Blink, and you could miss breakfast in France. Sure, they gifted the world a breakfast icon in the croissant. Yet culinary energies are reserved for the far more important business of dinner. But brunch? That happily bridges the gap, with Parisian cafés and restaurants grasping the joys of a late, lingering breakfast of limitless culinary possibility.

So, set the alarm clock to silent, skip the chewy eggs at the hotel buffet, and discover where to enjoy a sumptuous brunch in Paris.

What to expect from a Parisian brunch?

A jolt of black coffee and a simple tartine of confiture or beloved Nutella might suffice for much of France, but cosmopolitan Paris sings a different tune. Restorative brunches found a natural home in a city that stays up late and wakes up late. Brunch is now firmly part of the French vocabulary and the capital’s thrilling culinary milieu. But you still have to hunt around for a top-tier brunch in Paris.

The first thing to note is that brunch is seen as a weekend treat. People have jobs. For some restaurants, brunch has entirely replaced Sunday lunch. Tourist locales are more amenable to weekday brunches. And brunch specialists open all week are dotted around the city. Hours can vary, but if you know where to look, you can find brunch well into the afternoon.

What’s on the menu for brunch in Paris?

The culinary gloves are off when it comes to brunch, with inventive kitchens continually bringing something new. Yet, there’s a familiar gastronomic thread to Parisian brunches. Buffets (brunch à volonté) are an ever-popular format for brunch in Paris. When skipping dinner on a Sunday, you better go big for brunch seems to be the abiding philosophy.

French traditions are mined, with plenty of sugary treats for sweet-toothed Parisians. Viennoiserie and jams abound. Omelets and croque monsieurs are promoted from lunchtime duty. You can even come across oysters, a magical hangover cure for some. World cuisine steals the stage at brunch-centric venues. Pancake stacks, fruity porridge, nutritious granolas, bagels, bacon, eggs, and salmon gravadlax; just about everything that somehow tastes better in the morning. Or early afternoon. One certainty, every entry in our pick of brunch spots in Paris does it with panache. Let’s tuck in.

The best brunch spots in Paris

1. 01

   Maison Sauvage

   Restaurant in Quartier Saint-Germain-des-Prés
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   Maison Sauvage is easy to spot. An eye-catching corner café overgrown with plants and flowers in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, a quartier filled the most famous cafés in Paris. A concise brunch menu is refreshingly balanced between sweet and indulgent, fresh and nutritious. Avocado toast, pancakes, granolas, and French favorites like ambrosial pain perdu made with brioche. Catering to lunch purists, you can also load up on finger foods and hot dishes.

   There’s a pretty terrace and two eccentrically styled floors brimming with character. It’s a seductive spot to unwind and watch the bustling quartier come to life. Branches in Villiers and Place Victor Hugo are equally homely places to enjoy brunch in Paris.

   • Prices: €€-€€€
   • Brunch hours: 7 days, 7 am to 5 pm (weekend reservations recommended)
   • Address: 5 Rue de Buci, 75006 (Saint-Germain-des-Prés)
   • Nearest Métro: Odéon (4, 10) / Mabillon (10)

   to the website
2. 02

   Café de la Paix

   Restaurant in Paris
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   The Sunday service at the dazzling Café de la Paix is everything you could want from brunch in Paris. A buffet fit for an emperor in the shadow of the magnificent Palais Garnier. Painted ceilings, unsparing gold leaf, and emblematic fluted columns chime with the beauty of the world-famous opera house opposite.

   During the week, this is a place to enjoy exceptional fine dining. But Sundays are all about the Le Grand Brunch. As you’d expect for the price, it’s a gourmand’s dream. Sushi lines up alongside homemade bread, pasta, pastries, and cheeses. All the trimmings are premium grade. A seafood table adds a touch of class. Oysters are super-fresh should you want to test their hangover cure properties. Chefs are on hand to prepare fresh dishes: eggs benedict gets the popular vote. A glass of rosé Champagne is the cherry on top. Unless you have kids. Then the children’s workshop might be the most satisfying element.

   • Prices: €€€€
   • Brunch hours: Sunday – 12.30 pm to 3.30 pm
   • Address: 5 Pl. de l’Opéra, 75009 (Opéra)
   • Nearest Métro: Opéra (3, 7, 8)

   to the website
3. 03

   Café élémentaire

   Restaurant in Quartier du Mail
   

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   Élémentaire has the cotemporary café vibe nailed. A bright, airy interior and spruce terrace lend the setting an understated style popular with lunch-goers in la Deuxième, Paris’s smallest arrondissement.

