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restaurant · Paris
Thirteen Euros for Sardines, and the Room Has Not Changed
Review of Brasserie Lipp
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Share your experienceBrasserie Lipp charges 13.00 euros for vintage sardines and 13.50 euros for herring fillets with potatoes in oil, which is roughly what a starter costs anywhere on that stretch of Saint-Germain and considerably less than the address suggests. It opened in 1880 and the ground-floor room, with its painted ceramic tiles, mirrors and mahogany, is intact. It spent the twentieth century as the canteen of French political and literary life, and the seating hierarchy that went with that has never entirely gone away: the ground floor is where people want to be, and upstairs is where tourists are put. The cooking is brasserie standards, competently done. Nobody has ever come here primarily for the food.
What was great
An 1880 room that has not been redesigned, with the original tiling and mirrors. Starters at 13 euros in the heart of Saint-Germain. Choucroute and herring done exactly as they have been for a century.
What nearly ruined the trip
The seating politics are real and being sent upstairs feels like what it is. Service can be curt to visitors. The cooking is reliable rather than a reason to travel.
Value for money
★★★★☆ Good valueSafety
★★★★★ Felt safeWho is going to Paris?
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