The French Paradox

Dublin, Ireland

4.3

Closed now

20 reviews

Free Wi-Fi

Contacts

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Telephone:
+353 1 660 4068
Website:
www.thefrenchparadox.com
Address:
53 Shelbourne Road Ballsbridge, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Dublin 4
Ballsbridge
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
440 ftPembroke Road
0.2 miMerrion Road
0.3 miNorthumberland Road
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
Yes
Delivery
Yes
Take-out
Yes
Accepted Cards
Credit, Debit
Good For
Dinner, Late Night
Parking
Street
Bike Parking
Yes
Good for Kids
No
Good for Groups
No
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Intimate
Noise Level
Quiet
Good For Dancing
No
Alcohol
Full Bar
Happy Hour
No
Coat Check
No
Smoking
Outdoor Area/ Patio Only
Outdoor Seating
Yes
Wi-Fi
Free
Has TV
No
Waiter Service
Yes

Today

Today 10:00 am – 10:30 pm
Closed now
Local time (Dublin) 5:39 AM Friday, November 29, 2024

Business hours

Monday 10:00 am – 10:30 pm
Tuesday 10:00 am – 10:30 pm
Wednesday 10:00 am – 10:30 pm
Thursday 10:00 am – 10:30 pm
Friday 10:00 am – 10:30 pm
Saturday 10:00 am – 10:30 pm
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Since opening our doors in June of 2002, The French Paradox Wine Shop & Wine Bar have been dedicated to bringing the very finest of produce from France and the Mediterranean right here to Ireland. Our ethos is simple: directly imported wines from family– owned wineries, quality cured meats, cheeses, fish and pâtés served in an atmosphere not unlike those intriguing wine bars in France. We believe we are unique in our desire to enhance the standard of eating out in the locality; you can be guaranteed that no-​one has the flair quite like us for importing the best of France (and Spain) and presenting interesting and highly delicious plates in our own imaginative way. The Wine Shop is open Monday to Saturday from 10.30am til 10.00pmThe Tasting Room and Surgery Wine Bars are open for Lunch Monday to Friday from 12.00pm-3.00pm and in the

Dinner from 6.00p

History

Established in 2002.

The French paradox is ultimately a wine shop with a tasting room — Wine bar. You may taste the wines with our delicious plates with the possibility of purchasing the wines and food in the shop downstairs. Wine passionate staff are on hand to help you navigate our proud selection of wines and food influenced by the french paradox way of living.

Located in the heart of Ballsbridge, we like to think that we are a small oasis of France for lovers of everything Francophile, with advise to help you choose the right wine for any occasion. The setting is relaxed, simple and chic. The perfect environment to enjoy wine.

In our wine shop take away oven fresh breads, cheeses, truffle oils, Pierre Otezia charcuterie products, French preserves, chocolates, Havana Cigars, French Paradox gift vouchers and over 150 exclusive wines to choose from.

Meet the Business Owner

Pierre C.

Business Owner

Pierre is 55 years old. He has come to Ireland with his wife after having gained a considerable experience during 8 years in Asia, 10 years in Cognac, including 12 years in the LVMH group — Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (the Luxury goods world leader).

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20 reviews of The French Paradox

