A few blocks from the Arènes de Lutèce and the Jardin des Plantes on the Left Bank, traditional Vietnamese canteen the Foyer Vietnam specialises in cheap, simple, yet high quality moreish food. The menu doesn’t diverge significantly from your standard Parisian Vietnamese restaurant menu, though every month there are one or two new specials to discover which are usually a bit more out of the ordinary (when we go, there’s chicken cooked in lemon tree leaves or a papaya and green mango salad).
House specialities to start include a classic Bo Bun, a goi-tom (prawn salad) and their signature spring rolls with pork and black mushrooms. At €5 per dish, the entrées are a perfect way to begin before a generously proportioned main of chicken salad, or a lip-smacking soup of raw and cooked Tonkinese beef (overall, two courses should cost you around €10-€15).
TRANSLATION: FLORA HUDSON