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Best burgers in Paris

Find out where to get your teeth into one of the best burgers in Paris

Written by
Time Out editors
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The best burgers in Paris are a tall order, in a city devoted to fine dining and elite restaurants. But our hunt for perfect patties and fantastic fries turned up more than snooty gourmet versions of the American classic (though a few of those as well). The obsession with fine ingredients that has gripped burger-makers in New York and London for the last few years has caught on in the French capital too, with happy results: Our 'Best burgers in Paris' list includes full-on American diners, signature restaurant versions and even a jolly burger truck, proving that French versions of US cuisines are much more than just a load of old viande hachée.

Did we miss your favourite Parisian spot for American-inspired dining? Let us know in the comments below. 

Burger restaurants

Le Ruisseau
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • American
  • Mairie du 18e
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended
You might have thought that burgers would have become passé in Paris by now, one hipster fixation too far – even we were starting to feel ennui. But then, caught short in Montmartre with a hangover, we discovered Ruisseau. Drawn in by their pretty outdoor terrace, we discovered a menu featuring a dozen different burgers for €12 with chips...
Goku Asian Canteen
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Burgers
  • Le Marais
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended

A large wooden bar, stools, suspended lighting and a menu which promises to offer you ‘the four corners of Asia on a plate’ that being Japanese katsu chicken, Korean bibimbaps, Vietnamese boa buns and Thai pad thais. A mix of cuisine that a few people may find a little disconcerting, but that doesn’t really matter because we’ve come to Goku for one only excellent reason: the burger, voted as the best in France at the most recent French burger awards. 

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La Maison Mère
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Saint-Georges
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
If you somehow managed to miss La Maison Mère throughout the media frenzy around its opening in January 2011, it’s time to get up to speed. First, forget any ideas of a traditional French kitchen: it’s more Mom than Mère. Embrace, instead, the New York-esque décor, with its white tiles, vintage furniture, enamelled mirrors, lamps disguised as bowler hats and a sign...
Le Réfectoire
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Bars and pubs
  • Tapas bars
  • Strasbourg-Saint-Denis
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
A chic black storefront, with a large wooden bar, stools, a few tables, and the name, meaning 'the Refectory', lit up in neon. So what made this one of the most popular food truck outfits in the capital? The Réfectoire burger; bourguignon-style beef, pickled onions and carrots, laced with mustard, Comté, roasted lardons and herby mayonnaise. Definite one for the street food hall of fame. TRANSLATION: MEGAN CARNEGIE   
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Big Corner
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Jaurès
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended
Nestled between a battered old bridge and a motorbike repair shop, New York-style burger restaurant Big Corner is an unlikely addition to the slightly down-at-heel Avenue Jean Jaurès. Its arty, pared-back look with leather padded settees and a bright colour scheme certainly sets it apart from the neighbours, but doesn’t whiff too strongly of gentrification...
Baagaa
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Burgers
  • Chaillot
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
Located in the chic, mostly residential Trocadéro area, Baagaa stands out boldly with its ink black frontage and bright orange tables that spill over the pavement. One of the growing number of trendy restaurants giving the not-so-trendy 16th arrondissement a new gastronomic lease of life, Baagaa serves ‘luxury burgers’, made exclusively from wagyu beef (a Japanese speciality famed for its tenderness and unique buttery taste) and bread from reputed Parisian baker Jean-Luc Poujauran...
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Blend
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • American
  • Réaumur
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended
Parisians have officially gone burger bonkers: After the Camion qui Fume (a mobile gourmet burger van) and Big Fernand (an über-trendy take-away burger joint in the 10th), Blend has opened its doors, in the bobo quarters of Etienne Marcel. And if the queues are anything to go by, this modern, 24-seater burger bar is going to be relished for a long time... 
Le Dépanneur Pigalle
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • American
  • Saint-Georges
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
All too often, 'Mexican' cuisine abroad is a byword for Americanised fast food. Not so at Le Dépanneur Pigalle. By the time you've taken a seat at one of the elegant wooden tables adorned with cacti, you'll already have forgotten you're in Paris.The menu sustains the illusion. We tucked into a starter of homemade tortillas stuffed with stewed pork shoulder, chipotle sauce...
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Siseng
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Burgers
  • Canal Saint-Martin
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended

Baozi steamed buns, a staple of Chinese and Indonesian cuisine, are the latest Parisian food craze. To prove it, here comes Siseng, a trendy new eatery whose signature dish is the Bao Burger: a fusion meal that revisits the American classic, serving it with an Asian sauce, sandwiched between two warm, slightly sweet baozi in lieu of the traditional bread.

