Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [132]
LA VALLÉE VILLAGE Shopping Centre
01 60 42 35 00; www.lavalleevillage.com; 3 cours de la Garonne, Serris; 10am-8pm Mon-Sat May-Sep, to 7pm Mon-Sat Oct-Apr, 11am-7pm Sun
This shopping centre within the Disneyland Resort, 30km east of Paris, contains some 75 big-name outlets (Christian Lacroix, Kenzo, Versace et al) offering discounts on last season’s clothing, accessories and tableware. From Paris, take RER line A4 (€5.60, 30 to 35 minutes) to the Val d’Europe station. Alternatively, Cityrama runs a coach (€19 return) from 4 place des Pyramides, 1er (metro Tuileries) three times weekly, departing at 10.15am and returning at 4pm; book in advance.
Return to beginning of chapter
EATING
* * *
HISTORY
CELEBRATING WITH FOOD
ETIQUETTE
STAPLES & SPECIALITIES
WHERE TO EAT
VEGETARIANS & VEGANS
PRACTICALITIES
LOUVRE & LES HALLES
SELF-CATERING
MARAIS & BASTILLE
ALSO RECOMMENDED
SELF-CATERING
THE ISLANDS
SELF-CATERING
LATIN QUARTER & JARDIN DES PLANTES
SELF-CATERING
ST-GERMAIN, ODÉON & LUXEMBOURG
SELF-CATERING
MONTPARNASSE
SELF-CATERING
FAUBOURG ST-GERMAIN & INVALIDES
SELF-CATERING
EIFFEL TOWER AREA & 16E ARRONDISSEMENT
SELF-CATERING
ÉTOILE & CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES
SELF-CATERING
CLICHY & GARE ST-LAZARE
SELF-CATERING
OPÉRA & GRANDS BOULEVARDS
SELF-CATERING
GARE DU NORD, GARE DE L’EST & RÉPUBLIQUE
SELF-CATERING
MÉNILMONTANT & BELLEVILLE
SELF-CATERING
GARE DE LYON, NATION & BERCY
SELF-CATERING
13E ARRONDISSEMENT & CHINATOWN
SELF-CATERING
15E ARRONDISSEMENT
ALSO RECOMMENDED
SELF-CATERING
MONTMARTRE & PIGALLE
SELF-CATERING
BEYOND CENTRAL PARIS
LA DÉFENSE
ST-DENIS
* * *
* * *
top picks
Bistrot du Sommelier
Hôtel du Nord
La Tête de Goinfre
L’Ambassade d’Auvergne
Le Maquis
Le Petit Marché
Le Temps au Temps
Le Villaret
L’Enoteca
Sardegna a Tavola
Le Coupe-Chou
Le Pré Verre
Le Mâchon d’Henri
Le Cristal de Sel
* * *
What’s your recommendation? www.lonelyplanet.com/paris
French cuisine is the West’s most important and influential style of cooking. With the arguable exception of the Chinese, no other cuisine can compare to French for freshness of ingredients, reliance on natural flavours and the use of refined, often very complex cooking methods. Add to that the typical Parisian’s passion for anything connected with the table and you will soon realise what everyone else here already knows: you are in a gourmet’s paradise.
The very word ‘cuisine’, of course, is French in origin – the English ‘cooking style’ just cannot handle all the nuances – while ‘French’ conjures up a sophisticated, cultured people who know their arts, including gastronomy. While there is only some truth to that notion (not every Parisian is a walking Larousse Gastronomique, the seminal encyclopaedia of French gastronomy), eating well is still of prime importance to most people here, and they continue to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about, talking about and consuming food.
Do not think for a moment, though, that this national obsession with things culinary and a familiarity with the complexities of haute cuisine (high cuisine) means that eating out or dining in a private home here has to be a ceremonious or even formal occasion, one full of pitfalls for the uninitiated. Indeed, approach food and wine with half the enthusiasm that the Parisians themselves do, and you will be warmly received, tutored, encouraged and well fed.
Return to beginning of chapter
HISTORY
Up to the Middle Ages, dining – at least for the wealthier classes and at court in Paris – essentially meant sitting around a large table, sawing off hunks of meat with small knives. Peasants and the urban poor subsisted on bread or dumplings made of rye flour and whatever companaticum (Latin for ‘that which