Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [143]
University Canteens
Stodgy but filling cafétéria food is available in copious quantities at Paris’ 14 restaurants universitaires (student restaurants). Another 20 cafeterias (sometimes in the same building) serve drinks, snacks and lighter meals from 8am to between 3pm and 6pm on weekdays. Tickets for three-course meals at Paris’ university restaurants are €2.80 for local students with a French university or college ID card and visiting students with an ISIC or youth card and €6.60 for guests accompanied by a CROUS cardholder.
Centre Régional des Œuvres Universitaires et Scolaires (CROUS; 01 40 51 36 00; www.crous-paris.fr in French) restaurants (usually called restos U) have variable hours that change according to university holiday schedules and weekend rotational agreements; check the schedule posted outside any of the following or the CROUS website for current times. The only one open all year and on Sunday (for brunch) is Bullier.
Branches include Bullier (Map; 01 40 51 37 85; 39 av Georges Bernanos, 5e; 11.30am-2pm & 6.30-8pm daily; Port Royal); Censier (Map; 01 45 35 41 24; 31 rue Geoffroy St-Hilaire, 5e; 11am-2.30pm Mon-Fri; Censier Daubenton or Jussieu); Châtelet (Map; 01 43 31 51 66; 10 rue Jean Calvin, 5e; 11.30am-2pm Mon-Fri; Censier Daubenton); Mabillon (Map; 01 43 25 66 23; 3 rue Mabillon, 6e; 11.30am-2.30pm & 6-8pm; Mabillon); and Mazet (Map; 01 46 34 23 83; 5 rue André Mazet, 6e; 11.30am-2pm Mon-Fri; Odéon).
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Many French people traditionally felt that ‘going Dutch’ (ie splitting the bill) at restaurants was an uncivilised custom, and in general the person who did the inviting would do the paying. That may still happen but nowadays close friends and colleagues will usually share the cost equally. They never calculate it down to the last euro and centime, however.
French law requires that restaurant and café bills include the service charge, which is usually between 12% and 15%. But a word of warning is in order. Service compris (service included, sometimes abbreviated as ‘sc’ at the bottom of the bill) means that the service charge is built into the price of each dish; service non-compris (service not included) or service en sus (service in addition) means that the service charge is calculated after the food and/or drink you’ve consumed has been added up. In either case you pay only the total of the bill so a pourboire (tip) on top of that is neither necessary nor expected in most cases. However, many Parisians will leave a few coins on the table in a restaurant, unless the service was particularly bad. They rarely tip in cafés and bars when they’ve just had a coffee or a drink, however.
Self-Catering
Most people in Paris buy a good part of their food from a series of small neighbourhood shops, each with its own speciality, though as everywhere more and more people are relying on supermarkets and hypermarkets these days. Having to go to four shops and stand in four queues to fill the fridge (or assemble a picnic) may seem rather a waste of time, but the whole ritual is an important part of the way many Parisians live their daily lives. And as each commerçant (shopkeeper) specialises in purveying only one type of food, he or she can almost always provide all sorts of useful tips: which round of Camembert is ripe, which wine will complement a certain food, which type of pot to cook rabbit in and so on. In any case, most products for sale at charcuteries (delicatessens), pâtisseries (pastry shops) and traiteurs (caterers) or charcuteries-traiteurs (delicatessens/caterers) are clearly marked and labelled.
As these stores are geared to people buying small quantities of fresh food each day, it’s perfectly acceptable to purchase only meal-size amounts: a few tranches (slices) of meat to make a sandwich, perhaps, or