La Tour d'Argent is one of the oldest restaurants in Paris — it has operated on the Quai de la Tournelle since at least 1582 in some form — and remains one of its grandest. The rooftop dining room has views directly onto Notre-Dame and the Seine that are difficult to match anywhere in the city.
The restaurant is famous above all for its canard à la presse (pressed duck), a dish served here since 1890 and numbered since the late 19th century — each duck is assigned a sequential number recorded on the menu and a card presented to the diner. The numbers are now in the millions. The preparation is theatrical and the taste, with its rich sauce of blood and bone marrow, is unlike anything else.
Prices are very high. A full dinner with wine runs to several hundred euros per person. The lunch menu is considerably more affordable and offers the same kitchen and the same view. Reserve well in advance. Métro: Cardinal Lemoine.