Le Bon Georges

45 rue Saint-Georges,75009 Paris

This is comfort. The menu reads like a love letter to actual farming: beef that comes from animals who were passionately raised, vegetables that haven’t seen the inside of a plastic crate, and you taste it immediately. Of all the places on TML, this might be the one that is as much a “local insiders” place as it is a culinary destination.

The tartare is the calling card, hand-cut, not minced into oblivion, seasoned with the kind of restraint that suggests the chef trusts both the meat and the diner. If you’re a vegetarian, stay home. This place respects their meats and their meat-eaters. Whatever’s on that day is the heart of the place. A perfectly seared onglet, iron-rich and blushing, comes with jus so deep and glossy you could fall into it. A pork plate that will make you forget your name, and a whole roast chicken that arrives like a ritual: charred, crackling, and impossibly tender once the knife does its slow, inevitable work. This is not food for people who fear flavor. The desserts are also wonderful. We had the tarte aux figues (seen here), because it was in season (obviously), but whatever is on offer won’t disappoint.