Vegan Foodie in Paris? Here’s the Michelin-Star Experience That’s Worth Talking About

If you’re traveling to Paris and want to eat plant-based but upscale, put Arpège on your list. It’s France’s first three star Michelin plant-based restaurant. Meat, fish, and dairy have been removed from the menu. It’s not cheap. It’s not casual. And it’s not trying to be anything other than what it is.

Chef Alain Passard has been a chef for over 35 years. He was known for roasting meat (in fact you can still see some of his dishes on the website). He built his name on roasting. Then he had what he calls an awakening. He went back to the garden, and everything changed. He decided vegetables would be the focus. Grown in his own soil, treated as the main event.

He calls vegetables plant flesh. This philosophy translates into dishes that treat vegetables with the same reverence and technique traditionally reserved for traditional proteins. This isn’t a plant-based restaurant trying to impress meat eaters. It’s a full tasting experience built around what’s fresh, in season, and grown with intention. Dishes from the current menu include:

• • Papillote of zucchini with mint

• • Tomato carpaccio in mosaic style

• • Garden sushi with edible flowers

• • Gaspacho with tomato and harissa

• • Roasted ratatouille from the chef’s grand cru vegetables

• • Tartare of beetroot with herbs and floral accents

• • Peaches and cherries flambéed with raspberry

• • Tomato confit stuffed with twelve flavors

• • Housemade sorbets and garden ice creams

The full tasting menu is $457 USD. The 8-course lunch is $283 USD. This isn’t everyday food. It’s not meant to be. But it’s in the same category as what Eleven Madison Park did in New York, except this shift happened quietly, at the highest level, without compromise and without apology.

If you eat plant-based, going to Arpège will be worth the splurge. The Chef alone would be motivation to go but now that his restaurant is plant-based why wouldn’t you go? Eating gourmet plant-based food in Paris? Hell yeah! You can hit the markets or pull à la carte side dishes off meat-heavy French menus, but this is different. This would be a highlight and Arpège has officially been added to the Vegan Travel Foodie bucket list.

Chef Passard, if you’re reading this I’d love an invite, contact me!