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PARIS
- EATING AND DRINKING |
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| Vacation
Rentals in Paris |
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Eating and drinking
are among Paris's chief
delights, as they are in
the country as a whole.
The capital offers a
tremendous variety of
cuisines: as well as
regional French cooking,
notably from the
southwest, you can sample
Senegalese, Caribbean,
Thai, eastern European and
North African cuisine,
among others. There's also
a huge diversity of eating
and drinking
establishments: luxurious restaurants
in the traditional style
or elbow-to-elbow
bench-and-trestle-table
jobs; spacious brasseries
and cafés where
you can watch the world go
by while nibbling on a
baguette sandwich; or
dark, cavernous beer
cellars and tiny wine
bars with sawdust on
the floor offering wines
by the glass from every
region of France. You can
take coffee and cakes in a
chintzy salon de thé
, in a bookshop or
gallery, or even in the
confines of a mosque. Bars
can be medieval vaults,
minimalist or postmodern
design units, London-style
pubs or period pieces in
styles ranging from the
Swinging Sixties to the
Naughty Nineties.
It's true that the
old-time cheap
neighbourhood cafés and
bistros are a dying breed,
while fast-food chains
haveburgeoned at an
alarming speed. Quality is
also in decline at the
lower end of the
restaurant market,
particularly in tourist
hotspots. Yet, however
much Parisians bemoan the
changing times, you'll
find you're still spoiled
for choice, even on a
modest budget. There are
numerous fixed-price
menus ( prix fixe
) for under ?12.20,
particularly at lunchtime,
providing staple dishes;
for ?22.87 you'll have the
choice of more interesting
dishes; and for ?30.49,
you should be getting some
gourmet satisfaction.
The big boulevard cafés
and brasseries are always
more expensive than those
a little further removed,
and addresses in the
smarter or more touristy arrondissements
set prices soaring. A
snack or drink on the
Champs-Élysées, place
St-Germain-des-Prés or
rue de Rivoli, for
instance, will be double
or triple the price of
Belleville, Batignolles or
the southern 14e. Many
bars have happy hours
, but prices can double
after 10pm, and any
clearly trendy, glitzy or
stylish place is bound to
be expensive.
We list the different
eating and drinking
establishments by area.
They are divided into restaurants
, including some
brasseries, and bars
and cafés ,
incorporating snack bars,
ice-cream parlours and salons
de thé .
The Islands
Bars and Cafés
Berthillon 31
rue St-Louis-en-l'Île,
4e. Mº Pont-Marie.
Wed-Sun 10am-8pm.
Long queues for these
excellent ice creams and
sorbets (?3.35 a
triple), with a big
choice of unusual fruity
flavours, such as
rhubarb. There are also
outlets at Lady Jane
and Le Flore-en-l'Île
, both on quaid'Orléans,
as well as at four other
island sites.
The Tuileries, Champs-Élysées
and around
Cafés and bars Angélina
226 rue de Rivoli, 1er. Mº
Tuileries. Mon-Fri
9am-7pm, Sat & Sun
9am-7.30pm; closed Tues in
July & Aug. A
long-established gilded
cage, where the
well-coiffed sip the best
hot chocolate in...
read
more >>
The Grands Boulevards
and around
Cafés and bars L'Arbre à
Cannelle 7 passage des
Panoramas, 2e. Mº Grands-Boulevards.
Mon-Sat till 6.30pm.
Exquisite wooden panelling,
frescoes and painted
ceilings make this an
enchanting spot for
puddings, flans and ...
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more >>
Quartier Beaubourg and
the Marais
Bars and cafés
L'Apparemment Café 18 rue
des Coutures-St-Gervais,
3e. Mº St-Sébastien-Froissart.
Mon-Fri noon-2am, Sat
4pm-2am, Sun
12.30pm-midnight. Chic,
but cosy, café resembling
a series of comfortable
sitting rooms,...
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more >>
Bastille
Bars and cafés Bar des
Ferrailleurs 18 rue de
Lappe, 11e. Mº Bastille.
Daily 5pm-2am. Dark and
stylishly sinister bar,
with rusting metal decor,
an eccentric owner and fun
wig-wearing staff.
Relaxed, friendly crowd.
...
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more >>
Quartier Latin
Cafés and bars Café de
la Mosquée 39 rue
Geoffroy-St-Hilaire, 5e. Mº
Monge. Daily 8am-midnight.
