Le refectoire means refectory. The water glasses are the same ones that French kids drink out of in the school cafeteria (the ones that have a number at the bottom.) The dishes served overall are traditional bistro food, sometimes with a twist such as the hachis parmentier (a ground beef-mash potato dish) made here with boudin noir sausage instead of beef. It would have been perfect if served a bit warmer. The hamburger comes with bacon, cheese and avocado and is served with good fries. The place gets very busy around lunch time and quickly empties as people go back to work. Le Refectoire is open all day every day of the week, the wine is cheap and good, there’s free WI-FI, the atmosphere is nice, the servers are very friendly and the few tables on the sidewalk (I’m not going to call it a terrasse) get a lot of sun. You might even get the unsolicited company of the house cat.
Le Refectoire
80 Boulevard Richard Lenoir
75011 Paris
tel: 01.48.06.74.85
Metro: Richard Lenoir, Saint-Ambroise
7/7
M-Sat: 8.30am-12am (lunch: 12pm-2.30pm
dinner: 8pm-11pm)
Sun: 11am-4pm
You are done visiting the Louvre, you are starving and you have a craving for a burger? L’Emile has a good cheeseburger on their menu and it is served with crispy french fries. The meat is juicy, the bun is sweet and soft and it comes with crispy bacon, onions, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, a sweet dill pickle and thousand island dressing. That is probably the only item on L’Emile’s menu that is American, everything else is French: tartare, lamb roast, beef sirloin with Bearnaise sauce… Main dishes are around 25€, the cheeseburger is 17€ (14€ at lunch time). The kitchen closes at 11.30pm but drinks can still be ordered until 2am.
L’Emile
8 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau
75001 Paris
tel: 01.42.60.08.00
Metro: Louvre-Rivoli
M-F: 12am-2pm / 8pm-11.30pm
Sat: 8pm-11.30pm
Closed on Sunday
Where can I get good cocktails in Paris? That is the question. Feeling like sipping on a dry Martini or a Lemon Mint Julep? A Rum Old Fashioned or a Side Car? Definitely check out Le China in Paris. I personally really enjoyed their Cosmopolitan. The fruit and juices they use for their cocktails are FRESH! It is also a restaurant that serves Chinese food—not straight up Chinese because it has some Thaï and Vietnamese flavors added to the mix. Remember, this is France after all… You can order dim sum and egg rolls as well as a beef lemongrass salad or a caramelized pork dish. The restaurant serves brunch on the weekend. Le China also has a space for live music in the basement called Le China Club. And last but not least there’s a cool little place on the first floor called Le Fumoir, a lovely area where you can sip cognac or drink tea and munch on Asian food while playing chess or backgammon.
Le China
50 Rue de Charenton
75012 Paris
tel: 01.43.46.08.09
Metro: Ledru-Rollin, Bastille
7/7
M-Sat: 6pm-2am (dinner served from 7.45pm-12am)
Sun: 12pm-2pm
Le Fumoir in Paris has been mentioned everywhere, from the Paris guides to the NYTimes. It’s location is prime, it is right across the street from the world’s most visited museum — the Louvre. It’s very central, serves food all day, has a few tables on the sidewalk that are heated during the cold days and are hard to get when it’s warm and sunny. Le Fumoir has a cozy atmosphere, 1940’s music, dim lights, leather chairs and dark wooden tables, the espressos are served with speculoos (cinnamon cookies) and water, lots of it—my American friends should appreciate that. It’s a few steps away from one of my favorite places in Paris: the cour carrée du Louvre. The cour carrée du Louvre is most beautiful, i think, at dusk. I was once alone there (probably unlikely to happen ever again) until someone walked by and stopped for a short while, it was just the two of us, me and Isabella Rossellini.
Le Fumoir
6 Rue de l’Amiral Coligny
75001 Paris
tel: 01.42.92.00.24
Metro: Louvre-Rivoli
M-Sun: 11am-2am
All year round.
