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BRASSERIE LIPP Map French, Brasserie €€€

01 45 48 53 91; www.brasserie-lipp.fr/page3.html; 151 blvd St-Germain, 6e; starters €10-15, mains €15.50-25; noon-2am daily; St-Germain des Prés

Politicians rub shoulders with intellectuals, while waiters in black waistcoats, bow ties and long white aprons serve brasserie favourites like choucroute garnie and jarret de porc aux lentilles (pork knuckle with lentils) at this celebrated wood-panelled café, opened by Léonard Lipp in 1880.

HUÎTERIE REGIS Map Oyster Bar €€

01 44 41 10 07; 3 rue de Montfaucon, 6e; dozen oysters & glass wine €22.50; 11am-midnight Tue-Sun mid-Sep–mid-Jul; Mabillon

Hip, trendy, tiny and white, this is the spot for revelling in oysters on crisp winter days. They come only by the dozen, along with fresh bread and butter, but wash them down with a glass of chilled Muscadet and voilà, one perfect lunch for €22.50! Two tables loiter on the pavement outside; otherwise it’s all inside.

POLIDOR Map French €€€

01 43 26 95 34; http://restaurantpolidor.info, in French; 41 rue Monsieur le Prince, 6e; starters €4.50-17, mains €11-22, menus €22 & €32; lunch & dinner to 12.30am Mon-Sat, to 11pm Sun; Odéon

A meal at this quintessentially Parisian crèmerie-restaurant is like a trip to Victor Hugo’s Paris: the restaurant and its décor date from 1845 and everyone knows about it (read: touristy). Still, menus of tasty, family-style French cuisine ensure a never-ending stream of punters eager to sample bœuf bourguignon (€11), blanquette de veau à l’ancienne (veal in white sauce; €15) and the most famous tarte Tatin (€8) in Paris! Expect to wait.

FOGÓN ST-JULIEN Map Spanish €€

01 43 54 31 33; 45 quai des Grands Augustins, 6e; mains €20, menus €35 & €45; lunch Sat & Sun, dinner to midnight Tue-Sun; St-Michel

Enter Espãna: Fogón St-Julien the best Spanish restaurant in Paris, many say. Indeed, its menu tours Spain with a feast of a menu tapas (€45) but goes well beyond tapas, too, with excellent paellas (vegetable, rabbit, chicken, seafood; €18) and other tasty mains like arroz negro (rice blackened with squid ink & laced with shrimps & cuttlefish).

MAMIE GÂTEAUX Map Tearoom €

01 42 22 32 15; www.mamie-gateaux.com, in French; 66-70 rue du Cherche-Midi, 6e; lunch €10-15; 11.30am-6pm Tue-Sat; St-Placide & Sèvres-Babylone

A perfect light-lunch spot after a taxing morning savouring the stylish boutiques around nearby Le Bon Marché, this retro tearoom with lace curtains and a brocante (second-hand) décor positively heaves at lunchtime. Funnily enough for this hot shopping area, the clientele is predominantly female and chatty as the electrifying buzz of happy shoppers chomping into homemade quiches, savoury cakes, tarts and salads testifies. For us, the ratatouille-and-mozzarella tart is the icing on the cake.

CHEZ LES FILLES Map Tearoom €

01 45 48 61 54; 64 rue du Cherche-Midi, 6e; lunch €10-15; 11.30am-4.30pm Mon-Sat, 12.30-5.30pm Sat; St-Placide or Sèvres-Babylone

If Mamie Gâteaux is full, try this other female-filled hot spot which – unlike its grandmotherly neighbour – transports an eager lunch crowd into the land of the Orient. Salads, tajines, savoury tarts and a fantastic value plat du jour (€13) make for a colourful lunch. Midafternoon, refresh parched souls with a pâtisserie orientale and cup of sweet mint tea.

LA JACOBINE Map Tearoom €

01 46 34 15 95; 59-61 rue St-André des Arts, 6e; lunch €10-15; 11.30am-11.30pm daily; Odéon

What a sweet find! An oldy-worldy hybrid tearoom and busy lunch spot, La Jacobine is packed to the rafters by noon with punters keen to fill up on homemade tarts, giant-sized salads and crèpes. Its lovely location inside Cour du Commerce St-André, a glass-covered passageway built in 1735 to link two Jeu de Paume (old-style tennis) courts, makes it all the more romantic.

INDONESIA Map Indonesian €€

01 43 25 70 22; 12 rue de Vaugirard, 6e; mains €9-15, menus lunch €11.50 & €12.50, dinner €18-25; lunch Mon-Fri, dinner to 10.30pm daily; Luxembourg

One of a couple of Indonesian restaurants