   Unlike typical brunches in Paris, there’s no buffet or à la carte. You get a fixed duo of courses (and a children’s menu,) drinks included. Pick from several enticing plates (and bowls) each round. Kick off with pancakes or œufs Bénédicte, salad or croque monsieur. Round deux brings the sugar highs. Choose from a brownie orgasmique (their words, and not entirely inaccurate), a choice of desserts, or granola. When the vacation spirit hits, add mimosas or prosecco to the bill. A weekend detour into the under-visited Bourse has never been more satisfying.

   • Prices: €€-€€€
   • Brunch hours: Saturday & Sunday – 11am to 4 pm.
   • Address: 38 Rue Léopold Bellan, 75002 (Bourse)
   • Nearest Métro: Sentier (3)

   to the website
4. 04

   Les Bariolés de Maud

   Café in Quartier du Faubourg Montmartre
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   During the week, options for a blowout brunch in Paris can be thin. Les Bariolés de Maud is lifting midweek blues with their (near) 7-day brunch menu. Known for their multi-colored grilled sandwiches, the attention-grabbing bariolés, they bring a splash of culinary color to the 9th and 11th arrondissements. A fixed menu keeps things simple with salé et sucré (savory and sweet) courses.

   Ethical sourcing brings seasonal changes. But the first round invariably puts the lunch in brunch with substantial cooked plates, primarily vegetarian. Sweet-toothed brunchers will be there for the second course. Pancakes and a choice of sugary bariolés. Rare in France, drinks are unlimited. Lemonade, iced tea, and hot chocolate included. Both locations of Les Bariolés de Maud are sunny laidback hangouts. Just what tired heads need, even if the weekend hasn’t started.

   • Prices: €€
   • Brunch hours: Generally, 10 am to 4 pm – varies by branch and day. Check online.
   • Address: 12 Rue Buffault, 75009 (Faubourg-Montmartre)
   • Nearest Métro: Cadet or Le Peletier (7)

   to the website
5. 05

   Afendi

   Restaurant in Quartier de la Porte-Saint-Denis
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   Lebanese cuisine might not be your first thought for brunch in Paris. Mediterranean street food maestros Afendi might convince you. A fully-loaded buffet à volonté of fresh and vibrant dishes fill tables. It’s an irresistible invitation to tour Lebanese flavors. Baklava and mezze nibbles headline the sweet and savory category. Yet, there’s much more: salads, houmous, falafel, Lebanese empanadas, hot plates, the combinations are seemingly endless.

   It’s all fait maison (homemade), a medley of vigorous color and fragrance. Wood beams and whitewash add a homely vibe, part Levante, part Parisian. But the menu is 100% Lebanese. A wonderful escape to fill up — and then some — when your Sunday brunch pangs call for something a little different.

   • Prices: €€-€€€
   • Brunch hours: Sundays 11:30 am-4 pm
   • Address: 84 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, 75010 (Hôpital-Saint-Louis / Canal Saint
     Martin)
   • Nearest Métro: Gare de l’Est (4, 5, 7)

   to the website
6. 06

   Café Méricourt

   Café in Quartier Saint-Ambroise
   

   Credit: Café Méricourt

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   Handily located near pretty Canal Saint Martin, Café Méricourt are brunch masters in the diverse 11th arrondissement. Their homely nook with a spiral staircase and bikes parked out front screams modern European.

   The menu is decidedly contemporary. Go for a full English or spicy shakshuka to leave no appetite for the afternoon ahead. After 11 am, congee and the delight fulsounding lamb focaccia are added to the brunch array, probably to keep confused
   lunch-goers happy.

   Walk the calories off along the canal or in the celebrity-filled Père Lachaise Cemetery nearby. Chances are you be full to bursting after enjoying a kaleidoscope of international flavors you won’t find at many brunches in Paris.

   • Prices: €€
   • Brunch hours: All week – 8.30 am (9.30 am weekends) to 4 pm (5 pm weekends)
   • Address: 22 Rue de la Folie Méricourt, 75011 (Folie-Méricourt)
   • Nearest Métro: Saint-Ambroise (9)

   to the website
7. 07

   Culottée café - Boétie

   Café in Quartier de l’Europe

   Our highlight
   

   Credits:

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   The pastry champions at Culottée café are still relatively unknown to Parisian brunch connoisseurs. They are clearly winning fans, recently opening Boétie, their second eatery. The newest branch is a warm puff of fresh air in the urbane 8th arrondissement. Nothing fancy like the Michelin-starred gastronomic temples nearby. But bright, spacious, and homely.