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • French
  • Faubourg Montmartre
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended

A brilliant little burger joint, which takes the traditional American burger and gives it the French terroir treatment. Nowhere’s been left out, with regional specialities from all over France wedged between delicious sesame seed buns from the bakery next door. There’s fourme cheese from Ambert, tomme cheese from Savoie, Saint-Nectaire cheese... 

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Le Ruisseau - Burger Joint
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Burgers
  • Le Marais
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
Burger aficionados may already be familiar with the ever-popular Ruisseau in the 18th arrondissement, its home made burgers easily as special as anything larger Parisian chains such as Blend and Big Fernand have to offer. Opened in autumn 2015, Ruisseau’s little sister outlet, the small Burger Joint in the Marais, pursues the same winning formula with its wooden chalet décor and familiar set menus of burger, side and drink for €12...
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Burgers
  • Abbesses
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended
Run by a friendly young couple, Jade and David Koff, in a street that winds between the Trois Frères and the Abbesses, Koff is a lovely New York style deli. It's been entirely renovated from its previous incarnation as Living B’art, with an elegant DIY décor – even the pictures on the walls are the work of the owner, artist Resnik. It creates a cosy atmosphere... 
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Coffee Parisien
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Odéon
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
When the grand old dames and moody wannabe writers tire of Café de Flore, they head to Coffee Parisien. Just steps from the Mabillon metro, this noisy, busy diner is never empty. Behind the bar, crowded with hurried diners, you can see the chefs at work – coleslaw virtuosos, hash brown geniuses. On the walls, there are portraits of Kennedy and Obama... 
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Fast food outlets
  • Saint-Ambroise
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
A newcomer on the veggie scene, this fast food joint has taken a meatless approach to another trend in Paris – the mighty burger. Vegans and vegetarians finally have a place to mingle with options for both camps. With just two choices a day from their four varieties of burgers, don’t expect a big greasy bacon-topped concoction. Mushroom and tofu patties... 
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Hank
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Vegetarian
  • Le Marais
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
Located at the left edge of the Marais, vegan burger restaurant Hank feels a little out of place next to the grander, more traditional Le Connétable on Rue des Archives. With its nondescript modern façade and 100 per cent vegan, fair trade menu, the younger business operates out of an incredibly small, sometimes stuffy, space (seating eight or so). Luckily, the nearby Square du Temple is the perfect setting for a takeaway order...
L'ApéRock
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • American
  • Ternes
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
Guillaume Bouvelot is an old school rocker with a soft heart. Iggy Pop, Elvis, Rory Gallagher, Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd et al are his bag, and since opening in late 2013, these are the sounds that have animated his Ternes bar and restaurant l'Apérock – to the occasional consternation of its well-heeled neighbours. Although the decor is rather conventional American... 
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Schwartz's Deli
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • American
  • Le Marais
  • price 3 of 4
  • Recommended

A little corner of kosher Brooklyn lost in the Marais, Schwartz’s is all hot dogs, pastrami, pecan pie and onion rings. The area’s locals swap family news with the waiters, and mix easily with hipsters among the old film posters, red leather banquettes and checked tablecloths.A must-try is the pastrami sandwich, a mountain of dried beef wedged between two hunks of bread, served with fries and a little pot of coleslaw for €16.50 (or €19 for the version with veal). Or you could go for one of the numerous burgers (€12-€24), from classic cheeseburger to avocado, or even the Rossini (steak, foie gras, rocket and port sauce) – impressive, if not quite as decadent as its price would suggest. Also a good bet are the milkshakes (€7.50), often with real chunks of Oreos or other biscuits, though you’ll want to save room for dessert: the strawberry cheesecake is one of the best in Paris – and at €7 a slice, it should be.Overall, Schwartz’s wins out with its friendly service and boisterous atmosphere, but feels slightly overpriced. That doesn’t seem to put anyone off, however, as two more branches have opened recently: on Avenue Niel in the 17th, and Avenue d’Elyau in the 16th.

