The best œufs mimosa in Paris
This is the starter you order without opening the menu again. Hard-boiled organic eggs, mayonnaise whisked by hand the same morning, and the yolk grated at the last second: that yellow dust the dish is named after. Nine euros, lunch and dinner, steps from Les Invalides.
Where can you eat œufs mimosa in Paris?
At Café Max, a historic bistro in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, founded in 1941, œufs mimosa are among the year-round classics on the menu, served all year at 9 euros: organic eggs, house mayonnaise, yolk grated to order.
Address: 7 avenue de la Motte-Picquet, 75007 Paris, 40 metres from La Tour-Maubourg métro station. Open Monday to Friday, lunch from 12.15pm to 2pm and dinner from 7pm to 9.45pm.
How our œufs mimosa are made.
It starts with the egg. Organic eggs, hard-boiled the same morning: the only way to get a white firm enough to hold the filling and a yolk dense enough to grate without crumbling.
Then the mayonnaise, whisked in house. Yolk, mustard, oil in a thin stream, a whisk and a steady wrist. Industrial mayonnaise gives itself away instantly: it slides. Ours holds on the spoon, and there is always some left at the bottom of the plate for the bread.
We halve the eggs, mash the yolks into the mayonnaise and pipe the whites back full. Nothing clever about it. What changes everything is the last gesture: the reserved yolk is grated only as the plate leaves the kitchen. Grated too early, it dries and dulls. Grated to order, it falls as light yellow dust, exactly like the mimosa blossom the dish is named after.
Served on a bed of crisp lettuce, a pinch of mild chilli over the yolk and chives snipped at the last moment. Cool, never chilled, on a plain bistro plate. Nine euros. That is all, and it is already plenty. The same care goes into the main courses, with veal kidney à la normande and veal brain Grenoble style, and into dessert, with our crêpes Suzette flambéed at the counter.
White
Saumur “La Haie Nardin”
Clos de l'Écotard · 2022 · Loire Valley
Red
Beaujolais-Villages “La Cabane de Marius”
Domaine Matray & Filles · 2023 · Beaujolais
A starter with mayonnaise calls for acidity. In white, a fresh and energetic Chenin from Saumur that cuts through the richness of the yolk. In red, for those who start the meal the way they will finish it, a Gamay with red fruit and a clean finish, best served cool.
See the wine listThe difference, in two gestures.
Œuf mayonnaise
The hard-boiled egg is halved and coated in mayonnaise, usually on a bed of lettuce. The yolk stays whole inside the white. It is the counter starter par excellence: three ingredients and nowhere to hide.
Œuf mimosa
The yolks come out, are folded into the mayonnaise and piped back into the whites. What remains of the yolk is grated over the top as a fine dust. That yellow shower recalls the mimosa flower, and gives the dish its name.
Same egg, same mayonnaise, two extra gestures. A mimosa is an œuf mayo taken apart and put back together, with the filling inside and the grated yolk on top.
Where does œuf mimosa come from?
Œuf mayonnaise settled onto Parisian menus in the 1910s. Cheap and filling, it became the default starter of bistros and canteens: the one you order while waiting for the dish of the day.
The mimosa version appeared in the 1920s. A cook had the idea of lifting out the yolks, binding them with the mayonnaise and dusting the dish with the rest. The result recalls the downy clusters of mimosa, the shrub that flowers yellow in the depth of winter. The name stuck.
Long mocked as the most ordinary dish in France, œuf mayo eventually had its revenge: an association campaigns for its preservation and has run a world championship since 2018, judged on the cooking of the egg and on a mayonnaise generous enough to dip bread into. The mimosa version never left the boards.
At Café Max, a house that opened in 1941, it has never been taken off the menu. In April 2026 we went further: for two months, a portion of œufs mimosa was offered as an amuse-bouche to every table that booked. It was meant to run for a month and was extended to 31 May.
The house, seen from outside.
« A historic bistro of the Resistance in the 7th arrondissement. »
« The French classics here are perfect. »
« Œuf mimosa is the Parisian bistro at its most honest. No staging, just flavour. »
35 Google reviews mention our œufs mimosa or name them as a recommended dish, with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5.
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« As a starter we had the œufs mimosa (divine) […] »
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« You go there for good regional cooking and the must-haves like the œufs mimosa […] »
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« I recommend the œufs mimosa […]. Go without a second thought! »
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« We tasted traditional French cooking, both refined and homely, a treat! (Special mention for the sausage and mash, and the œufs mimosa!) »
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« Snails, œufs mimosa, tartare, kidneys, crêpes Suzette or rice pudding. Emotion and pleasure are all there in this bistro, which for me is now my favourite in Paris. »
Average Google rating : 4.7/5
Frequently asked questions.
A table is waiting.
Monday to Friday, lunch and dinner, 40 metres from La Tour-Maubourg métro. Inside or on the terrace, the starter is already on the menu.
Œufs mimosa Paris · Bistro near Les Invalides · Paris 7th · Traditional French starter · La Tour-Maubourg
