We ordered the cheesey potatoes while we were on holiday. Every time I saw them posted on Instagram the last few months they looked insane!

All of the pictures I saw of them in Paris looked so good! Here you can see the cheesy pull is never ending.

After a few minutes, we relented and started looking for other venues where we could sample some of Auvergne’s fabled aligot cheese potatoes. We eventually found three places serving it at its best.

If you are like me and also wanted to know whether you can have cheesy potatoes on diet, I will save you lots of time and effort by telling you whether you can have them or not in this post.

Why this cheese potatoes picked Hype in Paris?

Of course, In the book we described aligot as potatoes that had been mashed up with lots of butter and cream, mixed up with garlic, and abundant Tomme cheese.

But the magical element to this French classic is its texture: it stretches like melted mozzarella, but is more solid and quite sublime.

As far as Paris-based versions go, they can’t be beat (even though they’re outside of Auvergne).

#1 Le Plomb du Cantal

First stop for lunch. The first change you notice is the look and feel of this restaurant which has a very mountain like / ski resort like theme in the middle of Paris.

Unlike many other places, at Paul Proux's there's no need to order it on the side because aligot is the meal.

The staff made a point of presenting it to me before serving it, but to be honest this long 'pipe' of cheesy potato isn't really the best way to serve it.

What stood out:

• Thick texture that holds shape

• Strong cheesy flavor, not mild

• Pairs well with sausages and other meats, in order to cut through the richness.

The food is heavy and not really suited to a tourist restaurant, but then the atmosphere is not really suited to tourists either.

This is a great place to try your first 'real' aligot.

#2 L’Ambassade d’Auvergne

I was worried everything would get washed away in flavor after the first bite, but that didn't happen.

The card feels more substantial than the previous versions, and looks more premium.

The aligot they served was a rather smoother, more balanced cheese than the traditional stuff and lacked a bit of punch. However it was a lovely flavour.

Here’s what makes it different:

• Softer, silier, easier to chew and therefore to consume in greater quantities.

• Better plating and presentation

• They are a complete meal.

I was also struck by how much this gumée tasted, and by how it managed to maintain the ideal range between too-chewy and chewy without slipping over the edge into too-sticky.

Authentic food, served in a more sophisticated manner.

#3 Bouchon Comptoir Brunet

This one was closer to where we are staying and a lot more focused on food than the last one. Still not as great as Noryo but much better than Ice Trick.

Companied by a rather unusual and slightly crumbly cheese, the unusual and slightly crumbly aligot was placed somewhere in the middle of the smoothness spectrum, being slightly less smooth than the second best but much more than the best.

And honestly, that worked.

It is slow dinning place, you slowly eat the food served there. No any performance shown like in other places. But the quality of food served here is very good.

My Final Words

When in Paris and you have seen those videos online about cheese potatoes. Don't sleep on it. Give it a try. But go to the right place to try it.

Visiting these three spots allows you to try three variations of the same thing. And that's the fun of it.

You are not just eating mashed potatoes. You are experiencing a regional specialty that managed to maintain its roots even in a metropolitan city such as Paris.