Locals, political journalists and and numerous members of the nearby French Senate all mingle at Le Tournon, a Left Bank mainstay for nearly a century. Here, you’ll find a cosy atmosphere and classic French dishes confidently prepared by young chef Adrien Flottes (28 years old!) who has helped make the restaurant an essential spot again…

The area of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, around our hotels, is known for its historic cafés – Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots, Brasserie Lipp and… Le Tournon, which has a rich history of being frequented by artists and intellectuals for nearly a century. Expats used to flock to the place, James Baldwin was a regular and Duke Ellington’s jazz band had its Parisian start here. The full story (in French) can be read here.

We chose to lunch at Le Tournon as we liked its classic, dignified interior and its solid and short menu (hinting that everything is made on site) of French cuisine. The subdued palette of colours (essentially black, white and beige, with a touch of electric blue velvet), the wooden tables and the classic tiled floor all screamed dependable, trustworthy Parisian restaurant.

Large mirrors on a couple of the walls help open up what is actually a fairly small space, although as soon as the weather improves, the terrace will almost double the number of seats and allow visitors to admire the recently renovated street, to which flowerbeds and six trees were recently added. There’s also a giant clock at the rear of the room so that senators can keep an eye on the time during interviews without seeming distracted!

The place feels nostalgic and serious, with the mood lightened by the smiling and sincere staff. You could almost be in a scene from Emily in Paris.

And now it was time to look at the menu!

There’s no fixed price menu at lunchtime, but you’ll undoubtedly find something to your liking on the short list of French cuisine classics, including an organic boiled egg and mayonnaise, snails, onion soup and a lentil salad (our choice of starter to share, served with a poached egg and very tart vinaigrette).

For the main course you’ll find a classic croque-monsieur (first choice for us), beef tartare, a bavette (flank steak), a duck magret, sea bass filet, une supreme of chicken and a vegetarian gratin (our other choice, with a side plate of chips please!)

The croque-monsieur was very well prepared, thankfully without the ghastly béchamel sauce that a lot of places seem to add, but accompanied by a small, perfectly seasoned green salad. The gruyere was well grilled and the ensemble went down a treat.

As for the vegetarian gratin (sliced vegetables topped with grilled cheese), there certainly was a lot of cheese (not really a surprise), but the vegetables all seemed fresh. Only the aubergine gave us a little trouble, as it was one thick slice, not quite cooked and a little bitter.

Both portions were really quite generous, and after half a started each plus a main dish, we were both feeling pretty full.

There’s always space for dessert, right? We made room for one chocolate mousse, which was very light and came with what seemed a few grains of sugar on top. These however turned out to be… salt! A genius move that helped reinforce the flavour of the chocolate.

We’ve described the food at Le Tournon as ‘classics’, but by that we don not mean that they are run-of-the-mill or unimpressive. Le Tournon is a ‘classic’ restaurant in the sense of hearty and dependable, with ‘classic’ interior design’ sporting discrete elegance, and a menus of ‘classics’, i.e. the best of French cuisine that everyone should taste at least once.

The fact that the place is so packed is proof that the food is good, and between lunch and dinner you can still come by for a hot drink or glass of wine, people watch and perhaps even get a glimpse of a French celebrity – that’s the sort of place Le Tournon is.

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Le Tournon (here) is open weekdays only for lunch and dinner

Online booking here

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