Everywhere we ate in Paris ⋆ chic everywhere

Part of the fun when travelling is enjoying the food and while I don’t consider myself a foodie I do appreciate good food. Paris has restaurants everywhere. Which makes finding somewhere to eat both incredibly easy and incredibly hard. I thought I would share where we ate during our recent trip to the city of lights. This is everywhere we ate in Paris.

Everywhere we ate in Paris

During our trip to Paris we stayed in the Gare de Lyon area. We tended not to venture too far for our dinners and this was especially true of our first night in Paris.

My husband and I ate at a french bistro a few blocks from our hotel. Les Garnements was a great introduction to french food. We arrived before the kitchen was open but were able to get some happy hour drinks to tide us over until 6pm.

I had the steak which was good. But what made the meal great was the salad with the balsamic vinaigrette and the potatoes. The sauce also made everything extra tasty.

My husband had the fish. If I remember correctly it was sea bass. He had the same salad and potatoes.

The food was fairly simple but well prepared.

Our second day we stopped for lunch near the Louvre. This was one of the few times we stopped in a more touristy area for food.

Since it was a nice day we sat out on the patio watching the world go by. I think this is one of my favourite things about restaurants in Paris are the way they are set up for you to watch the world go by. It encourages you to slow down and enjoy your surroundings, even if you are by yourself.

We had to have a croque madame at least once while we were in Paris. The one we had at the Cafe Palais Royal was excellent. Especially since we missed out on breakfast while finding our way to the hop on hop off bus tour. I think I need to start adding some ham to our grilled cheese and a fried egg.

That evening we went for our first Parisian burger at Ben’s. This isn’t a fast food burger more a gourmet burger.

I had the blue cheese burger and fries. It was seriously good. The fries were fresh cut and hot! The burger was flavourful, delicious to the last bite.

If you are staying in the Gare de Lyon area, Bastille is only one Metro stop away, but it is also walkable. We tended to take the Metro because after walking all day it was a bit of a stretch but really it was only a 20 min walk to get from one neighbourhood to the other.

The next night we headed back to La Bastille area for dinner. We went to Cafe des Anges which was busy out front with all sorts of happy hour enjoying locals. We went inside to eat because there were no seats outside.

Inside Cafe des Anges it was like the theme was flea market chic. It just worked. Like all the other bistros we had been to they had a happy hour deal on drinks that was for longer than one hour. Paris seemed to really go for happy hour.

I had the Cot Cot burger, which really wasn’t a burger at all it was more of a sandwich. The sourdough bread is hiding grilled chicken, bacon and cheese. The egg I flipped inside and OMG it was delicious. Basically Paris taught me to add a fried egg to everything to make it taste even better.

This was one of my favourite meals while we were in Paris. My husband had the steak. I don’t think he was as impressed but it was still good.

The next night we ate across from the Canal St. Martin at Cafe de la Presse. This was only a few blocks from our hotel by Gare de Lyon. There as a more popular restaurant a few doors down with cheaper happy hour drinks. The food was rated better at Cafe de la Presse which is why we ended up there.

This cafe seemed to turn into a Bar later in the evening and looked as though it could be a fun but young place to hang out. But food wise I had another great meal. I had grilled chicken burger again. The burger was more fresh tasting as it was topped with greens. The fries were outstanding as usual. We didn’t have any mediocre fries while we were in Paris.

The next night we took a break from french bistros and went for Pizza. My husband wasn’t feeling well that night and it was raining so we didn’t venture too far from the hotel. We ended up at Brasserie Pizzaria d’azure. It was probably the worst meal we had in Paris. It wasn’t exactly bad. Just not as good. The pizza would have been fantastic if it had more flavour. Definitely needed some garlic in the sauce or something.

Get ready for Paris: Paris Packing List

Somehow we locked the fridge in our room. Which meant all the stuff we had to make sandwiches was locked until the hotel could unlock our fridge. This meant we actually went out for lunch the next touring day. We were in the 4th arrondissment or Beauborg area and I assumed we would have to break the budget in the touristy areas for lunch. I was WRONG. Meating corner was on a cute pedestrian street and they had a lunch special for $13 euros. For that price we got a gourmet burger (honestly they were so amazing!) fresh cut fries (also delicious) and a drink. This place filled up fast for lunch.

For me it is a toss up whether this or Cafe des Anges is was my favourite meal. My husband said this was hands down his favourite. It was our most affordable meal while we were in Paris.

You may have noticed that I didn’t include restaurants for every meal for every day. That is because we stopped at grocery stores in Paris. We used Franprix and Carrefour to grab bread and cold cuts and drinks for while we were out sightseeing. We also stopped at some bakeries to get some croissants for breakfast.

Quick reference list to Everywhere we ate in Paris

Les Garnements (near Gare de Lyon)
Cafe Palais Royal (near the Louvre)
Ben’s (La Bastille)
Cafe des Anges (La Bastille) **Jane’s Fave**
Cafe de la Presse (near Gare de Lyon & Canal St. Martin)
Brasserie Pizzeria d’Azure (near Gare de Lyon)
Meating Corner (near the Pompidou centre) **Jane’s husband’s fave**

Everywhere we ate in Paris was good and most were pretty affordable. Only one restaurant was mediocre (pizza place). I would recommend everywhere we ate in Paris especially if you are staying near Gare de Lyon.