Elise Renoleau

A chic black storefront, with a large wooden bar, stools, a few tables, and the name, meaning 'the Refectory', lit up in neon. So what made this one of the most popular food truck outfits in the capital? The Réfectoire burger; bourguignon-style beef, pickled onions and carrots, laced with mustard, Comté, roasted lardons and herby mayonnaise. Definite one for the street food hall of fame. TRANSLATION: MEGAN CARNEGIE   

A sunny, immaculately decorated terrace, with vintage plates on the tables, the Italian-inspired Viola sits half-way up rue Lemercier. It announces on the door that it is ‘proud to collaborate with independent craftsmen who are keen to showcase the best of their produce.’ As bobo as that may be, it’s pleasant to see such an effort to help the little guys. On the menu is six starters, five mains and just as many desserts. Fans of Italian food will rejoice (think burrata, carpaccio, risotto, panna cotta) but perhaps less so when they see the prices: starters and desserts are around €10, with mains at €23. However, the €36 set menu is much better value. At weekends, Viola throws itself into brunch mode: €26 for a sweet and savoury buffet spread, two mains, one hot and one cold drink. At first, we’re a little disappointed by the lack of choice – but don’t let that deceive you. Cheese and charcuterie is of excellent quality and the antipasti is just as good, including salads, gazpacho and pizza. As mains we go for swordfish with aubergine and choose between scrambled eggs with gravlax or eggs Benedict. Both are excellent. As for the dessert buffet, everything is homemade: cake, French toast and jams. The tiramisu is the jewel in the crown of this lovely spread. Just one suggestion to the owners: add some padding to the chair legs – the sound of metal scraping on concrete is not the best accompaniment to a lazy Sunday morning. Especially when it’s a serve-yourself buffet… TRANSLATI

Since 1964, L'Académie de la Bière has been serving good beer with generous mains throughout the day and until late at night. No need for embellished décor or posh crockery here - it’s rough, simple and efficient. But there’s one thing they don’t scrimp on: the way they serve beer. Each precious bottle is served diligently, with the perfect glass for tasting. Reserve for a proper spot on the covered terraces or the main room and spend a good fifteen minutes perusing the huge beer menu, which not only includes twelve draughts (Cuvée des Trolls, St Stefanus, Vedett IPA..) but more than a hundred bottled beers, classified by type (artisanal, Belgian, fruit, etc). On the last page of the menu, you’ll find edible sustenance – platters, tartines, salads, fleshy, well-seasoned mussels and delicious German sausages. So while it may be basic, it’s well done. And all food is served with stacks of chips – basically everything we would ever need to soak up that second (or third) round of beers.  TRANSLATION: MEGAN CARNEGIE  

Some restaurants almost make you want to up sticks and switch neighbourhoods. Or at least switch offices, so as to append a new gourmet address to your shamefully limited lunch hour repertoire. One such place is Fermier Gourmet, a quick service ‘rustic grill’ on the Rue du Temple, just off the Place de la République, which serves carefully sourced, excellently cooked cuts of meat, along with fresh veg and salads. As you go in, take a look at the various set menus listed above the counter, including the house speciality ‘barquettes’ (literally, ‘baskets’), to eat in or take away. In them, you can choose any main of meat, be it an undercut of beef, chicken breast, duck tenderloins or, for pescetarians, a fillet of salmon. This will then pop up on the servery a few minutes later, flanked by a decent coleslaw and a dainty mesclun leaf salad. Additionally, you can grab a side of grilled veg and/or some particularly well done chips, as well as various succulent home made sauces, like the creamy mushroom or the mustard, honey and dill (a perfect match for the duck). Although all the portions are pretty generous, you may have enough room for a dessert, like the serving of luscious mascarpone, dotted with strawberries and Oreo cookie crumbs. The Fermier also propose a healthy selection of juices and organic, mainly French beers, one of which is gluten free. TRANSLATION: HUW OLIVER