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Place rating: 5
Blackrock, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
My favorite place in Dublin where to find a little space of quiet and quality time. Elegant, lovely and authentic French spot.
Place rating: 5
League City, TX
So lovely! Tanya and Pierre and Julien are sooo attentive and hospitable. They make you feel like you are an honoured guest in their home in France. Their wine knowledge is amazing and food excellent! You must experience! Also use their home wine delivery so wonderful!
Place rating: 5
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
HIGH CLASS! Great service with a waiter who works with you to fine the best wine for your budget.
We went with a group of 7, and ordered a few bottles of wine and shared plates of foie gras, pâté, charcuterie, Camembert fondue and more. It was so delicious — this is coming from someone who doesn’t love duck/​pâté/​foie gras.
The bar space is so cozy and would be great for a date night. It’s casual yet has an air of fancy! I’d highly recommend!
Tip: the marmalade that comes on the duck plate is perfect with the Camembert and baguette!
Place rating: 4
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
There is One of my favorite place!
Stuffs is very gently, foods is delicious, and of course wine is good :)
Friday is busy, so I think you should make a reservation.
Place rating: 4
Naas, Republic of Ireland
Really delicious wines, a small selection and they’re pricey, but we went for the cheapest and second cheapest reds and they were delish! Especially the Bordeaux — yum! The cheese board to share was lovely and very sizeable, served up with freshly sliced baguette which was kindly replaced for us. After a while, we decided to go for a main course each. The duck confit was nice but the sauce was a little disappointing. The chicken dish of the day was very tasty, sautéed potatoes and veg were cooked very well too. Very welcoming and friendly service with a smile. I’d be happy to return!
Place rating: 4
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
After attending a soccer match in the Aviva with friend who was visiting, we decided we needed a little vino in our life. I had walked past this place many times, and was dying to try it. So… i decided to use that day as my excuse to go in.
When I first walked in, I was bit confused on if I was supposed to seat myself, or wait to be seated. There were wine bottles everywhere with prices on them, and I would have sworn I was standing in an off license. And, it turns out, that’s because I was. The majority of the downstairs of this location is an off-​license, where you can buy some really nice bottles of wine. The waitress downstairs informed us that if we went upstairs, someone would gladly seat us. So upstairs we went.
Once on the first floor, we were sat, and specials were explained to us. You can order a la carte off their menu (which is mostly sharing plates and appetizers), or they do offer a fixed price three course meal. We weren’t super hungry so we went for the platter with meats, cheese, and pates. As the woman explained the menu and the wines, it’s clear there is a Basque influence on the restaurant, which worked perfectly because my friend who was visiting used to live in the Basque region of Spain. The waitress helped to guide us to select the right wine, and I must say it was AMAZING!
The meat and cheese platter was very good. It came with duck pâté, which I thought was «alright», but I’m also not huge into pates. The platter came with a basket of baguette bread as well.
All in all, great place to grab wine with meats and cheese with friends. They have a great wine selection, but as a warning it is a bit pricer than your average restaurant. Totally worth it for a treat though!
Place rating: 4
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
The French Paradox, great name for a great spot! I absolutely loved this little wine bar/​restaurant! My boyfriend and I hadn’t booked and we were lucky to get a table– says a lot about the place considering it was a Wednesday night! The two course was € 22 seemed great value and while the wine was far from cheap it was absolutely delicious! I was so impressed with our waiter too he seemed to have such knowledge about the various wines on offer! I went for the smoked salmon and I am not lying when I say it was the best smoked salmon I’ve ever had! Anyone into their salmon out there you have to order it! Bön apetit!
Place rating: 3
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
The place has a ton of potential as a regular place to go out for a glass of wine after work, but there are a few shortcomings that I wish to report to the owners. My wife and I came for a glass of wine recently. UPDATE: This review didn’t get posted when written (not sure why) so finishing it now — we were there about a year ago. The selections we made from the wine menu were reasonable but not great in our opinions. While we are not experts, I found many French red wines tend to be lighter but these felt heavy and not overly complex.
What was a bigger issue is that my wife’s wine had bits of cork in the glass. She shouldn’t be the one to point this out to the staff. It was a bit of a disappointment that they were not more careful when opening and pouring wine. When a new glass was brought out I couldn’t be sure if it came from the same bottle or a new one as nothing was said to explain the mishap.
Another issue in my book (minor for some) is how a wine glass is held by the person serving it. All the wines by the glass are «on tap» and the waitress held the glass by the bowl when filling it and when delivering it to our table. I think the wine glass should be held by the stem when pouring to avoid warming it up and when carrying it to our table to avoid getting hand/​finger prints all over it. This seemed like a novice mistake.
Place rating: 2
San Francisco, CA
Poor value and choice with the salmon salad being the low point. Good wine choice as you would expect but the food in general was a let down. Won’t be back. Maybe it was just an off night but Dublin has much better to offer than this.
Place rating: 5
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Delicious wine, delicious food from the south of France in a very original version and combination.
If you’d ask me what to order I tell you go for the Olive tapenade as starter, they have a mix of a Klamata Olive tapenade and a green Olive tapenade, the Klamata one is amazing!!!
