• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

In an annexe of the Department of the Economy & Finance, this brasserie-bar serves well-prepared and traditional French dishes to demanding civil servants. The contemporary décor gives the place a lively feel; the menu is good (although hardly original), featuring such dishes as tartare hâché (steak tartar), faux-filet (beef sirloin) and a range of main-course salads. There’s also a lovely terrace where you can sit on sunny days.

CHEZ GLADINES Map French, Basque €€

01 45 80 70 10; 30 rue des Cinq Diamants, 13e; starters €5-10, mains €8.50-11.50; lunch & dinner to midnight Sun-Tue, to 1am Wed-Sat; Corvisart

Enormous ‘meal-in-a-metal-bowl’ salads (€6.80-9) and potato platters guaranteed to reap change from a €10 note is the prime draw of this down-to-earth Basque bistro in Buttes aux Cailles. It buzzes with students and spend-thrift diners under 30, and is always a hoot. Traditional Basque specialities (€9.50-11) to munch on atop red-and-checked cloth tables include pipérade and poulet basque (chicken cooked with tomatoes, onions, peppers and white wine). Arrive early to grab a pew.

SMOOTHIE TIME Map Juice & Salad Bar €

01 45 83 98 88; www.smoothie-time.com, in French; 22 av Pierre Mendès France, 13e; salads €6.40-8.90, bagels €3.50-6.60, menu breakfast €8.90, lunch €8.50 & 11.50; 8.30am-7.30pm Mon-Fri; Gare d’Austerlitz

This pristine space polka-dotted with trendy lime-green and shocking-pink furnishings is a look good/feel good type of hangout. Juices, smoothies, salads and filled bagels are categorised on the menu according to their muscle-, energy-, beauty- or veggie-power. All very trendy.

FIL ‘O’ FROMAGE Map French, Cheese €

01 53 79 13 35; www.filofromage.com; 12 rue Neuve Tolbiac, 13e; sandwiches €4.50-7, menus €14.50-15.50; 10am-7.30pm Mon-Wed, to 10.30pm Thu-Sat; Bibliothèque

This new fromagerie offering lunches and light meals throughout the day six days a week is godsend in an area that is not overly endowed with places to eat, especially budget ones. Everything here involves cheese, including the assiette froide (cold plate) of three cheese, three cold meats and salad and the poêlons (pots) of warm cheese.

Return to beginning of chapter

SELF-CATERING

Wines selected by and dishes created by top Parisian chef Christophe Beaufront are sold to take home at L’Avant-GoÛt Coté Cellier (Map; 01 53 81 14 06; www.lavantgout.com, in French; 37 rue Bobillot, 13e; noon-8pm Tue-Fri, 10.30am-1.30pm & 3.30-8.30pm Sat; Place d’Italie). Don’t miss his signature dish, pot au feu au cochon aux épices (spicy pork stew).

Return to beginning of chapter

15E ARRONDISSEMENT

With its dearth of food shops and twin-set of quintessential café-cum-bars on seemingly every pair of street corners, this is one arrondissement where you know real Parisians really live. Solidly down to earth and stoically free of any trendy concept dining, the 15e cooks up fabulously simple bistro fare. Rue de la Convention, rue de Vaugirard, rue St-Charles, rue du Commerce and those south of blvd de Grenelle are key streets.

Near the water, two culinary innovators add an element of surprise: Japanese nouvelle-cuisine chef Hisayuki Takeuchi’s Saturday-afternoon École du Sushi at Kaiseki Sushi (Map; 01 45 54 48 60; www.kaiseki.com; 7bis rue André Lefevbre, 15e; Javel) is the place in Paris to learn how to make sushi; Cyril Lignac, something of a Jamie Oliver with his televised chef-training and school canteen projects, cooks up cuisine attitude at Le 15ème ( 01 45 54 43 43; www.cyrillignac.com; 14 rue Cauchy, 15e; menu lunch €40, dinner €105; lunch & dinner to 10pm Mon-Fri, dinner Sat; Javel), aptly placed on the ground floor of an apartment block.

KIM ANH Map Vietnamese €€€

01 45 79 40 96; 49 av Émile Zola, 15e; starters €13-15, mains €22-42, menu €37; dinner to 10.30pm daily; Charles Michels

A travel guide hotspot situated across the road from Sawadee, this place is the antithesis of the typically Parisian canteen-style Vietnamese restaurant. Kim Anh greets its customers with