Where fashion editors eat and drink during Paris Fashion Week

The A/W 2025 fashion cycle has almost come to an end and with the spotlight having swung from New York to London and Milan and now settling on Paris, last is certainly not least. As the Wallpaper* fashion team arrive in the City of Light, we reveal their favourite spots to refuel.

These ‘if you know, you know’ spots all embody the irrepressible chic of Paris Fashion Week while offering sanctuary from the chaos; where substance takes precedence over style, but where, of course, style is in no short supply. It is Paris, after all.

Where to eat and drink during Paris Fashion Week

Brasserie Emil

While, once upon a time, Paris was safe in the knowledge that it was the gastronomic capital of Europe, with the culinary scenes in London and elsewhere on the up, the French capital is flexing its muscles. One of the spots defending the title: Brasserie Emil, the restaurant connected to the Chateau Voltaire hotel.

The menu encompasses French classics invigorated by Mediterranean touches: yellowtail carpaccio, veal escalope al limone, rigatoni with fresh morels. Of course, you can always plump for a perfectly-executed chateaubriand. The food, prepared under chef Valentin Lambert, is not stuffy or fusty, but honest and elegant, embodying the sort of social dining that Parisians hold dear.

The surroundings are convivial: despite being perfectly placed for dipping in and out of fashion shows in the 1st arrondissement, Brasserie Emil is a far cry from the white-tableclothed dining halls of yesteryear. Staged by Festen Architecture, the restaurant curates an intimate tavern setting with coffered ceilings and period tiling.

chateauvoltaire.com

A l'Épi d'Or

A l'Épi d'Or has barely changed since the 1920s when it was one of many bistros surrounding the old Baltard food market. This is the sort of old-fashioned bistro that would delight an American tourist, with a vintage interior of moleskin banquettes and tarnished mirrored walls. The establishment falls under the dominion of restaurant kingpin Jean-François Piège and his wife Élodie, serving elevated classics like salad Niçoise, croque madame, and steak tartare with chips (you know what they say – 'if it ain’t broke...')

jeanfranoispiege-jpb.com

19 Saint Roch

19 Saint Roch is the brainchild of Pierre Touitou, son of the founder of the French fashion label APC, Jean Touitou. If Touitou the younger ever worried about living in his father’s shadow, he need not have: Pierre has become, in his own right, one of the emblematic chefs of the Parisian bistronomy scene, largely thanks to his buzzy natural wine bar, Vivant.

At sister restaurant 19 Saint Roch, black and white tiles pave the floors and an open kitchen is separated from diners by a stainless steel counter. Dishes are ravishing, both in appearance and taste, laying on big, bold presentations and flavours in dishes such as grouper with cherries and walnuts, duck with giblet salad, and the famous île flottante, where the bobbing meringue is a perfect cube (all accompanied by a robust selection of natural wine).

Touitou’s influences span from the Mediterranean to the Far East; his signature hors d’oeuvre, for example, is lo bak go – turnip cakes modelled on Chinese dim sum. While the food, like APC’s designs, relies on the minimalist elegance native to Paris, it also allows itself a rare flourish, and is less ‘brutalist’ than Touitou’s other establishments.

19saint-roch.com

Caché

If you want ‘off the beaten track’, the 20th arrondissement cul-de-sac that Caché calls home (next door to the cemetery containing the tombs of Edith Piaf and Gertrude Stein) is about as inconspicuous as it gets. On a semi-derelict alley, in a velvet-, marble- and brass-clad space that echoes the speakeasies of New York, chef Sylvain Roucayrol does one thing – fish – and does it well. Think toro tuna with ponzu, bergamot-seasoned scallop roasted in its shell, and chicory tempura with anchovy sauce; tables of more than four can also order a whole roasted fish. Wine is a big deal, with a sommelier matching drinks with dishes with pinpoint precision. Italian duo Lorenza Lenzi and Gianpaolo Polverino packed in their respective careers in fashion and advertising to open Caché, whose light-filled space was previously their studio.

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Gigi

Gigi Rigolatto occupies one of those coveted pieces of Paris real estate that boasts full-length, close-up view of the Eiffel Tower, located in the city’s ‘golden triangle’ of premium arrondissements, right above the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. Despite this, Gigi is not a tourist trap. In fact, it is discreet, intimate and inviting, named after a conceptual Milanese host who transports diners to his native region with authentic gastronomy and irrepressible charisma. The atmosphere at Gigi’s is irrepressible, with live entertainment, photogenic aperitivos and a bellini bar, not to mention a menu brimming with delicacies such as arancini and ossobuco. The interior, which is the work of architect and interior designer Hugo Toro, is soothing and modern with a touch of opulence in the form of flashes of Sienna marble and Roman travertine.

gigi-restaurant.com