trvlgrl

Wow, we just came back to London from a long weekend in Paris. I hadn't been there for about 5 years (but I have gone every 2-5 years since the mid-1980s) and couldn't believe the price inflation at restaurants there. I found it more expensive than London! We couldn't find a formule for less than 20-25 euros for lunch, and even more for dinner. And nearly all the food we had was 'bof'. (We did eat a very nice meal at Le P'tit Fernand for dinner). Granted, we were staying in the sixth, but down by St Placide not St Germain des Pres, but it didn't seem to matter where we went, even the little neighborhood resto/brasserie/bistro's off the main drags were pricey, unless you went for asian. I can find better and cheaper food options in London near our offices either at St Paul's or near Trafalgar Square (to pick two very touristy areas - and I'm not talking Pret a Manger, but sit down restaurants). Where did all the good cheap brasseries go in the central arrondissements? We are planning to go back in October for another long weekend, so any suggestions would be warmly welcomed!

trvlgrl

Sorry - maybe I should have said bistros?

qwovadis

http://en.restaurant-paris.org/resta...la-cochonaille

A good one for me but you are correct have gone sky high.

virtualtourist.com Paris good local tips also eurocheapo.com

When I was there last the only thing cheap was the crepes

from the street still 1 euro per hour...

Cheapest for me to grocery and head out to a nice park

Save a tonne...

jpie

Yeah-we live part time in France and I spent nearly 30 years doing so and I have told all my friends that the food has been getting steadily better over 30 years in London and steadily worse in Paris over those same 30 years. I don't mean the high end places-but just the nice little neighborhood bistros and bakeries. It used to be hard to have a bad meal or get bad bread here but now it is not only possible-but even somewhat likely if you just pick something off the street. It pays to research places like tripadvisor and chowhound and of course Fodors for the more upscale places. I also love 2 foodie blogs: http://alexanderlobrano.com/ written by ex food critic of Gourmet magazine and http://www.davidlebovitz.com/ written by an ex Pastry chef at Chez Panisse in Berkley CA who now lives and writes about food in Paris. They each have food guides that are quite good. You will notice that many of their choices are not in the 5th and 6th but in some of the more "hot new" places like the 11th, etc.

DeborahAnn

Thanks for providing so many excellent links for researching Paris dining. The David Lebovitz blog is great and I know I'm going to spend far too much time on it before leaving for
France next week.

trvgrl, I was disappointed to read your observations after the recent trip to Paris. It's been two--too long-- years since we've been to Paris so I have been researching our dining list. It seemed to me that dining out costs have risen considerably since our last visit but I was hoping to find that wasn't the case once we arrived in Paris

Thanks for posting such a timely question Deborah

oakglen

There are some inexpensive bistros in Tourist Central, but you have to work at it. We tend to eat our main meal at midday and probably save at least 50%.
Brasserie prices are constant all day, thus not a bargain at lunch.

kerouac

In my neighborhood, formules are still less than 15€.

flanneruk

You may of course be thinking in pounds. Five years ago £1=€1.6: it's now €1.15.

But think yourself lucky. In much of provincial France, the bistros just aren't there at all. Worst of all: in the kind of small, pretty village any sane Frenchperson gets out of as soon as they've done their Bac, the few surviving places are increasingly owned by cash-rich middle-aged Britons. They've always dreamt of early retirement from the rat race on the proceeds of their house and setting up a nice little restaurant in the middle of la France Profonde.

Trouble is: most of them have brought the food they were eating before Britain learned to cook.

DeborahAnn

kerouac, if under 15 euros is for the lunch menu what price formules would you estimate for the evening dining? Thanks, Deborah

Michael

Les Quilles offers a 25€ evening formula.

Michael

To elaborate the my last post to take into account the provinces:

Prices have gone up in France, but deals can still be found. From my last trip report:

[In Bordeaux] we had a much cheaper meal at <b>le Comptoir Irlandais</b>, where for 30 € total we ate the following meal, a glass of wine included:

1 vegetable salad
1 seafood salad
Chicken and beans
ray and rice
tarte aux pommes
2 scoops of sorbet

It was ordinary, but the price was right.


We arrived in Sanguinet around lunch time, and stopped in the local eatery for lunch the <i>plat du jour</i> with wine and coffee came to 8€ per person (http://www.cafedulac.fr/ --a pretentious web site for what the bistro is).

[Our friends] are not fancy eaters, so the <b>Auberge de Mirandol</b> in Sarlat was their introduction to local food, although I think that it has gone down somewhat in quality--the <i>pommes sarladaises</i> are not what they used to be, for example. On the other hand, its price to portion value cannot be beat. We all took the 13€ menu (four courses) and there is a 18€ five course menu (http://www.restaurant-auberge-mirand...-fr/Menus.html --the prices have gone up by 1 euro or so since June).

[In Paris], <b>Les Quilles</b>, 123 Bd Ménilmontant (http://www.lexpress.fr/st...-les-quilles_919707.html ) where we invited our friends to celebrate my wife’s birthday. It’s bistro food, good but our friend who had chosen the restaurant had done better for us in the past. For eleven persons the cost was 414 € with 7 persons taking the 25 € menu with a 5 € add-on.

trvlgrl

Hi - thanks for your responses. Jpie - I will study those two blogs before I go back. It seems like the type of 'bonne adresse' I am looking for is probably in le Marais or Montparnasse. (Kerouac - where is your neighborhood?).

