"Ryo Yamaoka's handmade buckwheat soba in a hushed Saint-Germain room — book it for a conversation-easy first date."
The soba is rolled and cut by hand behind the counter, the buckwheat ground fresh, served cold on a bamboo screen (zaru) with a dark dashi for dipping. Yen has cooked this way on rue Saint-Benoît since the early 2000s, a quiet two-floor Japanese room a block off the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Chef Ryo Yamaoka has run the kitchen since 2014, and the zaru soba is the dish to judge it on. Expect €60 to €110 a head, more with sake.
Chef Ryo Yamaoka has run Yen's kitchen since 2014, and the discipline is soba: buckwheat noodles cut by hand daily, served cold as zaru soba or hot in dashi. The kombu-and-bonito broth is made in the kitchen, not poured from a bottle, and the tempura of prawn and seasonal vegetables is fried to order in a light batter. Beyond the noodles, the menu runs to sashimi, grilled fish and a short list of small plates that change with the season.
The 2025 MICHELIN Guide lists Yen for the quality of that soba work. Lunch sets are the value entry; dinner à la carte climbs to €60 to €110 a head before sake, of which the list is short but well chosen. The room seats around forty over two floors at 22 rue Saint-Benoît, in the 6th arrondissement.
Yen is a calm, pale-wood room over two floors, built with the restraint of a Tokyo soba house: blond timber, clean lines, low partitions between tables. Sound is hushed, so this is a room for talk rather than a scene. Lighting is soft and even, tables are generously spaced, and the dress code is smart-casual with no fuss. The counter downstairs faces the soba work; the upstairs room is quieter still. It seats around forty, so booking ahead is wise at dinner.
Book Yen for a first date because the room does the work for you: it is quiet enough to hear a low voice across a generously spaced table, the pale-wood setting flatters without trying, and the soba menu is easy to navigate without a sommelier's help. Start with the tempura, share a cold zaru soba, and let the short sake list carry the evening. For more rooms built for talking, see our best restaurants for a first date, or the full Paris dining guide.
Not for a loud celebration: the room is hushed and restrained, the menu is built around delicate soba, and a boisterous table of ten feels out of place.
Yes, if you care about soba. Yen is one of the few rooms in Paris making buckwheat noodles by hand to a standard the 2025 MICHELIN Guide recognises, and chef Ryo Yamaoka's broth and tempura match the noodles. It is expensive for what looks like a simple bowl, so the value depends on how much you value craft. For a calm, refined Japanese dinner, it is worth it. See our best Japanese restaurants worldwide.
Not very, but dinner fills. Yen takes reservations by phone on +33 1 45 44 11 18 and through online booking, and the two-floor room seats around forty, so weekend dinners and the counter go first. Book a few days ahead for dinner; lunch is easier and cheaper. The restaurant is closed on Sundays, so plan around that when you call.
Smart-casual. There is no jacket requirement, but the calm Saint-Germain room skews polished, so a collared shirt or a smart dress fits better than gym wear. The setting is restrained and quiet, and most diners arrive neatly dressed for the neighbourhood. You will not be turned away in jeans, but the room rewards looking the part.
Expect €60 to €110 a head at dinner before sake. Lunch sets are the cheaper entry point, while dinner à la carte across soba, tempura, sashimi and small plates pushes toward the top of that range. The sake list is short but well chosen and will add to the bill. For handmade soba in central Paris, the pricing is high but in line with the craft.
Order the zaru soba, the cold handmade buckwheat noodles served on a bamboo screen with dipping dashi, which is the dish the kitchen is built on. Add the tempura of prawn and seasonal vegetables, and a few pieces of sashimi to start. Finish with a hot soba in broth if the weather suits it, and let the counter recommend a sake to match.
Book by phone or online. Closed Sundays; dinner fills in Saint-Germain.
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Yen sits in our global Japanese guide as Paris's reference room for handmade soba.
Read the Japanese guide →