You can drink mint tea and
eat sweet cakes beside a
fountain and assorted fig
trees in the courtyard of
this Paris mosque - a...
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more >>
St-Germain
Cafés and bars Le 10 10
rue de l'Odéon, 6e. Mº
Odéon. Daily 6.30pm-2am.
The beer here is very
cheap, which is why it
attracts young people,
particularly foreigners.
Small dark bar with old
posters, a jukebox, and a
lot of...
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more >>
Trocadéro, the Eiffel
Tower and Les Invalides
Cafés and bars Café du
Museé d'Orsay 1 rue
Bellechasse, 7e. RER Musée-d'Orsay
& Mº Solférino.
Tues-Sun 11am-5pm. Superb
views over the Seine in
the museum's magnificent
rooftop café. Snacks and
drinks. Quick and...
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more >>
Montparnasse and the
14e
Cafés and bars La
Closerie des Lilas 171 bd
du Montparnasse, 6e. RER
Port-Royal. Daily
noon-1.30am. The smartest,
artiest, classiest
Montparnasse café, with
excellent cocktails for
around ?9.15 and a
resident pianist. The...
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more >>
The 15e arrondissement
Cafés and bars au Bon
Coin 85 rue Brancion, 15e.
Mº Porte-de-Vanves. Daily
till 9pm. Located next to
the Parc Georges-Brassens
this well-established bar
with original zinc counter
attracts a well-read
clientele looking for...
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more >>
The 13e arrondissement
Cafés and bars La Folie
en Tête 33 rue Butte-aux-Cailles,
13e. Mº Place-d'Italie
& Mº Corvisart.
Mon-Sat 5pm-2am. A very
warm and laid-back
address, where you can get
cheap beer, sandwiches
andmidday plat du jour ...
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more >>
Montmartre
Cafés and bars La Petite
Charlotte 24 rue des
Abbesses, 18e. Mº
Abbesses. Tues-Sun till
8pm. Crêpes, pâtisseries
and ?8.84 formule on sunny
tables. Le Refuge Cnr rue
Lamarck & the steps
of...
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more >>
Pigalle and south of
pigalle
Cafés and bars Le Dépanneur
27 rue Fontaine, 9e tel
01.40.16.40.20. Mº
Pigalle. Open 24hr.
Relaxed and fashionable
all-night bar. aux Deux-Théâtres
18 rue Blanche, cnr rue
Pigalle, 9e tel
01.45.26.41.43....
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more >>
Eastern Paris
Cafés and bars L'Atmosphère
49 rue Lucien-Sampaix, 10
e. Mº Gare-de-l'Est.
Tues-Fri 11am-2am, Sat
& Sun 5.30pm-2am. Next
to the Canal St-Martin,
this is a lively bar with
food and occasional live
music. The Hôtel...
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more >>
Paris for vegetarians
The chances of finding
vegetarian main dishes on
the menus of regular
French restaurants are not
good. You could choose a
selection of non-meat
starters or order an
omelette or a salad, but
you'll be much better off
going to an ethnic
restaurant - Middle...
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more >>
Late-night Paris
It's not at all unusual
for bars and brasseries in
Paris to stay open after
midnight. Note that the
three Drugstores , at 133
av des Champs-Élysées
and 1 av Matignon in the
8e, and 149 bd St-Germain
in the 6e, stay open till
2am, with bars,...
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more >>
Student restaurants
Students of any age are
eligible to apply for
tickets for the university
restaurants under
the direction of CROUS
de Paris. A list of
addresses, which
includes numerous
cafeterias and
brasseries, is available
from their offices at 39
av Georges-Bernanos, 5e
(tel 01.40.51.36.00;
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; RER
Port-Royal). The
tickets, however, have
to be obtained from the
particular restaurant of
your choice (opening
hours generally
11.30am-2pm &
6-8pm). Not all serve
both midday and evening
meals, and times change
with each term. Though
the food is less than
wonderful, it's
certainly filling, and
you can't complain for
the price . Some
are less fussy than
others about student
credentials, and will
sell tickets to anyone
for ?4.30. They will
cost you ?2.09 if you're
studying at a French
university, ?3.51 if you
can produce an
International Student
Card.
Restaurants of Paris
As you would expect, there
are some really
spectacular restaurants in
Paris. One of the best is
Alain Ducasse at 59 av
Raymond Poincaré, 16e (tel
01.47.27.12.27) which has
beenawarded three Michelin
stars. It's run by the
enterprising Alain...
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more >>
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