Restaurants & cafés in Paris

Traditional bistros and brasseries may still retain their Belle Epoque cupolas and waistcoated serving staff, but the stuff coming out of the kitchen is increasingly modern, with an accent on raw materials rather than elaborate sauces and accompaniments. Technique remains crucial – this is France after all – but at a time when the quality of what we eat is at the forefront of our minds, more and more chefs are concentrating on buying the finest ingredients, and bringing out the best in them.

This trend is confirmed across the spectrum of Paris’s eateries, from low-key tables d’hôte such as Granterroirs to swish seafood eateries such as L’Ostréade whose oysters and fish dishes stand their ground without extra seasoning, and haute cuisine temples such as Arpège, where Alain Passard presents his puritan beetroot in nothing but a salt crust. Just as they're drinking less wine of better quality, Parisians are going out less frequently but eating better.

Multi-tasking venues

The traditional boundaries between bar, club, restaurant and dancehall are diminishing, with hybrid spaces such as La Bellevilloise (a former Paris co-operative) and La Maroquinerie (previously a leather factory) housing restaurant, bar, music venue and exhibition space all under one roof.

Dining options

Bistros

The bistro continues to reign in Paris. Locals go to be greeted with a handshake and a smile, the wine comes in carafes and the dishes make you feel warm inside. Young chefs are rediscovering the winning bistro formula – a small space, a limited menu, often a long, shared table and a counter for quick meals – and are sticking to it, to the delight of Parisians who appreciate this more convivial approach to dining. Three perfect examples are the recently opened Hide near the Champs-Elysées, Itinéraires in the Latin Quarter, and Le Gaigne in the Marais.

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International cuisine

You’re unlikely to come across Indian food that can compare to what you might get in the UK, but Paris has worthy North African, Chinese, Japanese and Laotian restaurants (Italian food, though popular, is usually overpriced).

Near Palais-Royal and the Palais Garnier, rue Ste-Anne and the small surrounding streets are a goldmine of Japanese noodle houses, where a sink-sized bowl of ramen or udon with a plate of gyoza (pork dumplings) on the side will set you back no more than €10. Dig a little deeper and you’ll also find good Taiwanese and Korean food in this area.

For Chinese, Laotian and Vietnamese food, take métro line 14 to the new Olympiades station, which is in the heart of Chinatown, or wander the multicultural streets of Belleville, where couscous restaurants jostle for space with Vietnamese noodle joints. Best avoided are the traiteurs all over Paris selling microwaved Asian food of unknown origin.

Healthy lunches

As Parisians grow more health-conscious and also have less to spend on lunch, soup, sandwich and juice bars are becoming a viable option. Many have jumped on the bandwagon with no attention to the quality of ingredients, but one reliable chain is the French-run Cojean (www.cojean.fr), and the British-influenced Rose Bakery and Bread & Roses are teaching the French the benefits of organic ingredients. And there’s nothing wrong with a classic jambon-beurre sandwich from a traditional bakery, either.

The price of dining

Finding good food in Paris is easy. Finding the means to eat good food in Paris is trickier. The haute cuisine spots are wildly expensive; and at the bottom end, the bargain bistro has all but vanished, making way for a more ambitious style of bistro where a three-course meal costs at least €30 a head.

Add to this the cost of wine, mineral water and coffee, all marked up sharply, and you’ll be lucky to get out for less than €100 for two. Factor in a little for mid-morning expressos in a Left Bank café and it can add up over the course of a few days. It makes sense to plan before you go.

Budget dining

Despite the expensive nature of life in Paris, you can save money by choosing when you eat with care. Most restaurants offer cheaper lunch menus; you may have a more limited choice, and the dishes might appear simpler than those on the carte, but they are likely to draw on the freshest ingredients from the market.

