Maria's restaurant picks in Paris

After three years of over-indulgence, Wim and I have put together the following list of affordable, charming restaurants in Paris. We haven’t included the numerous Michelin restaurants which are obviously outstanding (though a couple do get an honorary mention on this list). There are so many great restaurants, but these are the ones we kept going back to - our personal favourites. They are not in any particular order.


(1) Chez l’ami Jean – 27 Rue Malar, 7th Arrondissement, 01 47 05 86 89 - this little Basque restaurant’s tired décor is deceptive. The restaurant was opened by a Basque nationalist in 1931, and its Basque cuisine and setting are the most authentic on the Left Bank. Dishes include Bayonne ham; herb-laden Béarn-influenced vegetable soups; confit of duck, the gamiest game during the game season; in springtime, look for a specialty rarely found elsewhere: saumon de l'Adour (Adour salmon) with béarnaise sauce. The food is sensational and better than most of the Michelin restaurants we have tried. It is our very favourite restaurant in Paris. The menu, however, is very challenging (I never ventured into this establishment without a dictionary).

(2) Ze Kitchen Gallerie – Modern, trendy with an interesting, Asian-influenced menu with a solid French base (so it is fusion rather than confusion). The owner and head chef of this restaurant, William Ledeuil, trained in haute Parisian gastronomy under culinary legend Guy Savoy. The setting is a colorful loft space in an antique building, with an open-to-view showcase kitchen. We loved this restaurant. Good place for rep events. 4 Rue des Grands-Augustins. Metro St Michel. Phone no 01 44 32 00 32

(3) Violin D’ingres – 135 Rue Saint-Dominique, 75007. Tel: 01 45 55 15 05 Part of the Christian Constant empire of restaurants on Saint Dominique, this is his more up market restaurant on the block. For the quality of food and the ambience, this one star restaurant is still very affordable. Try the vanilla –caramel soufflé. Good place for rep evens.

(4) Café Constant – part of the Christian Constant Empire, a buzzing bistro - what the French call un petit troquet. Affordable way to sample Constant’s cuisine. But not for special occasions – this is more a casual eatery 139 Rue St Dominique Tel 01 47 53 73 34.

(5) Les Cocottes and Fables de la Fontaine - Also on St Dominique. The first is still owned by Constant - a fashionable French version of an American diner. Slick dining room. Sarko is said to frequent this place. No bookings. Excellent wine. The second restaurant, a “fish bistro”, is no longer owned by Constant, but he keeps a watchful eye over the young chef. Fables de la Fontaine is a good rep venue (close to MFA) 131 Rue St Dominique, 01 44 18 37 55.

(6) La Tour d’Argent – 01 43 54 23 31 for the famous pressed duck. It is quacking. The Tour has its own farm on which it raises its ducks. Diners ordering the duck receive a postcard with the serial number and autograph of the duck. (Ok, maybe not the autograph). The restaurant also offers a wine cellar containing more than half a million bottles of wine, one of the biggest and oldest in Paris. The dining room features an excellent view of the river and Notre Dame. Ask for a tour of the wine cellar after lunch (75 euro lunch).

(7) Epi Dupin. 11 Rue Dupin, 6th Arrondissement (near the Bon Marché). 01 42 22 6456. We stumbled upon this one. Noisy and always full but the food is traditional French prepared in an original way, occasionally with a Basque influence. The dining room with its stone walls and exposed beams dating from the 18th Century is very charming. Excellent wine list.

(8) Al Ajami - Best Lebanese in town. Upmarket (full of Middle Eastern princesses), but affordable with Excellent mezze plates, good grills and the best Eastern desserts I have ever tasted. Halal. Address: 1 Rue Lincoln, Paris 75008, France Phone: 08 99 69 05 47


(9) Lao Lane Xang 2– The best Thai/Lao/Vietnamese restaurant in Paris, without a doubt. 105 avenue d'Ivry, Paris 75013, France Tel: 01 45 85 19 23 I love the lacquered duck breast in a chilli-nuoc cham sauce, served on a generous bed of sautéed gai lan and pak choi and the steamed bar (with lime, ginger, garlic – heavenly).

(10) Le Bernica - Wim and I loved this place for its simplicity. Family-run establishment, offering traditional family fare from Reunion and the Caribbean. This is spicy island food (my personal favourites are the goat curry and the Flaming daurade). But make sure to book as it is ALWAYS packed. Good place to go to after a movie or theatre at Montparnasse. 4, Impasse De La Gaité,75014 Paris Téléphone : 01 43 20 39 02

(11) Au Petit Marghery – 9 Boulevard de Port Royal. 01 43 31 58 59. Traditional French cuisine and our favourite game restaurant – definitely the best grouse, partridge, venison (both biche and chevreuil), Colvert and lievre royale in Paris. Needless to say, best to go to this one during gaming season starting Nov.


