Paris may boast the world’s densest concentration of wonderful restaurants but why do these have such frustrating opening hours? Many (including my favourite, Chez Michel, near Gare du Nord) close all weekend and a few stretch that to include Monday lunchtime, scuppering what could be the perfect finale to a long weekend in Paris.

The grander restaurants used to close at weekends and during August because their regular clientele went away to the country – but that is not the case these days. Young Parisians don’t seem to follow this practice and the number of those who do leave Paris has long been eclipsed by those who flood in, keen to spend money in some of the world’s top restaurants.

Restaurateurs no longer face binding legal restrictions that prevent them from operating more flexible opening hours. The strictures of the French 35-hour week have been lifted and the only obligation on Parisian restaurateurs is to give their staff three shifts off in sequence. This explains block closures but not why so many choose to enforce them at a time that suits restaurants rather than their customers.

Even restaurants that remain open can be inflexible. Recently we met some Australian friends, including Neil Perry, Sydney’s best-known chef, at L’Ambassade d’Auvergne, one of a handful of restaurants open for Saturday lunch. Delayed by heavy rain, we arrived just before 2pm to be greeted by an otherwise genial maître d’, who anxiously asked us to order immediately as the kitchen was about to close. Perry’s response was characteristically terse: “My chefs would really love me if I said they could close and go home at 2pm.”

There are encouraging signs of change, often driven by chefs imported from more flexible restaurant scenes. Jean-Charles Carrarini left London seven years ago to open Rose Bakery with his wife. At the time he told me that opening on Sundays would be the cornerstone of his business model and, indeed, there are always queues outside this quirky café. Carrarini has generated good business by giving customers what they want, when they want it.

This lesson has not been lost on the Costes brothers, who have opened the Hôtel Amour round the corner from Rose Bakery. There is a chic bar and café on the ground floor, stretching into a verdant courtyard.

The Sunday brunch menu is attractive and it is a shame that it wasn’t delivered with precision. The advertised broad beans were completely missing from one salad and a macaroni cheese not heated through. But the café is relaxed, child-friendly and a great hit with young Parisian families at the weekend.

Those looking for great food at the weekend should head for Miroir, in the shadow of Sacré-Coeur, where Mathieu Buffet and his partner Charlotte Dupues have created a wonderful restaurant open for dinner on Saturday and for Sunday brunch (but closed on Sunday evening and Monday).

There’s a blackboard menu with six choices at each course, elegant glassware and simple tables dressed only with good quality linen napkins. Pleasingly, at €32 (£27.55) for three courses, the kitchen under Sébastien Guénard delivers a range of dishes with strong, clear flavours: a thick, cool shellfish bisque with chives; a particularly solid version of gazpacho that incorporated a thick slice of marinated salmon; and main courses of lamb, veal, tuna and cod that shared the plate with fresh, vibrant vegetables – unusual for Paris.

And on Sunday evening there is, happily, always Benoit, an Alain Ducasse restaurant close to the recently refurbished Tour Saint-Jacques. At 10.30pm the place rang with the sound of customers having a good time.

Will other Parisian chefs and restaurateurs please take note?

nicholas.lander@ft.com
More columns at www.ft.com/lander

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Details

Benoit, 20 Rue St Martin, tel: +33 142 72 25 76; www.benoit-paris.com
Chez Michel, 10 Rue de Belzunce, tel: +33 144 53 06 20 Hôtel Amour, 8 Rue Navarin, tel: +33 148 78 31 80; www.hotelamourparis.fr
L’Ambassade d’Auvergne, 22 Rue de Grenier Saint-Lazare, tel: +33 142 72 31 22; www.ambassade-auvergne.com
Miroir, 94 Rue des Martyrs, tel: +33 146 06 50 73
Rose Bakery, 46 Rue des Martyrs, tel: +33 142 82 12 80