Paris Restaurants for a Late Lunch After 3pm
Au Pied de Cochon
- A round-the-clock Les Halles brasserie built for meals that ignore the conventional timetable.
- Onion soup, oysters and pork-led classics remain available through the afternoon rather than shrinking to pastries and snacks.
- The Belle Époque room has enough motion to make a solitary 4pm lunch feel entirely natural.
Great for:
All-hours dining, solo lunches.
Order: Onion soup and the pied de cochon farci.
At 3.30pm, sit downstairs to keep the full brasserie atmosphere.
La Coupole
- A vast Art Deco brasserie maintaining continuous service beneath painted columns.
- Seafood, lamb curry and brasserie staples are served through the afternoon with the full dining-room ritual intact.
- The scale is part of the pleasure.
Great for:
Art Deco dining, late lunches.
Order: Oysters or the house lamb curry.
Use the quieter afternoon service to inspect the numbered artist-painted columns.
Bofinger
- An Alsatian brasserie serving throughout the afternoon beneath a stained-glass dome.
- Choucroute, seafood and sole make this a complete meal rather than a compromise between services.
- The restaurant is calmer after 3pm, when the architecture can be noticed without the main lunch rush.
Great for:
Alsatian classics, architectural dining.
Order: Choucroute Bofinger or a seafood platter.
Specify the domed ground-floor room, as upstairs feels entirely different.
Le Grand Colbert
- A grand brasserie near Galerie Vivienne with an all-day rhythm and a broad classic menu.
- High ceilings, globe lights and deep banquettes retain their sense of theatre during the quieter afternoon hours.
- It suits a late lunch after the Bibliothèque nationale, when nearby smaller kitchens have already closed.
Great for:
Passage walks, traditional lunches.
Order: Sole meunière or roast chicken, then profiteroles.
Take a perimeter banquette and let the quieter service stretch through dessert.
Le Train Bleu
- A landmark railway restaurant serving travellers and destination diners beyond the usual lunch window.
- The menu remains substantial in the afternoon, with carving-room classics and composed desserts.
- Painted ceilings and gilded salons turn an awkwardly timed meal into the day’s main event.
Great for:
Pre-train lunches, grand interiors.
Order: Roast leg of lamb from the trolley.
Allow ten minutes to find the first-floor entrance inside Gare de Lyon.
Brasserie Lipp
- A Saint-Germain institution serving Alsatian-French classics continuously through the afternoon.
- The compact menu favours dishes that suit the setting: herring, choucroute, steak and simple desserts.
- After 3pm, the room settles enough to appreciate its painted ceilings, tiled walls and brisk choreography.
Great for:
Left Bank atmosphere, Alsatian cooking.
Order: Herring with potatoes or choucroute Lipp.
Phones and photographs are discouraged, so let the dining room provide the entertainment.
Les Deux Magots
- A literary café where a late lunch can still extend beyond a croque-monsieur to salads, eggs and brasserie plates.
- The terrace faces the abbey church, while the interior preserves the red seating and mirrored walls familiar from archival photographs.
- Mid-afternoon brings a gentler pace between lunch crowds and evening arrivals.
Great for:
People-watching, light lunches.
Order: Croque-monsieur or eggs with mayonnaise.
Choose indoors for the historic room and the terrace for square-side people-watching.
Le Grand Café
- A Joseph Dirand-designed brasserie inside the restored Grand Palais, with bar food served across the afternoon.
- The menu translates bourgeois French cooking into a contemporary monumental setting.
- Low table lamps and careful acoustics make the great volume feel unexpectedly intimate after exhibition hours.
Great for:
Design lovers, museum lunches.
Order: Tomato tart or salmon with sorrel, followed by île flottante.
Take a Petit Palais-facing table during the calmer afternoon service.
