Last Updated on 15th October 2023 by Sophie Nadeau
Located a short walk away from Anvers metro station, Le Refuge des Fondus is a fun and lively fondue restaurant where diners drink wine from baby bottles and the conversation is ever flowing.
Best visited together with a handful of good friends (and best booked a week in advance as the place is totally tiny and fills up fast), here’s what it’s like to dine in the 18th arrondissement’s most convivial restaurant.
The address for Le Refuge des Fondus is 17 Rue des Trois Frères in Paris. The nearest métro stations are Pigalle (line 2, line 12) and Anvers (line 2).
What is served at Le Refuge des Fondus?
The recipe has been used since 1966 (as has the set menu). All diners have a fixed price menu which, as of 2023, is set at €29. Upon arrival, you are given a welcome cocktail of a Kir (wine with cassis- you can check out our kir recipe here).
There is then an amuse-bouche “apéro rigolo” for the table which consists of mini chunks of cheese, pickles, olives, cured ham, and potatoes. This is followed by either a fondue bourguignonne or savoyarde (AOP cheeses – either a meat option or solely a cheese one).
Both options are served with unlimited baskets of bread. We went with the classic savoyarde (cheese only) though from what I saw of the bourgignonne, you are served with chunks of beef and potatoes to be dunked into your fondue.
This is all washed down with a quarter of wine (two glasses of wine- house white or house red) and finished off with a home made dessert (either cheese or a meringue- we had had so much cheese at this point that we all opted for the meringue). We were also served a complimentary shot at the end of our meal.
The experience of dining at Le Refuge des Fondus
The wine is served in baby bottles (biberon in French). And no, as some people might assume, this doesn’t mean ‘little bottles’. The wine quite literally served out of baby bottles which are branded with the logo of the Montmartre restaurant.
Just be warned that, if you steal the baby bottle, then a €20 surcharge will be added to your bill (you can request to purchase one as a souvenir if you like). There’s an urban myth that suggests that the wine is served in baby bottles to avoid a Parisian tax on wine glasses. This is not true.
Instead the wine is served in baby bottles as a safety measure which dates back to 1966 so that the wine glasses don’t spill over when clients are jumping over the tables to reach their seats (PS don’t make the mistake I did of wearing a very short skirt)!
You may well have gathered by now that a lot of dining at Le Refuge des Fondus is all about the experience rather than the food! Indeed, it’s a pretty rowdy restaurant and incredibly quirky, to say the least.
All of the walls (and even the seating) are covered in graffiti- at the end of the meal diners are invited to scrawl their own name or a small note anywhere they like in the dining area. I even noticed that one of my friends had written her name on the door close to the door handle that it also in the shape of a baby bottle!
Tips for visiting the Refuge des Fondues
Before visiting, you should note that you pay almost exclusively for the fun experience and convivial atmosphere and not the food (the fondue doesn’t even rank in my top 10 fondues in Paris if based on food quality alone).
The dining establishment consists of two long tables and you’ll get very cosy (to the point of a little cramped) with your neighbours. In order to get into my seat on the other side of the middle of the table, I quite literally had to climb over the table (and almost knocked over my neighbour’s pot of fondue in the process!)
Indeed, the ambiance is so cosy that we ended up chatting to our fellow diners and ended up going for drinks with them in a nearby bar afterwards! As you might imagine, this has become a very popular food joint among visitors to the city and so be sure to reserve your places ahead of your booking.
You can pay by card (the venue used to be cash only but we paid with our debit cards during a 2022 visit). All in all, Le Refuge des Fondus is a fun experience that I would recommend to anyone visiting Paris (despite being a little pricey and the food not being of great quality- but if you bear this in mind before visiting you’ll have a fantastic time).
Le Refuge des Fondus is in one of Paris’ most touristic and popular districts, the area of Montmartre. There are plenty of other nearby attractions of note in the area including searching for Amelie filming locations, and the I Love You Wall.
If you want to explore Montmartre in greater detail before your meal, check out our Montmartre walking tour or guide to the best hidden gems of Montmartre.
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Sophie Nadeau loves dogs, books, travel, pizza, and history. A Francophile at heart, she runs solosophie.com when she’s not chasing after the next sunset shot or consuming something sweet. She splits her time between Paris and London and travels as much as she can! Subscribe to Sophie’s YouTube Channel.
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