Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [163]
BERTHILLON Map Ice Cream €
01 43 54 31 61; 31 rue St-Louis en l’Île, 4e; ice creams €2.10-5.40; 10am-8pm Wed-Sun; Pont Marie
Berthillon is to ice cream what Château Lafite Rothschild is to wine and Valhrona is to chocolate. And with among 70 flavours to choose from, you’ll be spoilt for choice. While the fruit flavours (eg cassis) produced by this celebrated glacier (ice-cream maker) are renowned, the chocolate, coffee, marrons glacés (candied chestnuts), Agenaise (Armagnac and prunes), noisette (hazelnut) and nougat au miel (honey nougat) are richer. The takeaway counter of this café has one/two/three/four small scoops for €2.10/3.20/4.30/5.40.
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SELF-CATERING
On Île de St-Louis, there are a couple of fromageries on rue St-Louis en l’Île, 4e, as well as small supermarket Le Prestige d’Alimentation (Map; 67 rue St-Louis en l’Île, 4e; 8am-10pm Wed-Mon) and Boulangerie St-Louis (Map; 80 rue St-Louis en l’Île, 4e) which sells well-filled sandwiches, quiche slices and cheese-topped hot dogs in baguettes to take away.
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LATIN QUARTER & JARDIN DES PLANTES
From cheap-eat student haunts to chandelier-lit palaces loaded with history, the 5e arrondissement has something to suit every budget and culinary taste. Rue Mouffetard is famed for its food market and food shops, while its side streets, especially pedestrian rue du Pot au Fer, cook up some fine budget dining.
A tourist-busy concentration of ethnic restaurants is squeezed into the maze of narrow streets, a duck and a dive from Notre Dame across the Seine, between rue St-Jacques, blvd St-Germain and blvd St-Michel: Rue Boutebrie alone cooks up Georgian, Tunisian, Japanese and south American; rue Xavier Privas, rue St-Steven and rue de la Huchette heave with budget restaurants flouncing €15 menus.
LA TOUR D’ARGENT Map French, Classical €€€
01 43 54 23 31; www.latourdargent.com; 15 quai de la Tournelle, 5e; menu lunch €70, dinner à la carte around €250; lunch Wed-Sun, dinner to 9pm Tue-Sun; Cardinal Lemoine or Pont Marie
A much-vaunted riverside address, the Silver Tower is famous – for its caneton (duckling), Michelin stars that come and go, rooftop garden with Notre Dame view and fabulous history harking back to 1582. Its wine cellar is one of Paris’ best, dining is dressy and exceedingly fine. Should you fail to snag a table (reserve eight to 10 days ahead for lunch, three weeks ahead for dinner), pop into its boutique opposite to buy an edible, oenological or silver souvenir that says ‘quack’ to take home.
ALEF-BET Map Jewish, Kosher €€€
01 40 18 17 22; www.alef-bet.biz, in French; 25 rue Galande, 5e; cooking course with meal €45-55; 10am-8pm or 11pm daily; Maubert Mutualité
A tricky one to categorise, this bold red-and-white food space named after the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet is a kosher café and cooking-school-cum-épicerie. The essential principle sees a cultured crowd mingle in an open kitchen for a one- to three-hour cooking course, after which they share the fruits of their labour around a beautifully laid table. Be it lunch, brunch, dinner, a Friday-night Shabbat or thematic evening soirée, Alef-Bet screams design and innovation. The café sells fruit cocktails and light snacks; the shop sells designer kitchen utensils and gadgets; and the cooking sessions sell out like hot cakes – book in advance online. Opening hours vary, depending on what course is on.
L’AOC Map French, Classical €€€
01 43 54 22 52; www.restoaoc.com; 14 rue des Fosses St-Bernard, 5e; meals around €35; lunch & dinner to 11.30pm Tue-Sat; Cardinal Lemoine
‘Bistrot carnivore’ is the strapline of this tasty little number concocted