I love cheese, so obviously I’d go for the cheese platter — which is by the way great with the Olive tapenade too!
For wine choose whatever you like, but defo go for a dessert wine: Sauternes!!! A real pleasure, tasting like honey :)
Place rating: 4
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
If you like wine, cheese, and a peaceful place you defenetly need to go to this place. I love French Paradox, I was there a couple of time and it’s like a paradise.
I recommend this place for a date. You will enjoy talking, drinking a good wine, and some french food, talking because the music is cool. Chill out place.
Prices are a bit expensive but life is for living, so get a chance and try it once.
The décor is cool with wines and plenty of wine barrells
Place rating: 5
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
LOVE French Paradox. Amazing wine, amazing food and fabulously friendly and knowledgable staff! Can’t recommend this place enough!!!
Place rating: 5
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Absolutely adore this place, delicious wine, great food, knowledgable staff!
Place rating: 4
Munich, Germany
Great wine bar in D4. Went there on a cold night and it was a bit chilly in there. A fireplace would make this place perfect for me :-)
Great ambience, nice selection of wine, a really nice menu and good service. I loved browsing the shop to pick our wine that we drank on the night.
Would happily come back here any day. My only criticism was the lack of a full wine list and a smaller selection of older wines.
Place rating: 5
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Have you ever been in wine heaven? Probably. You say? Have you ever been in wine heaven that servers good food? No. You say?
Well I invite you to The French Paradox. Its a wine shop turned into tiny restaurant.
I’ve recently acquired craving for Foie Gras and there is none in Dublin that is not served in posh restaurant, except here (please prove me wrong, I want moar Foie Gras). They even have it with twist, Foie Gras marinated in balsamic. Yummy but best choice is always Foie Gras mi cuit.
Selection of foods is limited but who cares if everything is excellent quality.
Wine selection might overwhelm you but staff is always ready to help you with decision (Who knows you might even become French wine afficiando!, after few visits).
If you can have smoked duck breast salad with walnuts and cherries. Its well sized and so far I haven’t found any other place that will do it! The duck is lovely smoke and game and cherries (which are pickled in alcohol) have nice kick to it.
This is definitely one of my favourites in D4.
Place rating: 4
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Is it too much to say I would leave my wife for this place? To say the very thought of the foie gras plate makes me think almost indecent thoughts about a pile of bricks and mortar and all the delights contained therein?
Yeah, it’s too much, let us not say that, instead let’s say they have a very respectable menu and a fantastic wine collection which I would happily browse for days at a time (they also serve as a wine shop so you dont have to come in to eat to enjoy the drinkies!). Not surprisingly the wines are French for the most part — well, no body’s perfect.
Why not 5 stars then? a tough one… but then so was the chicken we had the other day, an unusual one from the FP, the food is usually spot-​on, but was more than just a little dry, the sauce didn’t work either — it was in all, an uncharacteristic and ill-​considered dish, hopefully little more than a once-​off, we’ll be back for sure if only for the lovely lovely foie gras.
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Date night, eh? Look no further. Upscale without being pretentious, lovely without going over the top, this place is date heaven. It’s French so, incredible cheeses are a given, as well as wines! Walls and walls of wines. Went for dinner and the two-​course deal was just the right amount of food at a decent price for the high quality. I had this tasty vegetable soup, very comforting! I’ve heard the lunch fare is wonderful too.,
Place rating: 4
Fulda, Germany
If you like French wines you’ll love the French Paradox. They do have some lovely wines on offer– pretty much exclusively French as you would expect– but this is not the place if you’re looking for cheap wines. The cheapest ones start at around 13 Euro but they are all good value for money, especially when you’re trying to impress your dinner date.
The French Paradox run wine workshops as well, if you feel you need to brush up on your wine knowledge. Absolutely worth checking out when you’re in the area and feel like a bottle of good wine with your dinner.
Place rating: 5
West Chester, PA
Honest, elegant and beautiful, The French Paradox has become a chief delight among les gourmands au Ballsbridge.
Come by around 12 for their lunch menu –think buttery quiches served hot with leaves and accompanied by a coffee — which leaves one satisfied and with just enough time to hit the post office before heading back to work. Arrive on a chilly autumn afternoon and your waiter will furnish a cozy lap blanket to keep you warm as you sip and chat and watch the people go by.
Of course, what keeps feet pointed to The French Paradox’s front door after the luncher leave are those incredible wines –racks upon racks (and stacks on the floor) of expertly chosen vintages, which patroness Tanya will expound on in loving detail at the many wine tastings and workshops offered in their tasting room.
Make the effort, no. make the pilgrimage. And then tell everyone you know about that great French place you found.
Place rating: 4
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
The French Paradox is so French it’s gorgeous! It’s main focus is cheese and wine but the food is delicious too. They’re a wine shop that happen to serve yummy food too. They do plates of anipastis, tasting plates, foie gras, salads, camembert fondu, breads, patés, charcuterie boards and of course du fromage. They do one or two hot dishes every night too, simple but gorgeous.
You can sit outside and they’ll give you lovely blankets to keep you warm. At Christmas they decorate their tree with wine-​glasses (aw!). The staff know a whole lot about wine and they also run wine-​tasting events and evenings. Great for lunch if you live near by.