Magnolia
Sexy small plates at night + a simply perfect lunch
We’ve rated Magnolia as GREAT with three stars * * *
You can find all our rankings in the Restaurant Index
Magnolia has stormed onto the Paris scene and become a new favorite for those who love to sip and share small plates. The lighting is low and sexy. The 70s inspired design, with velvet orange banquettes and a red lacquered bathroom, is beautiful.
Maxime Vaudin is a welcoming presence in the dining room, and a reminder of what a difference a great host can make.
At night, and as is true for most small-plates places, the portions are dainty. You might snag a bite or two of the oeufs mayo with anchovy before dragging a few radishes through a puddle of citrus spiked tapanade (below).
You might race your dining partner to get the last forkful of marinated amberjack with blood orange and crunchy fennel, perhaps wishing you’d ordered two of these instead of the stodgy partridge croquette (below).
Even with dessert, you’re not going to be overly sated- and that’s a welcome feeling for over-fed travelers, for hot weather diners with diminished appetites, and for people on a date. Magnolia is a beautiful space in which to eat a reasonable amount.
That sentiment runs counter to what I’d read about Magnolia before visiting - that it was supposed to be the owner’s take on St. John, the renowned London restaurant.
It’s true that chef Jack Bosco is British. We encountered his cooking at the previously reviewed and now closed restaurants Robert (where he was cooking a lot of offal) and À la Vierge de la Réunion.
In two visits, I never saw any evidence of that nose-to-tail spirit, nor anything that could be easily referenced as British. So I’ll ignore the writers who are tagging this as sort of gastro pub and just call it delicious.
The wine list is affordably priced with many bottles in the 30s and 40s. The most expensive bottle I saw was just over 100€. A fun night for me would start with wine and nibbles at Magnolia, followed by an after-dinner drink at one of the many nearby cocktail bars. My personal favorite is Sister Midnight.
But Magnolia is also great during the day. I returned more recently to take advantage of their lunch special, offering two courses for 24€ or three for 29€. There was a vegetarian option for both courses, and every dish was delicious, including:
Looking back on those lunch pics I remember the satisfaction of walking out of Magnolia and feeling like I’d just had a perfect simple meal. It felt like something that your chef friend might cook for you on their day off - if you were really, really lucky.
We’ve included Magnolia among our 50 Favorite Restaurants in Paris.
MAGNOLIA
5 Rue Henry Monnier, 75009
Open Thursday & Friday for lunch & dinner
Open Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday for dinner only
Closed Sunday & Monday
Reservations online or at +33 1 86 04 45 37
STILL SEARCHING?
Our restaurant index organizes the restaurants we’ve anonymously visited since 2021 by location and ranks them all as:
GREAT * * *
GOOD * *
FINE *
NOT RECOMMENDED
Our Restaurant Index
On this page you’ll find a ranking of all the Paris restaurants that we’ve visited anonymously since the pandemic reopening (more than 260 at the latest count).
Meg - I subscribed but dont know how to access your substack posts. It always asks me to upgrade my subscription can you please help me.
Ahhhh, I ate there last night and I was so disappointed! The service was just fine but the food was seriously just ok. I had their special with was a tiny tail of a crustacean with huge claws that surprisingly had almost no meat within. The tail meat was a single bite.
I observed a similar issue with the table to my right. The appetizer was white asparagus covered with some sauce. Extremely tough and fibrous,some could not be chewed and swallowed.
Normally I would not say anything on here, but since there’s all this hype, I thought I would write this observation.