5 Famous Brasseries in Paris Featured In the Movies (Recreate a Little Hollywood Magic In the City of Light)

Paris is a favorite with movie directors, and it’s easy to see why. It has all the makings of the perfect romcom, and I’m a sucker for enjoying a virtual tour of my favorite city through the eyes of a Hollywood movie. I mean, what’s not to love? 

And although we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to places to eat in Paris, it’s even more fun when you get to go to a restaurant featured in a movie. Who wouldn’t want to sit where the likes of Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, and Jack Nicholson have sat? 

Add to that the history, decor, and stories behind these great restaurants, and you really do have all the makings of a great Hollywood plot. It’s time for some lights, camera, and action in Paris as we shine the spotlight on five famous eateries in Paris from the movies.

5 Famous Brasseries in Paris Featured In the Movies

These five restaurants have all earned their place on screen. Some were chosen for their look, others for their history, and one was picked because Quentin Tarantino spotted it in someone else’s movie. All of them are still open and worth booking a table for two.

Le Grand Vefour, Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris is one of my favorite movies set in Paris. Le Grand Vefour is the restaurant where Gil (Owen Wilson) has lunch with his fiancée (Rachel McAdams) and her parents in this wonderful Woody Allen film.

Le Grand Vefour opened in 1784 as the Café de Chartres, tucked into the arcades of the Palais Royal in the 1st arrondissement. When Jean Véfour took it over during the Restoration period, the name changed and stuck.

Napoleon and Josephine were regulars, Victor Hugo had his own table, and Colette, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Jean Cocteau all ate here. The restaurant keeps plaques at the tables of its most famous guests, which means you could theoretically sit where Napoleon once sat and order the tasting menu.

It holds two Michelin stars and has done for many years under chef Guy Martin. The ceiling panels are original, dating back to the 18th century. The whole place is classified as a historic monument.

Practical note: this is fine dining with prices to match. Book well in advance.

Address: 17 rue de Beaujolais, 75001 Paris.

Le Grand Colbert, Something’s Gotta Give

Most of this movie isn’t set in Paris, but at the end, the characters play out their final scenes there, and this is the restaurant where Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves, and Diane Keaton share a dinner in Nancy Meyers’ 2003 romantic comedy, Something’s Gotta Give. It is the scene most people remember because it is set inside the actual restaurant, not a backlot version.

After the movie came out, tourists started calling ahead asking to reserve the specific table where the stars sat. It catapulted it into the spotlight.

The building behind Le Grand Colbert has its own very old history. It was originally a private mansion, built in 1637 for Guillaume Bautru, Comte de Serrant, using plans by the architect Louis Le Vau. In 1652, it was sold to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, minister to Louis XIV. The restaurant is named after him.

It became a restaurant in 1900 and was classified as a historic monument in 1985, when the Bibliothèque nationale de France oversaw a full restoration. The mosaics on the floor, the carved pilasters, the six-meter walls, and the Pompeian-style paintings are all original.

The menu is classic brasserie: oysters and shellfish, roast chicken, sole meunière, and beef dishes. The roast chicken is what Diane Keaton’s character raves about in the movie. Order it, and you’ll understand why.

Address: 2 Rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris.

Bistrot La Renaissance, Inglourious Basterds

Most of Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 film was shot in Germany at the Babelsberg Studios near Potsdam. But there is one real Paris location, and it is this one.

It is the scene early in the film where Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent) is sitting alone in a bistro reading, and a persistent German soldier, Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl), spots her through the window. Tarantino discovered the place while watching Claude Chabrol’s 1984 film The Blood of Others, which was also filmed there. He found that the bistro had barely changed in the years between. 

Bistrot La Renaissance opened in 1904 at the corner of Rue Championnet and Rue du Poteau in the 18th arrondissement. The original fixtures are still there: the Lemière lamp with beveled mirrors, the white marble bar, and the red bench seating in the back. It is one of those places that seems to exist slightly outside of time.

It has appeared in more than ten films over the years. Long before Tarantino, Jean-Paul Belmondo filmed scenes there. It is also known, less glamorously but perhaps more usefully, for serving very good food at reasonable prices.

Address: 112 Rue Championnet, 75018 Paris. Métro: Jules Joffrin.

Café des Deux Moulins, Amélie

If you have seen the movie Amélie, you already know this café. It is where Audrey Tautou’s character works as a waitress. It is the place she arranged to meet the person she has fallen for. It is, essentially, the emotional center of the whole film.

The Café des Deux Moulins sits at 15 Rue Lepic in Montmartre, at the junction with Rue Cauchois. It takes its name from the two windmills nearby: the Moulin Rouge and the Moulin de la Galette. The café has been operating since the early 20th century and was officially registered in 1964.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director, filmed most of the movie’s interior scenes in a studio in Cologne, Germany. But the café itself is real, and it is where much of the exterior and street-level filming took place. After the film came out in 2001, it became one of the most visited spots in Montmartre almost overnight.

One thing worth knowing: the tobacco counter you see in the film, where Georgette works, was removed in 2002 when the café changed ownership. The space looks slightly different now. Also worth knowing: reviews are mixed on the food. The atmosphere is still there, and it is still worth going for a coffee and a look around. But go with realistic expectations.

Address: 15 Rue Lepic, 75018 Paris.

Au Pied de Cochon, Julie and Julia

In Nora Ephron’s 2009 film, Meryl Streep plays Julia Child during her years in Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Au Pied de Cochon features as one of the places Julia frequents, particularly for their onion soup.

It is a good choice on the part of the filmmakers because the connection is historically accurate. Julia Child really did love this brasserie.

Au Pied de Cochon opened in 1947, right next to Les Halles, which was the wholesale food market at the center of Paris. Owner Clément Blanc had the idea of keeping it open around the clock to feed market workers who started their days before dawn. It was the first restaurant in Paris to operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Brigitte Bardot, Serge Gainsbourg, François Mitterrand, and Alfred Hitchcock have all eaten here at some point. In 1977, Jacques Chirac, then Mayor of Paris, became a regular.

The food has always been anchored in what the name promises: pork. Pied de cochon is pig’s trotter, and it has been on the menu since day one, served grilled with béarnaise sauce. The onion soup with a gratin crust is the other signature dish, and it is exactly what you want at 2 in the morning after a long evening in Paris.

Les Halles market closed and moved to Rungis in the 1970s, but the restaurant stayed put. It is still at 6 Rue Coquillière in the 1st arrondissement, still serving through the night, still worth going to when everywhere else has closed.