Agapé, Restaurant gastronomique Paris 17ème

My wife and I were here on Monday night. This was my first Michelin-Star experience, and it was excellent. The food was totally on-point, as was the service. We were one of only two couples in the restaurant, so it was easy for them, but still, no complaints. 10/10 would go again!

We came for the lunch meal with wine pairing. We had fish for entree and main which were both delicious, and the dessert was great. The bread and butter served as an appetiser was not as nice as we’ve had elsewhere. We were offered champagne at the start of the meal, which we expected to be included because we had booked the wine pairing, but it was an additional 24€ per glass when we paid the bill. An espresso that we had with dessert cost 7€. It would have been good to receive a drinks menu to be aware of these prices before ordering. The staff were welcoming and accomodating. The atmosphere wasn’t the best - no music. Overall was a good experience but we would try somewhere else next time.

Visited this wonderful restaurant last week. Tried one of the rich menus paired with wine , designed by the restaurant. One dish was better than the other! Was speechless. Thank you AGAPE team

We enjoyed most of the food and find it super interesting as there were many regular ingredients that was used differently. We had a meat dish, while it was tasty, I couldn’t chew on the tendons on the meat, therefore had to use the restroom and spit it out. There was a fly that keeps coming to our table, but it is quite common in Europe so I wouldn’t say that’s a big deal. We didn’t really enjoy the fruit dish, but for all the others we loved. The three types of butter were all great, but if you’re not used to French bread or just whole wheat bread, you might think the bread is a little too dry. We had apple and pear juice. The apple juice was okay, but the pear juice was actually good. The bottles place behind our seats were a kinda dirty. There was a lot of dust inside it, they should probably clean it more often. Overall it wasn’t the best experience, but the good foods were really delicious.

I ate here for lunch as recommended online to avoid the high dinner prices. The food was very good and the overall experience was about what you'd expect from a Michelin star restaurant, with elaborate place settings and procedures for everything to make it a fine dining experience. With all that said, my gripes are as follows... They asked if we wanted champagne when we were seated, before receiving any menus. We weren't sure if it was part of the fixed menu or not, and we really should have asked. It turned about to be 24 Euros per glass... yikes. I understand that a lot gourmands go into spots like this to take in the whole experience regardless of the cost, but it seemed a bit of a price gouge. We certainly would have declined the offer had we known the price. Excluding the champagne, it came out to about 60ish Euros per person including water for the fixed menu. I would consider this reasonable for the experience, but the food was not as good as I've had at other Michelin star restaurants, hence the 4 star rating.

#41 see my reviews of all the Paris Michelin Stars. Humble and Flamboyance. Endearing duo. The interesting thing here is the result of two different characters. You have Laurent Lapaire, the flamboyant owner that spotted future multiple stars chef. You can feel his influence in the styling of restaurant for example. It’s very « cosmopolitan « , with modern design, beautiful tableware and even waiters that are not the typical old school étoilé staff. The other influence is the love for the good product and his passion for haute cuisine (basically, he goes to Michelin Stars during his spare time…). Interestingly enough, he s the type of character that you encounter with old school chef that owns their restaurant, very lively, opinionated, with a little light in his eyes. It’s more typical of the old school big name chef. Still, I appreciate a strong character with a passion. I’ve noticed in some reviews here, that’s some may be put off by that. I understand. Still, you have to recognize that he brought some great chef to the Michelin world. I’m fine with a strong character from Brittany as long as he delivers. Which brings me to the second point: the chef. I had the good fortune to speak with him after the meal. He’s just like his cuisine. Very humble, hiding his maturity, playful, just enjoying making great cuisine by making the most out of the seasonal ingredients. He’s not there for the fame, nor the money, he’s there for the beauty of it. I find it very refreshing and it does give me hope in an era geared toward the show and the visual (top chef, Instagram - on which I am ;-)). The interesting result is it does work. The combination of those two different characters manages to work, and I guess it’s because they have in common the love for the good ingredients. The mood/dressing code seems to be modern yet relax. I had a business friendly lunch, I saw birthday, I guess it can also work for couple. Still, I’ll put it more in the Haute Cuisine side, even if the character of chef is not pretentious. It’s a very solid one star. I had a great experience, and it grew on me after a couple of days (I never write the reviews just after, like the wine, you want to let it develop), resulting in a very endearing memory. Update 2022: After years of helping chefs reach new stars (the list is so crazy with Septime, Toutain, Alliance etc…), the Agape manager found a Madonna. And it does bring a change in the house to have a lady. Ok, the Madonna reference was there because the new chef, Rebecca Lookwood, was her personal chef. Her resume doesn’t stop there by far. Top chef star in Brazil, formally trained in one of the best school in Paris, she even became journalist for a while. Ok, what’s interesting? What does it mean for you? It means that the angle and even some of the ingredients will be very different from your average one star. She brings this diversity in the plate, with yet an attention to balance it. Interestingly, she’s from an English/Brazilian marriage, and I guess she’s used to be in between cultures. I would also note that being from Amazonia she is naturally eco concerned with a touch of interest in the ingredients medicinal power. Extremely interesting and I’m looking forward to see her grow with Laurent s help. Speaking of medicinal power, he’s a strong advocate for the “vin nature” (organic wine), which makes this restaurant way more “eco concerned “ and “exotic “ than it looks (and than others that are more into communication). Even if it’s a new chef, given both track records, it’s definitely still a very solid star.

My wife and I had the 10 course tasting menu. What started off feeling a bit stuffy ended up being a fun experience. This is a one group/couple per table per night place. The whole tasty experience took 2.5+ hours, we enjoyed every last dish, even the "mouth preparer" aka palate cleanser.

A rather average experience, given that this establishment is a one Michelin star, in comparison to other in Paris. Service was ok, it was lukewarm some staff were more affable than others. However I am not here for the service. This year the restaurant celebrates its tenth year. I went to lunch, lunch is usually the cheaper option in comparison to dinner service. That is not to say i did not splurge. What I did like were - the lobster dish & the sweetbread. What I dislike were - This is an easy fix, temperature in the dinning room should be comfortable, i know it’s cold and wet outside in Paris, as a dinner I don’t want to feel like I am in the kitchen with the chef. The anniversary menu was more expensive & was suppose to be a surprise, well everything on it were on the a la carte menu..if that was the surprise then yes it worked. There were several options ala carte,3 courses, 5 courses and the anniversary menu which is effectively 7 courses. My advice if you decide to go choose the 3 courses or 5 courses or a la carte. Overall there were some exceptional cooking, even with simple dish of beetroot collection was exceptional, however the 2 full size deserts was very unexpected and tipped the experience to feeling like you’ve been overfeed and feel liked a stuffed turkey. Also very surprising was the absent of a cheese course, seems like a serious misstep for a French restaurant. So these were the reasons for the rating.