Head-to-Head · Paris
Alléno Paris vs Kei
Both hold three Michelin stars; Kei's lunch is the value, Alléno's extraction sauces the spectacle — book Kei first, Alléno for an occasion.
The Verdict
Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen is the grand one. Yannick Alléno cooks inside a listed early-1900s pavilion at 8 avenue Dutuit, in the Carré des Champs-Élysées, and the kitchen is built around his extraction technique, the cold-and-hot sauce method he spent years developing in a dedicated laboratory. The tasting runs about €395 before wine, the room seats a formal evening crowd, and the food scores a perfect 10 with a 6 for value, because nothing here is cheap. Three Michelin stars, held without interruption.
Kei is the precise one. Kei Kobayashi opened it on rue Coq Héron in the 1st arrondissement in 2011, and in 2020 he became the first Japanese chef to earn three Michelin stars in France. His signature garden of crunchy vegetables, built on seasonal radish, cucumber and celery with Scottish smoked salmon, a rocket foam and a lemon emulsion, is the dish that sealed the third star. Menus run €175 to €395, the food also scores 10, and value lands at 7 because the lunch is reachable.
Scores, Side by Side
| Score | Alléno Paris | Kei |
|---|---|---|
| Food | 10 / 10 | 10 / 10 |
| Atmosphere | 9 / 10 | 9 / 10 |
| Value | 6 / 10 | 7 / 10 |
Which One for Which Occasion
| Occasion | Editorial Pick |
|---|---|
| First date | KeiThe small rue Coq Héron room stays calm and quiet, and the garden course gives you something to talk about. |
| Impress clients | Alléno ParisA listed pavilion off the Champs-Élysées and the gravitas of Ledoyen do the talking for you. |
| Best value | KeiThe €175 lunch is the cheapest way into a three-star kitchen in this pairing. |
| Solo dining | KeiThe intimate room suits a single diner better than Ledoyen's formal scale. |
| A milestone evening | Alléno ParisThe historic-monument setting and the €395 tasting make the occasion feel like one. |
Price Comparison
Kei is the value side, and not by a little. Its menus start near €175 at lunch and reach €395 at dinner, while Alléno's tasting sits at roughly €395 before wine, with pairings that climb fast. Both kitchens cook at the three-star ceiling, so on entry point Kei wins; Alléno charges for the pavilion, the laboratory and the scale of the production. Note that Kei raised its menu prices on 1 July 2026, so confirm the current figure when you book. Weigh both against the wider field in our guide to the best fine-dining restaurants worldwide.
How to Book
Alléno Paris serves dinner only, Monday to Friday, and the seats go weeks ahead through its own site and concierge channels; our how to book Alléno Paris guide has the exact mechanics. Kei takes both lunch and dinner and books through restaurant-kei.fr and by phone, with the lunch sitting easier to land than dinner; the how to book Kei guide covers the window. Plan either a month out, and start the wider map from the Paris dining guide.
For occasion fit beyond this pairing, weigh them against our guides to the best first-date restaurants, solo-dining restaurants, deal-closing restaurants and rooms to impress clients. For another grand-Paris match-up see L'Ambroisie vs Lasserre, and browse the full set on the compare index.