(12) L’os a Moelle – 3 Rue Vasco-de-Gama, Tel 01 45 57 27 27. A good deal in the 15th arrondissement – 38 euros for a 5 course meal. Small, unfussy restaurant. Thierry Faucher worked with the brilliant Christian Constant, and the quality shows—the restaurant is fully booked most nights. The dishes change according to the markets. There is a cave (cave de l’os a moelle) across the road owned by the same people. Great wine selection

(13) Les Papilles – People come here for the wine which neatly lines the walls, creating a very appealing ambience. You are offered a set seasonal menu and the opportunity to choose a wine from the huge selection surrounding you. While the food is excellent, you do not get a choice. The chef selects a menu based on his market selection that day (“retour du marché). There is also a delicatessen here.30, rue Gay-LassacRER: LuxembourgTél: 01 43 25 20 79

(14) Meiji – affordable Japanese. 24, Rue Marbeuf75008 +33 1 45 62 30 14. I don’t know why we loved this Japanese place, but we did. Paris is not known for Japanese cuisine and there are so many mediocre Japanese restaurants. But this little place in the golden triangle – usually an epicentre of awful restaurants – is actually quite good. We love the Black miso cod.

(15) But for truly gourmet Japanese, Benko in the Novotel-Tour Eiffel is really very good but expensive also. Great views over the river and excellent sushi and tepanyaki. Hotel Novotel,61 Quai de Grenelle, 15th arrondissement. 01 40 58 21 26.

(16) Ozu – inside the Aquarium down the road from the embassy at the trocadero. Jacques Cousteau goes to Japan at this quirky restaurant. Hard to describe – so unusual in its design. Tables are flanked by a huge fish tank, the blond wood dining room fills with Versace-clad couples and Japanese globe-trotters who dine on beautifully-presented but generous dishes of soft-shelled crab, monkfish, black cod, tuna, apple-infused eel. Service is slow, but the food is really very good and the décor a talking point. Avenue des Nations Unies75016 16ème Arrondissement Paris, +33 1 40 69 23 90

(17) Le Passiflore – 33, rue de Longchamp, 16thTelephone: 01 47 04 96 81- elegant, One Michelin star – but affordable. Good for representational events. Not that exciting (and I wasn’t sure whether to include it here), but I would not hesitate to recommend it for rep functions.

(18) Au Bon Accueil – classic, elegant bistro close to embassy in the 7th arrondissement. Excellent for rep functions and for visitors (sit outside for view of Eiffel Tower). 14 rue de Monttessuy, 7th Phone: 01-47-05-46-11

(19) Jules Verne - second floor Eiffel Tower. They only take reservations on-line. The 85 Euro lunch menu is well worth it for the experience. Needless to say, the views are sensational and you are able to access the viewing deck after your meal.

(20) And (21) Maceo and Willi’s Wine Bar - neighbouring each other, either are a good choice after theatre at Comedie Francaise or the opera. Both offer excellent wine selection. The wine list features over 250 references, strongly representing the wines of the Rhone but also Bandol, languedoc, Sherry, etc Maceo is a little more elegant than Willi (the restaurant is very modern but has kept its 18th Century façade from its days as a famous brothel. 13-15 rue des Petits-Champs, Ist (01 42 97 53 85). Willi’s Wine Bar is less formal. It has retained its art deco façade. We discovered this place when we first arrived. An oaky bouquet hits you as you enter the restaurant. The food, while not to the standard of the wine, but still very good (except for one mediocre dish once).

(21) Le Volant – Ok, this one has a special place in my heart because of the famous nonagenarian racing car driver who would greet you at the door and offer you a quivering hand shake. He passed away recently but the new owners have preserved his memory with photos of the Volant with French luminaries wall-papering the bistro. They have also kept the same menu. The restaurant offers generous servings of traditional fare. Good cuts of meat, friendly service. Close to embassy. Adresse:13, rue Béatrix Dussane, short walk from embassy.Téléphone : 01 45 75 27 67

(22) La Gitane, 53 bis, Avenue de la Motte-Picquet – 75015
01 47 34 6 2 92. Reliable, family-run place close to the embassy. Traditional French cuisine. Best Cassoulet I had in Paris.

A few more honorary mentions

Creperies

Best Crepes in town: Crêperie Contemporaine59 rue Saint-Charles - 75015 (of course)Métro Charles Michels ou Dupleix. A Lisa and Toby discovery. Again, Sarko and Carla have been there twice in recent times (according to owner).