Au Comptoir de Brice
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • French
  • Strasbourg-Saint-Denis
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
There are chefs that don’t have to invest in a classy décor to attract customers – the cooking alone is enough to put bums on seats. Au Comptoir de Brice is found in the middle of the Saint-Martin covered market amid the fruit stalls and greasy spoon cafés – and it might not look like much, but the ever-changing menu is full of surprises... 
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Paris-New York
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • American
  • Strasbourg-Saint-Denis
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended
In order to set itself apart from the rest of the ever-increasing wave of gourmet burger joints in Paris, the team behind Paris-New York needed to pay attention to detail. They’ve succeeded pretty well – an attractive décor, meats from artisanal producers Le Ponclet and five burgers on the menu to showcase their talents. On the beef side, there’s the Vintage Doublecheese... 
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • 2e arrondissement
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
This sparky organic burger joint, new in 2012, is set in the Passage Choiseul, one of the less well-maintained of Paris’s 18th-century glass-roofed shopping galleries: rather than the designer boutiques of Galerie Vivienne or the collector’s bookstores of the Passage des Panoramas, Bioburger’s neighbours are discount shoe shops and down-at-heel sushi bars... 
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Breakfast in America
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Diners
  • Jussieu
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended
Even in Paris, the city of haute cuisine and knock-your-socks-off Brasserie fare, there comes a time when nothing but bacon, fried eggs, juicy burgers and fluffy pancakes drizzled in maple syrup will do. For those moments, Breakfast in America (known lovingly amongst regulars as B.I.A) offers bona fide American diner surroundings, all-day breakfasts... 
American Kitchen
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Canal Saint-Martin
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
Opposite the Hôpital Saint-Louis, a handful of restaurants cluster in a charming collective that’s well-known to residents and regulars of the 10th. Among the bouquet of enticing smells, the red frontage of the American Kitchen is a favourite with hungry passers-by. On the tables of its vast terrace, pots of ketchup... 
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Supernature
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Vegetarian
  • Faubourg Montmartre
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended
Who said eating healthily was boring? Certainly not the many regulars who flock each afternoon (and on Sunday for brunch) to this tiny canteen in the 9th arrondissement. There’s no overriding organic or vegetarian concept, just well-cooked, daily-changing healthy dishes. There’s at least one delicious vegetarian dish each day... 

Burger vans

Le Camion qui fume
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Burgers
  • Canal Saint-Martin
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended
Fancy one of the best burgers in Paris? Forget your posh napkins, tablecloths and seating, the Camion Qui Fume is Paris’s first American-style burger truck, run by Californian Kristin Frederick; and you only have to look at the long lines of salivating bobos to know that the burgers here are good. The secret lies in the ingredients: baker-made bread, top quality meat, hand-cut fries... 
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Burgers
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended

Fresh ingredients, home made chips and French beef have been on offer at the Camion Gourmand since December 2012. Fresh ingredients are bought and cooked on the same day, making up their selection of incredibly generous burgers. They come in four versions: classic, Seguin with goat’s cheese and honey, the Vicomte with comté cheese and pepper sauce... 

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Cantine California
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • American
  • 1er arrondissement
  • price 1 of 4
  • Recommended
Paris is gripped by a new trend. All it took was for one Californian to set up a burger van, and before you can say ‘viande hachée’, more and more food trucks are beetling around the crisscrossing streets of the capital. Cantine California, the new van from chef Jordan Feilders, is a gourmet slice of America on four wheels, and the Parisians are crazy for it...
Le Bateau qui fume
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Fast food outlets
  • Invalides
  • price 2 of 4
  • Recommended
Moored on the banks of the Seine since August 2015, Le Bateau Qui Fume is the latest opening from Californian entrepreneur Kristin Frederick, who also owns and runs the incredibly successful ‘Camion Qui Fume’ food truck. Although this ‘burger boat’ isn’t very flashy (it’s just a van on a barge, with seating space for ten or so), the waterscape behind the serving area is beautifully serene, making this a relaxing spot to come at lunch or dinnertime...
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