including tip top veggie dishes, Italy is a better bet; they mainly haven’t gone for the Spanish science type creativity but have been clever at blending tradition and modernity. Don’t be constrained by the Plat list!

[can]

I’m not constrained by the Plat list.
I am aware it is just publicity but I still want to take advantage.

I still believe veggie food improved a lot in Paris but requires careful planning. Clearly the Plat list doesn’t reflect it.

And yes, some cities in Italy are great for high cuisine veggie food. Last Easter when I was in Milan I tried one of the first starred veggie restaurants in the world — which was wonderful.

JDB wrote:

can wrote:

Lady London wrote:

Personally I’d go to Italy instead. No issue being veggie there

The Amex list for Paris is poor, but, compared to a decade or two ago, Paris is now much better — including starred restaurants.

The list in Paris may be better than it was, but the reality is that French cuisine is no longer the premier offering around the world. They also have zero interest in catering for vegetarians, let alone vegans. Many of the starred restaurants in Paris simply wouldn’t have those stars unless they were in Paris. You will generally eat better, for less money, in Madrid, Lima, Buenos Aires, Sydney or Tokyo. My family is very English, but we lived in Paris in the 1970’s and early 1980’s and I was lucky enough to visit the top restaurants and many ordinary restaurants in Paris which were incomparably better than their so called equivalents in London that I also visited. Many of those restaurants are still there and they together with the newer starred ones just wouldn’t cut it elsewhere and are ridiculously expensive. In the French provinces, there is actually much more innovative cooking than in Paris that remains stuck in a time warp. As @LadyLondon says, if it’s good food and value you are after, including tip top veggie dishes, Italy is a better bet; they mainly haven’t gone for the Spanish science type creativity but have been clever at blending tradition and modernity. Don’t be constrained by the Plat list!

[can]

Recently, I visited Coya.
I cannot say I was impressed. The bill was definitely too high for what it was worth. I’d be pretty upset if I was paying cash.

Food was good, drink menu is interesting. The decor and the atmosphere were great, perhaps a bit on the dandy side for my taste. We booked an early dinner and it got quite full on a week day.

I won’t be coming back, but I didn’t regret it either.

[AnotherUser]

Went to Carbon in Madrid on the amex offer. The two most memorable dishes we had there were (I think) vegetarian – grilled leeks and cheese fritters. By Madrid standards it was a bit expensive for some dishes (e.g. had a dish that included less shellfish than I’d expect for the price) but everything was well cooked. Not worth a trip to Madrid in itself, but could be a good option if looking for a place with good vegetarian options