   The food is homely, too, with a rustic homemade quality. A couplet of set menus looks identical at first glance. Drinks, granola, and pastries are included in both. But at the heart is a savory course with croissant or pancake, scrambled egg and cream cheese, or vegetarian-friendly avocado and feta. On Sundays, pastries are upgraded to scrummy-looking cakes. It’s a gourmet jumble that could only work at brunch. And we love it!

   • Prices: €€-€€€
   • Brunch hours: Saturday & Sunday – 09.30 am to 2.30 pm
   • Address: 42 Rue de Miromesnil, 75008 (L’Europe)
   • Nearest Métro: Miromesnil (9, 13)

   to the website
8. 08

   CLINT Gare de Lyon

   Café in Quartier des Quinze-Vingts
   

   Credits: romain_photographe

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   In a sign that brunch in Paris is on the up, CLINT now has 3 Parisian venues. Our pick is near Pont d’Austerlitz. The cozy café is a cheerful gem. A covered terrace, soft colors, and subtle
   décor help you revive slowly over good food.

   Lunch and breakfast staples are woven into the well-executed menu. Pancakes, the all-pervasive avocado, and brioche perdu are present. Eggs are reimagined in numerous ways; bacon or salmon benedict wins all the Instagram uploads. There’s a lot to see nearby. Although the enticing menu might leave you full enough to forget about doing anything later in the day. A plan with minimal downsides?

   • Prices: €-€€
   • Brunch hours: All week – 8/9 am to 5/6 pm
   • Address: 18 Av. Ledru Rollin, 75012 (Quinze-Vingts)
   • Nearest Métro: Gare de Lyon (1, 14)

   to the website
9. 09

   Brasserie Maison Rouge

   Restaurant in Louvre & Les Halles
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   For all the contemporary brunch pioneers dotted over Paris, we shouldn’t forget those traditional cafés that add so much personality to the city. Maison Rouge is a timeworn corner café dripping in character, ideal for that quintessential Parisian experience.

   Even better, they put on a top-notch brunch on weekends. The sprawling buffet à volonté must be one of the biggest brunches in Paris, like a dialed-up hotel breakfast. Tables spread out around the eatery are loaded with quiches and cakes, hot foods, and cold plates. Eggs and pancakes are cooked to order, and sugary treats are plentiful. The combinations are endless, limited only by imagination and waistbelts. Squeeze onto the roomy terrace or disappear into the wood-paneled nook for warmth. And dive into an old-world banquet updated for today’s demanding brunch crowd.

   • Prices: €€-€€€
   • Brunch hours: Saturday & Sunday – 11 am to 4.30 pm
   • Address: 12 Rue de la Ferronnerie, 75001 (Les Halles)
   • Nearest Métro: Châtelet (1, 4, 7, 11, 14)

   to the website
10. 10

    L'Entente, Le British Brasserie

    Restaurant in Quartier Gaillon
    

    Credit: L'Entente, Le British Brasserie

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    L’Entente is a wildcard to end our appetite-teasing spin around the best brunches in Paris. The British brasserie has become a popular fixture on the capital’s culinary landscape, raved about for its masterful take on British classics. As you would expect from cross-Channel exiles, breakfasts are hearty and delicious. Weekends are dedicated to brunch.

    Everything — and they mean everything, condiments included — is homemade. Bacon and sausages are sourced exclusively from the Pyrenees. Essential components for their headlining English breakfast. Pillowy pancakes with dreamy butterscotch sauce, cushiony muffins, and granola. The elegant backdrop says Paris, the menu says London. It works brilliantly, another prime example of why brunch in Paris is full of gastronomic promise. You can sense there is more to come from a city that woke up late to the pleasures of merging breakfast and lunch. But the city is fast catching up with its inimitable flair.

    • Prices: €€-€€€
    • Brunch hours: Saturday & Sunday – 9 am to 3 pm
    • Address: 13 Rue Monsigny, 75002 (Opéra)
    • Nearest Métro: Quatre-Septembre (3)

    to the website