Les Rupins: A Late Afternoon Bistro Lunch in Paris
Paris is famous for its late-night fine dining, and candlelit dinners. You see countless options all over internet searches and Instagram feeds. But some of our most memorable meals here haven’t happened at 9pm under white tablecloths. They’ve happened at 3pm, at a small table on the sidewalk, at a cozy neighborhood bistro we somehow found or stumbled upon.
There’s a certain feeling or vibe to the late afternoon lunch that we’ve come to love. The morning crowds have thinned out. The evening rush hasn’t yet started. There’s just enough activity around you to feel like you’re part of the city, without the noise, rush, and chaos of peak hours. Add a glass of wine, a plate of something simple and perfectly cooked, and a seat where you can watch Paris happen around you. It’s hard to imagine a better way to spend an afternoon.
We’ve been lucky enough to have many of these lunches over the years, at bistros all over the city. Most are good. A few are genuinely memorable. Les Rupins is one of the latter.
Behind the name Les Rupins
Before we get to the food, a small aside on the name itself. “Rupin” is old French slang for someone who’s rich. It’s the kind of word you might use, half-jokingly, about someone who’s clearly not hurting for money. So “Les Rupins” translates loosely to something like “The Rich Folks” or “The Well-To-Do.”
It’s really kind of ironic when you think about it, because once you sit down and see the prices, it’s not at all that kind of place. It’s a genuinely affordable, seasonally homemade, neighborhood spot with a prix fixe menu that would be hard to find for the same value back home. We don’t really know if the name is a play on words, but we can’t help but wonder if the owners were being that clever.
Les Rupins location
Les Rupins is technically located in the 10th arrondissement near Village Saint-Martin and Canal Saint-Martin. It’s just outside the northern edge of the Marais district. It’s worth the short walk and a great excuse to explore a quieter, less touristy part of Paris. It’s not far from where we usually find ourselves shopping at least a few times on every trip. For reference, it’s about a 20 minute walk and just under a mile to Merci’s flagship store, a must-visit when you’re in Paris.
Address: 35 Boulevard de Magenta (at the corner of Rue de Nancy), 75010 Paris
Phone: +33 1 53 19 97 04
Hours:
Sunday through Thursday 12:00pm to 4:00pm and 6:00pm to 11:30pm
Friday and Saturday 12:00pm to 4:00pm and 6:00pm to 12:00am
The last lunch booking is at 2:30 every day.
The meal
We arrived at Les Rupins between 2:30pm and 3:00pm, our usual time for a late lunch. It was busy enough to feel lively, yet quiet enough to actually talk and have a conversation.
For our mains:
- Salmon fillet with sauce vierge and a leek fondue.
- Plancha-seared chicken fillet with chicken jus, satay, crushed potatoes, and garden peas.
And for dessert:
- Chocolate fondant
- Piedmont hazelnut crème brûlée
Both desserts were exceptional. We also ordered coffee so we could linger a little longer before they closed for dinner. And they didn’t rush us out.
The price
Les Rupins offers a prix fixe menu that’s hard to beat: 21€ for a starter + main or main + dessert, or 25€ for the full three courses; starter, main, and dessert. For food this good, in a setting this pleasant, it’s a genuinely great deal by Paris standards, and an even better one by American standards. You’d be hard-pressed to find a three-course meal of this quality for anywhere close to $27 back home.
As in any great city, the meals you remember, especially the really good ones, end up outlasting the moment itself. A good lunch fades. A memorable one becomes a story you tell for years. It becomes a place you find yourself recommending to anyone headed to Paris, and a great reason to go back to the same spot the next time you’re in the neighborhood.
That’s Les Rupins for us. It wasn’t just a meal, it’s become a memory we’re still thinking about.