There’s no shortage of ice cream stalls on the Île Saint-Louis, that’s for sure. Come summer, throngs of tourists roam the streets, some with cone in hand, some clutching mini, scoop-filled cartons. Others, however, will plump for the artisanal, Mexican-style ice lollies from La Paleteria: essentially, cream-based ice lollies made with fresh fruit. Prepared in their Saint-Tropez lab (where their second branch is located), all their ices are free from artificial colours and preservatives. Certain varieties are also glucose and lactose-free. As is custom at any decent ice cream place, we spend a good few minutes drooling over the wide choice of flavours, each one more mouth-watering than the next, ranging from the classic mango sorbet to the rich-looking Oreo cookie or peanut butter ice creams, alongside more daring options like the avocado (we highly recommend, it’s excellent). Some are even laced with another ingredient, creating devastatingly good combinations of banana and Nutella or dulche de leche and salted caramel. Sure, it’s not cheap (€4.50 a pop) but these tremendously satisfying ice creams are certainly worth it. TRANSLATION: LEONIE CATER

The Marx Dormoy area in the 18th arrondissement is a real melting-pot of cultures and architecture. The striking modernity of the Halles Pajol, with its trendy shops and bistros, contrasts markedly with the weirdly picturesque tower blocks that loom over the railway track – not to forget the colourful Rue Riquet, seemingly always under construction, and yet always packed with local shoppers. Amid all this buzz, La Vieille Pie is an oasis of calm throughout the working day. From 8am, regulars at this humming bar sip on cafés at the counter, then brunch slightly later on, lunch at midday, and enjoy aperitifs from the early evening. The bar hasn’t succumbed to the siren call of gentrification just yet – although the décor is on trend, the prices remain quite reasonable. The range of draft beers is impressive for a local hangout, and they even produce their own eponymous pale ale (just €5 a pint). If you know your beer you’ll be happy with the Punk, a delicious Scottish IPA or the Chouffe (€7.50 a pint), while the wine menu offers an impressive selection of reds, whites and rosés. Team your drinks with a platter piled high with finger food (€10), or perhaps a burger or a bagel.TRANSLATION: FLORA HUDSON

If you’ve ever tried finding a meal after a night out at the theatre in Paris, you’ll know options are usually pretty much limited to a mediocre pizza or a greasy kebab. So we’re ecstatic to have discovered Hubert, which sells itself as a ‘night time canteen’, serving inventive and varied dishes until midnight at weekends or 11pm on weekdays. If it’s busy, customer have to fetch the plates from the counter themselves when the bell rings – though it’s a sacrifice we’re willing to make to eat so well at this time of night. There are two types of dishes to choose from, served in individual portions (under €10) or to share between two or three. We opt for the veal tartare, served with pistachios and smoked herring, a beautifully delicate dish, though disappointingly lacking an accompaniment. The same goes for the Angus beef, which is wonderfully moreish, but could really have done with some chips or potatoes in some form. Next, the cheese platter is copious and savvily selected (the gorgonzola is particularly addictive), while the chocolate sorbet with caramel sauce is simple yet packed with flavour. To drink, a clued-up waiter will happily recommend bottles like a fine Alsatian Pinot Noir (€7 a glass). TRANSLATION: FLORA HUDSON

Affectionately nicknamed ‘the ship’ by its owners, Fichon moored in Paris in April 2016 on the intersection between the Rue Marcadet and the Rue Ramey in the 18th arrondissement. Essentially a plush wine cellar that also serves up exquisite seafood dishes, the bar/restaurant is immediately quite striking, with its ocean blue façade, chic dining room, and large windows that look out onto the street. The fillet of monkfish, served with capers, roasted hazelnuts, saffron bouillon, a lemony sauce, and dotted with nasturtium petals, is an explosion of intense yet well-matched flavours, while the pollack ceviche and smoked salmon dishes also stand out. The wine menu, meanwhile, is extensive and expertly curated (there are over 50 bottles to choose from), the refreshingly fruity Côtes Catalanes (Esprit de l’Horizon) proving particularly excellent with its almost Champagne-like fizz. Beer wise, the Outland brewery’s Merica is a pale ale that manages to hit just the right balance of fresh and bitter. Come back on Sundays to try out their brunch. TRANSLATION: FLORA HUDSON

