I ate at a buzzy Paris restaurant with unlimited chocolate mousse on the menu. Now, I recommend it to everyone I know.
The duck dish at Chez Janou, a restaurant in Paris.
Whenever I realize a friend is in Paris — likely via a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower’s shimmering lights or a snap of the sun hitting the Louvre Pyramid just right — my response is always the same.
“I have the perfect restaurant for you,” I tell them over an Instagram DM.
This scenario happened more frequently over the past few months as a new influx of tourists flooded the city for the 2024 Summer Olympics. But my love story with Chez Janou began years prior, on a chilly January night.
I was planning a trip to Paris in that first month of 2020 — blissfully unaware it’d be my last vacation for the next two years — and had saved several recommendations I spotted on the Instagram of former B-17 food video producer Herrine Ro. Still fairly new at the company, I had never met Ro but loved her videos and trusted her taste.
As I prepared my itinerary and booked reservations, I committed the recs to memory: croissants at La Maison d’Isabelle, duck at La Grange Aux Canards, pasta at Domenico’s, and a giant chocolate mousse at Chez Janou.
On my first night in France, I walked under Chez Janou’s green-and-white striped awning just after 11 p.m. The lights were low, the space cramped, and the atmosphere electric.
A yellow menu was placed before me, each dish written in bouncy cursive alongside a small bowl of pitted olives. Before that night, I had always believed olives weren’t for me — a claim that often prompted cries I was a “terrible Greek.” But it had been a long day of traveling, and I was famished. So I popped one in my mouth.
Menus alongside the complimentary olives at Chez Janou.
The flesh of that first olive, slicked with garlic, surprised me. It was deliciously rich, delivering so much depth and flavor in one tiny bite. I tried another, then another, my tongue dancing with brine.
“Am I an olive person now?” I asked myself, as another thought quickly popped into my head: “My mom is going to be so happy about this.”
Emboldened by my newfound olive fandom, I knew I wanted to try a dish I never ordered back in the US. Thanks to a kind waiter who helped translate the all-French menu, I settled on risotto with scallops.
A picture I snapped of the scallops at Chez Janou in January 2020 — please ignore the iPhone 8 camera quality.
Four years later, I still recall how plump and tender each scallop tasted. Their sweet and buttery flavor melded magically with the creamy risotto, its sauce shimmering romantically under the lights.
Then came the famous chocolate mousse that had first tempted me through Chez Janou’s doors. The decadent dish, a mainstay on the menu, is served from a massive bowl and plopped right onto your plate. Unlimited servings cost just €9, or about $10.
It’s a delightful spectacle that has made Chez Janou quite popular on TikTok over the past two years — but don’t let that dissuade you.
Interactive dining has exploded to accommodate the “camera eats first” mantra of our social-media age. Still, Chez Janou has authentic and comforting Provençal cuisine to back up its current hype. The chocolate mousse makes for good clicks, but it’s also legitimately delicious.
Midnight had come and gone as my dinner came to an end. The tables were beginning to empty, and the conversation had lowered a few decibels. But the energy was still as charged as the shots of complimentary liqueur my waiter offered after my plates were cleared. I already knew it was a meal I’d always remember.
I haven’t had a chance to return to Paris, but I have enjoyed many olives and scallops since due to Chez Janou’s influence. And I was delighted to learn that my restaurant rec had brought my friends Andy and Kaitlyn just as much joy on their recent babymoon in Paris.
The fried sardines and ratatouille at Chez Janou.
The couple told me Chez Janou had been their “favorite restaurant in Paris by far” thanks to the “eclectic bistro vibe” and a menu full of “French cuisine we wanted to try.” They recommend ordering the fried sardines, juicy and crisp duck — which Kaitlyn said was one of the best she’s ever tried — ratatouille, and, of course, the chocolate mousse.
“The mousse at the end is cocky, but in the best way,” Andy remarked.
I have no idea when I’ll return to Paris next, but I know what my first stop will be when I do. Until then, there will always be a friend in need of a restaurant recommendation.
And I’ve got just the place for them.