When you are done visiting the Sacré Coeur, and you find yourself following the horde of tourists down the steps of the Basilica, and to the right and up the cobblestone street, don’t stop there where everybody else does. Keep moving up the streets and down the steep steps of the butte Montmartre towards the Metro Lamarck. On your way there you’ll find Au Relais, a café/bistro/restaurant at a street corner. It has a tiny slanted terrasse full of trees—a lovely place to hang out in summertime. It serves a lot of traditional French drinks such as Lillet or Dubonnet as well as Kirs that are served either with Chardonnay (traditional) or Sauvignon Blanc. They serve food all day and until late at night. This a very friendly neighborhood bar where I take my friends for a drink after having braved the crowds at the Sacré Coeur.
Au Relais
48 Rue Lamarck
75018 Paris
tel: 01.46.06.68.32
Metro: Lamarck
7/7 M-Sun: 8am-12am (from 9am-1am on Friday and Saturday)
Dining at L’Ecailler du Bistrot makes me happy. Might be a combination of the really tasty food—their seaweed butter is out of this world, it tastes like caviar— the wine, the friendly and busy staff who laughs with us at our jokes while taking an empty plate away, and the British customer who knocks down our pepper shaker while sitting down and then knocks down his menu board. It’s a cozy place with wooden tables, white dishes, blue and yellow napkins, mosaic floors and soft lighting. The place has a lot of charm and an old soul feel to it. The restaurant owner (her family owns an oyster farm in South Brittany) has made oysters the specialty of L’Ecailler du Bistrot. Whether you choose the platter of extra fresh seafood, the oysters shucked to order, the half lobster in its special butter sauce with fries on the side, or any other dish from the appetizers to the desserts, you will be delighted. And for dessert, if the fromage blanc Fontainebleau served with raspberry coulis happens to be on the chalk board, then order it. Trust me. They also do oysters and seafood platters to go! I highly recommend making a reservation.
L’Ecailler du Bistrot
22 Rue Paul Bert
75011 Paris
tel: 01.43.72.76.77
Metro: Faidherbe-Chaligny, Charonne
Tu-Sat: 12pm-2.30pm / 7.30pm-11pm
Closed on Sunday, Monday and one month in summer.
If you are in the mood for delectable (Argentinian) red meat and really good (Argentinian) wine while in Paris, then this is the place for you. Unico is located in a former butchery and has kept its 1970’s design: meat hooks, French butcher orange ceiling lamps and brown tiles. The atmosphere is lovely, it’s hip but not pretentious, cozy and friendly. The best piece of meat on the menu is the filet, or lomo as they call it. It costs 35€. Trust me, you’ll quickly forget the price. I’m pretty sure too that years from now you’ll still be thinking about the lomo! Unico in Paris is now open six days a week. I highly recommend making a reservation for dinner (8pm or 8.30pm and if you leave a message and they do not return you phone call it means that they are booked.)
Unico
15 Rue Paul Bert
75011 Paris
tel: 01.43.67.68.08
Metro: Faidherbe-Chaligny, Charonne
M: 8pm-11pm
Tu-Sat: 12pm-2pm / 8pm-11pm (Saturday lunch until 2.30pm)
Closed on Sunday
Breizh Café in Paris is the crêperie at its best. The galettes (name given to savory crêpes made out of buckwheat flour) are an absolute delight. The menu offers an interesting variation of toppings, going from the classic galette complète (ham, egg and cheese) to less traditional ones such as the “fourme d’ambert” served with blue cheese, grapes and walnuts. All the ingredients are top of the line: from free-range to organic goods, you can be sure that you will be served the best. There’s a long list of ciders to choose from, all carefully picked, as well as Breton beers and Breton coca-cola (Breizh cola!)
Aside from the very lovely people working there and the perfect crêpes, there’s one more thing that I find particularly satisfying: Breizh Café’s opening hours - it’s open non-stop from lunch to dinner Wednesday through Sunday.
If you choose to eat at the regular French hours (12pm-2pm and 8pm-10.30pm) I would highly recommend you make a reservation. Otherwise you should be fine just walking in. And how about paying Breizh Café a visit around 4pm for a sweet crêpe such as the applesauce-salty caramel-vanilla ice-cream one, for those too are highly worth the detour.
Paris’ Breizh Café is in the Marais, catercorner from the Musée Picasso gardens.
Breizh Café
109 Rue Vieille du Temple
75003 Paris
tel: 01.42.72.13.77
Metro: Saint-Sebastien-Froissart
W-Sat: 12pm-11pm
Sun: 12pm-10pm
Closed on Monday and Tuesday
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