The faded façade gives the impression that it shut down a long time ago. Inside, too, the Equateur’s main dining room is slightly drab and in need of a revamp. Its menu, on the other hand, offers its fair share of modern and exciting African flavours. In fact, there’s an incredibly wide range of treats to try from Cameroon, Senegal and also the Caribbean, including classics like mafé (peanut butter stew), yassa (a chicken dish), tiep bou dien (fish and rice), salt cod fritters and stuffed crab.   To whet the appetite, we start with a large, refreshing, sugary glass of bissap, a traditional African drink made with a base of dried hibiscus petals. Next, a plate of salt cod fritters is very moreish and not too spicy, though its fiery sauce certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. The signature dish of charcoal-braised chicken is wonderfully generous, but from the first mouthful it’s obvious the meat isn’t that great quality. Which is an utter shame, because its onion and tomato sauce is just brilliant.Our meal ends on a positive note thanks to the house ‘equatorial terrine’, a kind of iced vanilla nougat with dried fruit and caramelised nuts. But this sadly doesn’t quite wipe our memory of all that lacklustre chicken.TRANSLATION: FLORA HUDSON

With its elegant interior design, appetite-whetting pizza menu and smart and attentive waiting staff, this Left Bank Italian is as proudly classy as you might expect in the glamorous 7th arrondissement. Just around the corner from the Eiffel tower, Marzo places an obvious accent on classic yet refined Italian products like fresh buffalo mozzarella, taggiasche olives, capicollo (pork cold cuts from the Campania region) and various creamy home made artichoke and asparagus sauces, cannily used on some pizzas instead of a standard tomato passata. Among the many tempting options, the fantastic ‘pizza of the day’ involves a lavish spreading of white truffle on an excellent base (thin in the middle, delectably doughy at the edges), while a classic ‘quattro formaggi’ (mozzarella, taleggio, gorgonzola and scamorza) is another particularly indulgent delight. Thanks mainly to a wine list that focuses on plush Italian bottles (a fresh and fruity Pavia Bianco, for instance), it’s no surprise the bill adds up so quickly, though prices are standard for these parts. TRANSLATION: HUW OLIVER

Move northwards from the busier Jaures area of the Canal de l’Ourcq, and you’ll find a calm little spot where you can enjoy an idyllic view of the Quai de la Marne. Café Odilon opened its doors at the end of April 2016, just in time for the summer, during which customers will be able to enjoy a generously ratio-ed spritz (or two) in the neo-vintage interior and bask in the sunshine that pours through the large bay windows.Besides the fine Italian aperitifs, the wine list here also impresses, with its carefully curated selection of five reds, two whites and a rosé – and if you’re unsure of what to go for, the barman will helpfully guide you. His suggestion of the organic Saint-Nicholas de Bourgueil from the Domaine du Mortier is delightful, while the Chinon (Tète Red) is beautifully fruity. The craft beers are slightly less convincing, with the Aubrac pale ale from the Brasserie d’Olt particularly underwhelming. However, the food lifts our spirits, as large doughy pizzas to share prove a great accompaniment to a cool glass of white wine.For those who don’t want to leave the kids with a babysitter, don’t fret – the bar sells itself as ideal for a family evening out (admittedly rare for Paris), notably offering well-equipped changing facilities for babies. TRANSLATION: FLORA HUDSON

With a name translating as ‘hillbilly’ in some regional dialects of French, it’s no surprise bistro Pedzouille has something of a rustic feel about it. Large wooden tables, crates hung on the walls and mismatched old crockery give the cosy main room an atmosphere reminiscent of a mid-20th century farmhouse, plates served in the middle of each table for all to share. Opened by two childhood friends who dreamed of opening a bistro with a particular emphasis on French produce, the restaurant was financed thanks to a highly successful online crowdfunding campaign, and the pair now work closely with local growers to source the best quality ingredients at this 10th arrondissement address.To start, platters are composed using the day’s special produce, which when we go include smoked sausage, Camembert au Calvados, artichoke tapenade and a creamy vegetable soup. Mains, meanwhile, include dishes like traditionally cooked beef and duck (a tough call, they’re both sumptuous), each served with the house ‘pluches’ (chips, essentially, made using three types of twice-cooked potatoes), while the standout dessert is a lush mousse au chocolat. Drinks wise, the restaurant proposes a small selection of ciders, beers and wines like an excellent Côtes du Rhône, from the Château de Montfrin.  TRANSLATION: FLORA HUDSON