The Musee d’Orsay Restaurant in Paris
This is one of the restaurants in Paris that is located within a museum and is an ideal opportunity to combine fine dining with a great authentic atmosphere and a visit to one of the impressive museums in Paris, which is housed within the Musee d'Orsay that starts its collections from the date where the Musee du Louvre Museum finishes.
About the Restaurant Musee d'Orsay
Located within an old railway station, which was classified as one of the historical monuments in Paris back in 1978, the restaurant is still in the same place today and the same situation as the original restaurant that was in the Hotel d’Orsay when it first opened within the train station in the year 1900 for the World Fair in Paris.
The Musee d’Orsay restaurant still gives over the impressions of elegance and glamour, like when you read about the history of the Musee d’Orsay and the conferences and banquets that were held here, from when it first originally opened.
Situated on the first floor of the Gare d’Orsay, this restaurant has been sympathetically designed by the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte with new furniture, which enhances the dazzling chandeliers along with the gilding and the painted ceilings of this unique historical dining room.
So you can still get to experience the same style of luxury that you would have expected from one of the restaurants in Paris that held banquets of such calibre in an elegant and refined atmosphere, but it can also be quite a distraction from what you wish to admire, compared to enjoying your meal.
Cuisine at the Musee d’Orsay Restaurant
The food served at the Musee d’Orsay restaurant is traditional French cuisine, but is also mixed with different dishes that coincide with the exhibitions and events that are being presented at this museum in Paris.
Starters could be French onion soup with Beaufort cheese, Half-cooked foie gras, candied apple, cider caramel & toasted brioche or Green lentils, Morteau sausage, wild chicory & purple mustard for instance.
Main dishes could include delights such as Fish & chips, malt vinegar and tartar sauce, Ravioles of Royans with mushrooms & Porto sauce, Slow-braised beef stew, crozets pasta risotto, celery & truffle, a Generous veal chop with morels, potato mousseline or Puff pastry with vegetables.
The cost for a main course ranges from around €17 up to approximately €27 as of 2018 and as you can no doubt appreciate from what we said earlier about different dishes available according to themed events, the menu does change and also changes according to the seasons.
At the Musee d’Orsay Restaurant there is also a plate of the day or today’s special available, plus there is a dedicated childrens menu for those aged 10 and under at a cost of €8 with a choice of a Salmon escalop or Chicken Nuggets accompanied by pasta or vegetables and an ice cream dessert along with a fruit juice or mineral water.
There is also a set menu known as a formula, where you can get a starter and main course or a main course and dessert with selected options from the main menu for a cost of €22.50 as of 2018, which could be a starter of Duck pate in a crust, young shoots and meat-juice vinaigrette, a main course of Chicken Vol-au-Vent, dumplings, vegetables and mushrooms with white sauce or a dessert of Lemon meringue pie.
If you wish you could go for a cheese plate selection as an additional course or as your dessert which consists of Cave-aged cheeses by Marie Quatrehomme. But the actual desserts at the Musee d’Orsay restaurant are also exceedingly temping and if you can make room for one, it could be a Coffee eclair cake, Fresh fruit salad with vanilla syrup, Apple tart, salted butter, caramel and mascarpone cream, a Crispy vanilla and blackcurrant dome or a Cafe Gourmand.
Visiting the Musee d’Orsay Restaurant in Paris
This elegant restaurant at the Musee d’Orsay museum in Paris is open from 11:45am to 5.30pm on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Whereas on a Thursday, you will find that the Musee d’Orsay restaurant is open from 11:45am through to 2.45pm, and then from 7pm through to 9pm.
No reservations are required at this restaurant in Paris for individuals, however, groups of 10 people or more do have to make a reservation in advance by telephone on +33 (0) 1 45 49 47 03 and must arrive at 11.45am.
Now on a Thursday evening, you can combine a visit to the museum with dinner at the restaurant, which includes entry to the Musee d’Orsay collections along with a discovery menu where drinks are included and this is a cost of €57 per person as of 2018 plus the museum ticket of €9, but again, you do have to be book in advance via telephone on the number above.
However, the Musee d’Orsay museum also caters for private events of an evening, and therefore if you are looking at a special function in an unusual location, then this could be the place for you. The restaurant and museum can cater for up to 200 people at a sit down dinner or 600 standing like as a cocktail style function. Again you can contact them via telephone or via email to find out more.
Access to the Musee d'Orsay Restaurant
Located on the first floor of the Musee d’Orsay getting to this elegant museum restaurant is very easy with the public transport in Paris as you have the RER train station aptly called the Musee d'Orsay stop situated only a few metres away serving line C.
Alternatively, the Paris buses via lines 24, 63, 68, 69, 72, 73, 83, 84 and 94, along with the Noctilien Night Bus Service via Lines N01, N02, N11 and N24 will all get you within walking distance of this restaurant and numerous other tourist attractions.
However, the Metro stations called the Assemblee Nationale stop and the Rue de Bac stop, both serving line 12, along with the Saint-Germain-des-Pres stop via line 4 will also get you within walking distance.
Yet you also have the Tuileries stop on the opposite side of the River Seine by the Jardin des Tuileries serving line 1, not forgetting the Batobus, which is the water bus that has a stop reasonably nearby, or there are also bus tours such as L'OpenTour.