Among the best of the lunch menus is the €27 three-course deal at Au Bon Accueil, where the food is of haute cuisine quality. At La Table Lauriston, an à la carte meal costs about €50 per person, but there’s a lunch menu for €25. And at Rech, the chic Alain Ducasse seafood house, you can have lunch for €34. Further up the scale, the kind of haute cuisine restaurants at which you can easily spend €200 or more a head for dinner often have lunch menus for €75 to €80 – still a lot of money, but you’ll be treated to a full-blown experience, from amuse-bouches to mignardises.

Café culture

Paris’s cafés foster a rich culture that involves much more than coffee. The line between bars and cafés is blurred so in a café where you might drop by for a sandwich, wine can be cheaper than water and many wine bars will serve bistro meals.

At the centre of the Paris café experience is the gratification of quaffing coffee, nibbling pattiserie and people-watching. For Parisians, many of whom live in spatially challenged apartments, the local café is a home from home, with its unwritten rule of ‘table rent’ – once you’ve bought a drink, the table is yours for as long as you stay.

It’s this laid-back attitude that’s made the capital’s cafés so popular with writers; the likes of Hemingway and Orwell were frequent lingerers. People are still drawn to Left Bank literary classics Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore, although ‘table rent’ at these famous spots is now beyond the means of many aspiring authors.

Hotspots

Urban regeneration is pulling punters ever northwards, beyond the Canal St-Martin in the tenth (home to fashionable boho bars and satisfying brunch spots) into the now ultra-trendy 19th, along the Canal de l’Ourcq. Other Right Bank hotspots include the Marais (and its north-west overspill around Etienne Marcel and Arts et Métiers métro stations) and the picturesque, village-like area in and around Abbesses in Montmartre. And over on the Left Bank, St-Germain-des-Prés and Montparnasse continue to trade on a proud, if overplayed, literary heritage, and the Butte-aux-Cailles, in the 13th, has some of the last surviving cheap student haunts.

Booking

Except for the very simplest restaurants, it’s wise to book ahead. This can usually be done on the same day as your intended visit, although really top-notch establishments require bookings weeks in advance and confirmation the day before. If you’ve failed to get a reservation, you can try putting yourself on a waiting list a couple of days ahead, as last-minute cancellations are common.

Top tips

Coffee lingo: if you ask for un café, you’ll be given an espresso. Ask for it ‘serré’ if you prefer it more concentrated, and ‘allongé’ if you’re craving an American-style coffee. A crème is made with milk, but good, frothy cappuccino is rare. If you just want a dash of frothy milk in your espresso, ask for a ‘noisette’. And if you want a skinny decaf? Head to Starbucks.

Drinking in bistros: the sturdy brasserie and noble bistro provide food with formality akin to a restaurant, so if you’re just there for a drink, you’ll pay more for the social nicety of aproned and waistcoated service. You can usually run a tab, and tipping is optional.

Haute for less: Les Ambassadeurs’ majestic dining room serves the ravishing haute cuisine of chef Jean-François Piège. A la carte starters cost around €80, but the same amount will buy you a four-course meal – with no skimping on ingredients – at lunchtime.

Holiday closures: many venues close for their annual break in August, and some also close at Christmas.

Lunch on the hop: for the perfect jambon-beurre sandwich, head to a boulangerie for a baguette à l’ancienne and a charcuterie for some jambon à l’os – ham sliced off the bone. Don’t forget the thick slathering of Normandy butter. Picnic perfection.

The prix fixe: if ‘Main courses’ are not listed on a menu only set menus or prix fixe options are available.

Tipping: all bills include a service charge, but an additional tip of a few euros (for the whole table) is polite unless you’re unhappy with the service.

Smoking ban: France has banned smoking inside public venues, turning the terraces into open-air ashtrays – especially in summer when sun worshipping frequently equates to cigarette smoking. Non-smokers grin and bear it.

Our listings

While every effort and care has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this guide, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors it may contain. Before you go out of your way, we strongly advise you to phone ahead and check the particulars.

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