Bofinger

Bofinger has poured beer and served Alsatian cooking near Place de la Bastille since 1864, making it the oldest brasserie of its kind in Paris and one of the city's most photographed dining rooms. The main hall is a genuine Belle Époque set piece: a vast stained-glass dome arches over the room, brass fittings and dark polished wood frame mirrored walls, and the overall effect recalls the brasserie's late-nineteenth-century origins as a beer hall for Alsatian refugees who had fled the German annexation of their region after the Franco-Prussian War. That Alsatian identity persists directly in the menu, most obviously in the choucroute garnie — a mountain of sauerkraut braised in white wine and juniper, topped with an assortment of sausages, ham, and pork, served with boiled potatoes — which remains the dish most associated with the address and one of the most reliable examples of the dish in central Paris. The seafood side of the menu is equally serious: a raw bar turns out platters of oysters, shrimp, whelks, and crab that rival dedicated seafood brasseries elsewhere in the city, and the plateau de fruits de mer is a popular choice for celebratory dinners. Classic brasserie desserts, including a well-executed baba au rhum, close out a menu built for reliability and volume rather than culinary experimentation — a brasserie in the fullest historic sense, serving continuously through the afternoon and late into the night, seven days a week. The dome room is the most requested seating, though the building extends over several floors and an adjoining private room; requesting the ground-floor dome hall when booking is worthwhile for anyone visiting primarily for the architecture.