Or any creperie on Rue Montparnasse, or Rue Odessa in Montparnasse (metro Edgar Quinet)

Indian/Sri Lankan

Sri Lankan: Café Bharath (67, rue Louis Blanc, La Chapelle, Little Jaffna of Paris. This is not an elegant restaurant, but the real McCoy (Hoppers, Kothu Roti, Jaffna curries etc etc).
Passage Brady, with its countless Indo-Pakistani restaurants fiercely competing in close quarters.

For a romantic Indian dinner, Ratn (strange name) , 9 Rue de la Tremoille, near Marbeuf st. Not the best Indian food I have tried in Paris, but enchanting décor with hundreds of candles, flowers and tea lights.

For better Indian food, try Ghandi Opera, 66 Rue St-Anne, near opera 01 42 60 59 60‎
- good Northern Indian food.

.African
Entoto, Ethiopian restaurant on our metro line (glaciere), 145, Rue Léon Maurice Nordmann, 75013 Paris, France‎ - 01 45 87 08 51‎

Moroccan/Algerian
For good cous cous and celebrity-spotting – Chez Omar 47 rue de BretagneParis, France01 42 72 36 26

Restaurant 404, 69 Rue Gravilliers, Marais. 01 42 74 57 81‎
Très Branché, full of beautiful Parisians. Good tagine. Very crowded and waiters have attitude but good food.

Paris Mosque, lovely place for a Moroccan Lunch on weekends.

Brunch

Le Fumoir – 6 Rue de l’amiral colligny, 8th Arrondissement, 01 42 92 0024, opposite le Louvre, slow service, but very ambient. Good brunch.

Yum cha – Tricotin – in Chinatown, 15 Avenue de Choisy, 13th arrondissement, 01 45 84 74 44

Other restaurants for visitors

Finally, a couple of restaurants that are crowd- and visitor – pleasers near the embassy:

(1) Café de l’homme, in the Musée de l’Homme. Good views, Quite a nice ambiance.
(2) Les Ombres, upstairs in the Musée du Quai Branley – upmarket, but an affordable lunch, again with nice views.
(3) Bistro Suffren and au dernier metro, and also le gitan (on Motte-piquet, not the one on Boulevard Grenelle) are the hardy perennials of bistro eating in our neighbourhood, and definitely the most popular. Both open until very late, we found they passed the visitor test.

(4) To escape the smog and traffic of Paris, we also liked a little restaurant in the middle of a lake in the Bois de Bologne – le Chalet des Isles de Bois de Bologne, Chemin Ceinture du Lac Inférieure, RER: Avenue Henri Martin. O1 45 25 44 01. Pleasant boat ride to get to restaurant.

Our Hood

We have grown to love our neigbourhood - the 15th arrondissement - which at first glance is not the most interesting or attractive in Paris. It is a mixed district of Paris with a lot of ugly seventies architecture along the banks of the river seine on one side and the touristy district of Eiffel Tower/Champ de Mars in the area immediately surrounding the embassy. However, we have learned to love its grungy nooks and crannies, the splattering of Haussmanian apartments, the little shopping districts, the graffiti, a few excellent restaurants, the ethnic supermarkets and the Sunday market under the railway bridge. Situated on the left bank of the river and sharing the famous Montparnasse district, it is the city's most crowded and populous districts. It is also boasts the tallest skyscraper in Paris, which is not exactly a good thing as this is possibly the ugliest building in Paris, towering self-conciously above the surrounding elegant apartments and bourgeois neighbourhoods of the 14th and the 7th arrondissements and competing with the Eiffel Tower for macho dominance.

But most of all the neighbourhood for us is about the people that live here. It is a mixed neighbourhood, where merchants, school teachers, actors, retired Generals and senior public servants, leaders of industry, poor communities, migrants and clochards mingle in the bistros, food markets, parks and in the small concrete public spaces. Some 20 percent of the population of 233,000 are non-French, mostly "pied-noirs" from North-West Africa, other Magreb countries and the Middle East, with about 12 percent African, 4 percent from non-EU countries and 4 percent from EU countries.

The area has a real village feel for us. We have become very friendly with the people that work in the local patisserie, the cheese guy (his shop is considered one of the best in Paris with the "Presidential seal of approval", whatever that means), the owner of the little worker's bistro down the road, the little wine store, the foie gras specialist, the oyster shucker (who still hasn't asked us for his tray back, two years later), the butcher who understands what meat we need when making curries and stirfries (it took some time), our fishmonger (who gets we can't remember the names of fish - daurade, lotte, cabillaud, racasse, merlu, bar, loup (that is bass, not wolf) - and the other regulars at the market. Despite the vast disparities in income in the neighbourhood, people live side-by-side in harmony, which is not always the case in other mixed neighbourhoods in Paris.

