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French brasserie · Porte Maillot (17e) · Paris
Le Relais de Venise – L'Entrecôte
The original of the single-dish steak-frites: one menu at €30, no bookings, and a queue that forms before the door opens.
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By Hugo Ledger · Steakpedia editorial voice · Who writes
Why go
In 1959 Paul Gineste de Saurs, a wine grower from Gaillac, took over a lease near Porte Maillot and built a restaurant around a single dish: steak, matchstick potatoes and salad, with a sauce whose recipe the family still keeps. More than sixty years on, Le Relais de Venise serves the same plate at €30, grilled contre-filet with pommes allumettes, the sauce and a walnut salad, and the house says nothing else has changed either: the same room, the same desserts, waitresses in black uniforms with aprons and white collars. It takes no bookings; The Infatuation, in December 2025, described the queue forming half an hour before the 18:45 opening.
What to order
- Contre-filet de bœuf grillé Porte Maillot
- The second helping
- The cooking
Not published: aging, fire, breed, grade.
01What to order
- Contre-filet de bœuf grillé Porte Maillot€30 on the house's Paris page: grilled sirloin, pommes allumettes (matchstick fries), the sauce and a walnut salad. It is the only main course.
- The second helpingOffered at the table, per The Infatuation in December 2025.
- The cookingThe only choice to make; The Infatuation notes that most guests ask for it à point or medium-rare.
- Chocolate cakeThe dessert The Infatuation singled out; desserts run from €5 to €9.
- A French wineFrom €5 to €28 on the house's list.
- La Baguette du RelaisThe same steak and sauce in a baguette, to take away, at 10 rue des Archives in the 4th arrondissement.
02The beef
The house calls its steak contre-filet, the French name for sirloin, and says it is well grilled; The Infatuation calls it sirloin. That is all the sources say about the beef: no breed, no origin, no aging. The sauce is better documented. The Infatuation reports the common belief that it contains mustard, tarragon, anchovy and a great deal of butter; Le Monde once printed a list of ingredients (chicken livers, thyme, cream and white Dijon mustard) that Hélène Godillot told The Independent was inaccurate. The family has confirmed none of these.
03The fire
The house says the contre-filet is grilled, 'bien grillé'. No source describes the grill or the fuel.
04The story
The restaurant already existed when Gineste de Saurs arrived: it was an Italian house called Le Relais de Venise, and he kept its neon sign while replacing the menu with steak-frites, partly to secure an outlet for the wines of the family estate, Château de Saurs, according to Wikipedia. Its popular name became L'Entrecôte Porte-Maillot. After his death in 1966 his daughter Hélène Godillot took it over; his son Henri had opened L'Entrecôte in Toulouse in 1962, and another daughter, Marie-Paule Burrus, built Le Relais de l'Entrecôte. Under the Relais de Venise name the formula now runs in London (the City and Marylebone), Mexico City, Monaco and New York. The house dates itself 'since 1959', and Steakpedia uses 1959.
05The practical
271 boulevard Pereire, 75017 (metro Porte Maillot). Weekdays 12:00–14:30 and 18:45–23:00; weekends 12:00–14:45 and 18:45–23:00. Closed on April 18, on Dec. 24, 25 and 31 and on Jan. 1. Phone 01 45 74 27 97. No bookings, so arrive before opening. Valet parking at the Parking Méridien.
- Address
- 271 Boulevard Pereire, 75017 Paris
- Phone
- +33 1 45 74 27 97
- Website
- relaisdevenise.com
- Directions
- Google Maps ↗
Can you book at Le Relais de Venise?
No. The Infatuation reports no reservations and a queue about 30 minutes before the 18:45 opening.
How much is the menu at Le Relais de Venise?
€30 for the contre-filet with matchstick fries, the sauce and a walnut salad, on the house's Paris page; desserts are €5 to €9.
When did Le Relais de Venise open?
Paul Gineste de Saurs opened it in its current form in 1959, near Porte Maillot.
Is there a second serving at Le Relais de Venise?
Yes, the waitstaff offers a second helping, per The Infatuation.
06In Paris’s selections
07Sources
theinfatuation.com · theinfatuation.com · relaisdevenise.com · en.wikipedia.org · relaisdevenise.com
Last verified Oct. 29, 2026.
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