Oakglen - We did look all over in le centrale Paris for a good honest bistro that served more than meat and potatoes for the plat - either for a reasonable price or with great quality, but just didn't have any luck. I think without a recommendation, I would be disappointed again if I just went into a place. When I looked at the €30-35 range, the meals looked pretty good, but €100 seems a bit steep for three for lunch, or even dinner every day.

Qwovadis (and Deborah) - we ended up getting a couple of delicious 'traiteur' meals for picnics that were so much better than what we were experiencing (or seeing on people's plates) at the restaurants. But I feel a loss for when you could just go into pretty much any restaurant anywhere and be sure of a good meal. Maybe not an all out wow factor foodie experience, but a decent meal with interesting flavours. Of course, if you were right on Champs Elysees, or at St Germain des Pres, you would have more of an expensive dice roll, but you knew that you could get off the main drag and be sure to find something good.

Flanneruk, I remember menus as being in the €15 range and because of the exchange rate, even if I had a disappointing meal, I didn't feel ripped off, and the disappointing meals were more the exception than the rule. Now when I have to pay €20+ (per person) for a mediocre meal, I feel cheated. Especially when I think about what kind of meal £20 per person would buy me for lunch in London (or $30 per person in New York or LA).

Here are a couple of examples of where we ate:
I had read about Cafe Nemrod and we ate there one day. While the food was adequate, I didn't walk away thinking anything special. No cornichons with the pate de campagne, the gesiers were hard and dry, the confit was fine but small, though the potatoes were nice. The steak tartare was ok, but a bit gristly. None of the plates had a salad garnish. They made a mistake on my daughter's jambon sandwich (forgot the cheese) and all this for €50 for the three of us. (I can't really blame it on a language issue as my French is fluent having studied in French university for a year and having worked in French over the years).

A friend recommended Le P'tit Fernand to us and it was pretty good. Our dinner came to just over €90 (for my husband, daughter and me) including two glasses of wine. Some really interesting dishes, but I wouldn't want to eat that way every day. That said, someone next to us ordered the house salad for dinner and it looked gorgeous. The service there was super nice, and I will go back next time I'm in Paris, and just order lighter food.

Any other recommendations?

PalenQ

from the street still 1 euro per hour..>

twice as cheap as regional trains in Italy - wow!

Christina

I don't eat big meals for lunch so can't compare there, but prices go up over the years, it doesn't surprise me. It seems 25-30 euro for dinner is typical at the type of places I go.

But part of the problem is you are staying and eating in the most expensive areas, I think. Nimrod is a wellknown place in a very expensive area, it isn't cheap.

nytraveler

1) inflation
2) i agree that the quality of more basic food is Paris has been on the decline (they should take lessons from Belgium, where everything is great)

kerouac

<i>kerouac, if under 15 euros is for the lunch menu what price formules would you estimate for the evening dining? Thanks, Deborah</i>

Same price in a brasserie or any real bistro (oh, how I hate the misuse of that word to refer to a small restaurant!) -- only fancy places think it is normal to change the prices between lunch and dinner.

kerouac

<i>(Kerouac - where is your neighborhood?)</i>

I live in the eastern 18th arrondissement, on the edge of the 19th arrondissement.

DeborahAnn

kerouac---my map book for Paris is the Mapguide by Michael Middleditch which shows the 18th and 19th arrond as far north as the Marx Dornoy and Porte de Pantin metro stops---are these areas that if we wander around we will find some dining bargains or just get hopelessly lost; not a bad thing but preferably not when hungry

trvlgrl, I apologize if I've gotten your question off subject but I want to try to find good food and still stay on budget. Deborah

FrenchMystiqueTours

DeborahAnn, the best bargains are the ethnic restaurants and there are many up where kerouac lives. Some of them may be lacking in charm and atmosphere but if it's good food you want at a low price then go wander around up there. I am always on a budget and do not eat out often so I rarely comment on restaurants. However, sometimes I work in the 2nd arrondissement and if I want lunch here there is one place I always go to. It is on rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis in the Passage Brady and it is called L'Ile aux Cerfs. It's a cafeteria style place that does food from Mauritius and it's quite popular with locals and the business lunch crowd. The plates are between 7 and 9 euros and the food is excellent. You sit down and order and in no more than 2 minutes a plate a fresh, hot food will be put on the table. Most people are in and out in 20-30 minutes. They also have samosas and other sides for 1-3 euros each. There is also a couscous restaurant I ate at on rue du FSD right at the beginning of the street near the huge Louis XIV arch. Heading up the street it is on the left hand side but for the life of me I can't remember the name. It's been there for 15-20 years and is beautifully decorated inside. I think I got a couscous here for under 15 euros and it is delicious and the portions are large. I could barely finish mine and I am a garbage disposal. You'll see loads of ethnic restaurants on this street. Yes, plenty of kebab joints but they're not all the same. Look carefully and you'll be able to tell the good from the bad.

tuscanlifeedit

Oh, this is so disappointing to read. We were in Paris two years ago and are going back in November.

I really don't want to eat ethnic food in Paris; it's what we eat when we go out at home. I like French food and was hoping for a few good meals at around 30 euros or even less.

Perhaps this thread may gather a few more postings with some good recs for good food at good prices in Paris.