Well.....so it seemed. This was put to the test a few days ago when a 15 year old from a neighbouring district stabbed and killed a 21 year old who lived in the government housing estate ("HLM") a few blocks from the embassy. This made headlines but his death would have escaped the attention of the media and locals if it wasn't for the fact that this involved unemployed, migrant youth living in HLM government housing and who are known to hang around the public square every evening playing really dreadful French rap and hip hop music and occasionally soccer, and spray-paint grafitti on walls (with official approval). And for the fact this tragedy led to a public outburst of anger with clashes between different groups of youth and some minor (compared to the regular acts of vandalism in other arrondissements) vandalism of shops and cars. What followed was the arrest of 40 juveniles and the interrogation of many more. While we have always considered these "gangs" to be harmless - just bored, underemployed and waiting for a break from French companies reluctant to take on people with the wrong name or address -selling cannabis and tacky souvenirs to tide them over in the mean time, the middle class residents of the neighbourhood have now used this aberration as an excuse to raise their concerns with the Mayor's office. There is now talk of video surveillance, a higher police presence, neighbourhood watch programs and "preventative" measures. While tensions were perhaps always simmering under the surface, this tragic event has disturbed the delicate social balance in this mixed community, bringing to the surface the intolerance of some older residents, the distrust of the youth and the inequalites faced by residents of government estates in the area.

Wim and I happened to be walking past where the stabbing occurred yesterday and found ourselves among 100 people attending a memorial service for Demba Toure, the young man that was killed. There was a good cross-section of the community at the Service - young and old, all the HLM residents, but also other locals, merchants, school teachers, even some young French women who had seen posters about the memorial service and were moved by press stories that Demba planned to move in with his girlfriend (he had just signed a lease) and start a butcher shop with her. As one girl in the crowd said, the guy had dreams and a loving family, something seemingly forgotten in the public discourse. The site was covered in flowers and candles and all his young friends were wearing t-shirts bearing his name and photo. An imam was presiding over the service. Outsiders were welcome. The service showed that this was a close-knit community that stuck together at difficult times.

After sharing this solemn moment with friends of Demba, we moved on to the dry cleaner and the local tailor to be reminded that the social divisions are ever present. The tailor expressed his dismay at the local hooligans and said they should all move away. An older woman walked in and declared "C'est chaud ici" before expressing her views about migrants in the community. We walked around the corner and noticed a police presence, and there could be no doubt that riot police were positioned discreetly in a side street somewhere as is the French practice, awaiting a possible outbreak of violence.

We hope the advocates of "law and order" do not win the day. The poorer communities clearly need equality of access to education and employment services, rather than the force of the State.

Last night, we discovered a quaint little theatre, le theatre de St Louis, hidden in an apartment building on the banks of the Seine on Ile St Louis. Walking down the little laneway leading to the theatre and knocking on the door, we thought we had somehow missed it or gotten the address wrong. But no, this was obviously the front room of somebody's house that had been converted into an intimate, cavernous theatre. A charming elderly gentleman opened the door and announced that it was "free seating" - No kidding: we were the only ones there, along with an elderly couple who had already fallen asleep in the corner and a younger, well-dressed resident of Isle St Louis. What followed was a performance of enchanting, haunting fusion of gregorian, Ancient Greek, Judeo-Spanish and Middle Eastern chants, sacred, medieval music and percussion - exotic, spirtually sensual and transporting. Catherine Braslavsky was breathtaking with her other-worldly voice. She has dedicated her life to interpreting Hilegard's music, is a specialist of the Gregorian Chant and has studied Indian, Judeo-Spanish, harmonic chant and ancient musics. The singing, some modern and interesting interpretations of Hilegard Von Bingen's chants, were interspersed with narration of ancient fairytales (dionysos, Apollon) by the talented Joseph Rowe, an American composer who had studied music with the late Nubian master Hamza El Din. He played a range of instruments - the oud, tibetan and Burmese bowls, Bendir, darabuka, Tanbura, Mbira. It felt wrong that these exraordinary musicians were playing to a room of four or five people......

This was followed by dinner at the well-known St Louis restaurant Mon Veil Ami. This is a restaurant we had been trying to get into for some time. It does what French restaurants don't do very well- expand the traditional fare with Asian and other influences. My caramelised poitrine de Cochon in a lemongrass/ginger broth, and Wim's stuffed guinea fowl were good, though not outstanding. The menu was very reasonably-priced for this part of town and full of a fashionable crowd sitting on long communal tables. It is a good place to go if you find yourself at the Notre Dame and want to avoid the tourist-hell cafes or bacteria lane (that well-known district of greasy kebab shops and bland greek restaurants in the Latin quarter). Of course, there are a million good restaurants, but this one is a short walk from the Notre Dame.

We hopped into a taxi to the drone of Kylie Minogue on the radio. It wasn't hard to blot this out with the echo of the chanting and hypnotic percussion still with us......