Eating Out in Paris

There are tons of guidebooks so I'll skip the obvious.

France is all about food.

Good food!

In 2013 there was a huge scandal because an investigative reported discovered that 70% of cafe restaurants in Paris were serving frozen food that was brought in and reheated in a microwave.

Sacré bleu!

They take their food seriously. Trouble is, you really have to know where to go. Years ago when I worked in the Opera district, there was a 24 hour upmarket restaurant called General LaFayette around the corner from the office. We almost never went there for lunch despite the fact we went out every day. That's because it is the first place a tourist sees and easily runs 50 EURO for an entree and main. Around the corner was a cosy little place called "Cafe Cognac" where you get the same kind of food for 10 EURO or "la totale": entree, main and dessert for about 12.50 EURO. Honourable mention goes to Pizza Paradiso, 10 EURO for three courses including a delicious home made mousse au chocolat.

I cannot emphasise that enough: stay away from touristy places, just walk one block back from the main road and you will find wonderful food at very reasonable prices. A very useful tool here can be "La Fourchette" or "The Fork" in English. They have iOS and Android apps, and are handy if you are planning something in advance to search around a wider area than you may otherwise have time to check out on foot

Bon Appetit!