Brasserie Lipp

Lipp opened in 1880 and has been the political-literary brasserie of the Left Bank ever since — Mitterrand ate here twice a week, the Goncourt jury have used the upstairs, and the dining-room hierarchy (ground floor good, upstairs a relegation) is enforced by waiters who have worked here for decades and wear numbered pins by seniority. The 1926 dining room is a registered historic monument: hand-painted tile murals by Léon Fargue, mirror columns, brass coat racks. Order what they have made for a hundred years — choucroute garnie, sole meunière, mille-feuille — not the day's specials. No reservations after 8pm; jacket helps. Run by the Bertrand family since 1990.