With all the money we’ve saved during this pandemic year by not going to restaurants, maybe we can afford to treat ourselves to holiday meals from some of Paris’s leading restaurants, many of which are offering their specialties for pick up (“click and collect”) and/or delivery, some already prepared and others ready to cook.
Chef Gregory Marchand‘s Frenchie empire has three complete menus (€52-€65) for pickup or delivery, one of them a vegetarian option. The meaty ones involve truffles and fatted hen with plenty of other goodies, including the intriguing pressé of foie gras with truffles, Jerusalem artichokes and hazelnuts or pecans, and a dessert of chestnut and yuzu millefeuille.
The restaurants of the late, great chef Paul Bocuse are offering a number of prepared specialties to cook at home (pickup only) this year, including macaroni and cheese dressed up with foie gras (€26 for four persons) and the rather more festive stuffed Bresse (the best) turkey with Albufera (involving foie gras, butter, cream, brandy) stuffing, gratin of cardoons and braised chestnuts (€245 for the whole bird).
Another classic house, the Maison Rostang, has gone all out with a holiday menu starting with an amuse-bouche, foll0wed by pressé de foie gras, artichoke and black truffles; lobster à la royale; Bresse chicken with truffles and truffled purée; a citrusy büche; and a bottle of champagne (€150, for two people).
Chef Bruno Doucet‘s La Régalade‘s holiday meal (€39 per person) starts with scallop ceviche and continues with a Landes chicken cooked with vin jaune and morels. Three creamy desserts are flavored with chocolate, hazelnuts and caramelized almonds.
The Boucherie Grégoire, owned by leading chef/butcher Antonin Bonnet of the restaurant Quinsou, wIll deliver a free-range turkey for 10 ready to pop into the oven, along with chestnut stuffing, sauce au pain grillé (sauce made with toast) and jus.
For an Italian-style Christmas meal at reasonable prices (three courses for around €40 per person), try Au Nouveau Nez. Its brasato al Barolo (beef braised in red wine) accompanied by puréed potatoes with chestnuts and a poached pear, sounds like a tempting main course.
Those on a tight budget would be hard-pressed to find a better deal than that offered by Bouillon Pigalle and Bouillon République. The holiday menu (€18 per person) includes truffled egg mayonnaise, a stuffed chicken with jus and chestnuts, and chocolate bûche for dessert.
For a high-end bûche, chef Stéphanie Le Quellec and pastry chef Pierre Chirac of the two-star restaurant La Scène have collaborated on their first bûche de Noël (€120), made with Tahitian vanilla, roasted Madagascar vanilla nd almond praline, with caramel-striped icing. For pickup only on December 24. Check out this week’s Press Review for more bûche suggestions.
If you don’t see your favorite restaurant here, never fear, just go to its website – chances are they have come up with a takeout menu for the holidays – or scroll through the Tiptoque site, which offers pickup up and delivery from dozens of fine restaurants. Don’t forget that there will be an extra charge for delivery. Bon appétit et bonne fêtes!