A Vegetarian in Paris
 

Hi,

My friend, brother and I have been planning a trip to Europe in the spring. We are planning to visit Paris and would like to go a nice restaurant that serves French dishes (i.e. Duck Comfit, Coq au Vine etc).
We were informed that the French like their meat and vegetarian dishes are rare when going to a restaurant that serves traditional fare to tourists. My question is: Does any one know of a restaurant that serves traditional cuisine but offers some vegetarian options. We do not want to leave her out of this experience because this is her trip too!

Thanks

Many (not al but many) French restauranteurs think a vegetarian does eat fish or seafood. So some places that say they are vegetarian friendly are not. But there are LOTS of ethnic restaurants that specialize in vegetarian dishes. Asian, North African, etc.

Or of course there are salads

Whoever informed you was misinformed- no problem at all finding vegetarian dishes in Paris restaurants. We have traveled with vegetarians several times in the last few years and never had a problem. If she is pescetarian the choices are even broader, but everywhere we ate had some things suitable for vegetarians, even if it was as simple as a green salad and pasta with butter and garlic or cheese sauce. Pizza is another option, and for lunch on the go or picnics there are always sandwiches that will suit (e.g., caprese.) For a treat that all will enjoy, visit the Marché des Enfants Rouges on rue de Bretagne in the 3rd, and in the back row find the stall where Alain makes a <<cornet>> which is a sort of wrap filled with luscious organic vegetables and fresh goat cheese.

Here are a bunch of vegetarian places you could all go to:

Bioboa
3 rue Danielle Casanova
75001 Paris
Tel: 01 42 61 17 67
With its stainless steel bar and furniture recalling Charles Eames, this sleek canteen welcomes a mixed crowd of fashionistas and office workers for a lunch of veggie burgers and fresh carrot-ginger juice.

La Passerelle
13 rue Saint Hubert
75011 Paris
Tel: 01 43 57 04 82
This former coffee machine factory has a bar-restaurant decorated with comby couches, a library, a fair trade shop. The food is so-so.

Le Potager du Marais
22 Rue Rambuteau
75003 Paris
Tel: 01 44 54 00 31
Average €20
Little bistro, laid-back atmosphere. Blackboard menu features the market's freshest ingredients; we enjoyed the avocado with seaweed and herring with beautifully cooked potatoes, then the hearty vegetable lasagne. Rich chocolate mousee.

L'Arpege
84 rue de Varenne
75007 Paris
Tel: 01 45 41 47 33
Metro: Varenne
Monday - Friday 12:30 pm - 2 pm, 7:30 pm - 10 pm

Alain Passard abandoned meat in favour of a new haute cuisine based almost exclusively on vegetables and seafood. On the basis of a recent lunch, the movement will surely be influential. Sea urchins with nasturtium flowers, a delicate vegetable couscous and a brilliant dish of lobster sauteed in mustard with a garnish of Roscoff red onions. Brilliant stuff.

Restaurant Halku
63 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud
75011 Paris
Tel: 01 56 98 11 67
Metro: Parmentier
Monday - Friday, noon - 2:30 pm 7 pm - 1030 pm. Saturday 7 - 10.30 pm Avg: FRF110.
Macrobiotic foods and spices in surprisingly harmonious ways. Pates marines (noodles with seaweed and toasted sesame seeds) and the coconut-scented tofu soup are meals in themselves. The chef works in an open kitchen and music creates a relaxed atmosphere.

Les Quatre et une Saveurs
72 rue du Cardinal-Lemoine
75005 Paris
Tel: 01 43 26 88 80
Metro: Cardinale-Lemoine
Tuesday - Sunday noon - 2.30 pm. 7 - 10:30 pm. Avg FRF130.
This homely and buzzing resto is proof that veggie food can go beyond the bland offerings of overcooked pulses, etc. dairy, egg and sugar-free and 100% organic. Spinach veloute and assietes complete with tofu, tempura or fish.

La Ferme
57 Rue Saint Roch
75001 Paris
Tel: 01 40 20 12 12
Neo-rustic atmosphere is happily tongue-in-cheek and the smoothies, salads and sandwiches are so tempting you'd want to eat them even if they weren't good for you - grilled eggplant, sun-dried tomato and pesto ciabata are delicious.

Hi M,

If your friend is a vegetarian she should have no trouble at all finding dishes without meat, fowl or fish.

If she is Vegan, that could be a problem at some places.

IME, salads have always been available. Pastas are ubiquitous.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

Just about every normal restaurant has some vegetarian dishes. This is the 21st century, even in Paris.

Ira is right to say that a vegan would have more difficulty.

I must be Gluten Free. Will this be a major problem or must I always carry GF bread and/or pasta? (will the restaurants cook the GF pasta for me if I bring my own). Will most of the
delicious French sauces have flour?

I cannot imagine any restaurant in the world cooking pasta that you bring to them. Is this common where you live?

Here is a link to a recent thread on the subject of gluten free:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ranceparis.cfm

I've been going to Paris about every year for decades and some of these statements don't ring true to me. For example, that every restaurant will have a vegetarian dish. Not in my experience, unless you are talking about a side dish and are calling seafood a vegetarian dish. Which it isn't. Yes, of course you may find a salad that is vegetarian (many are not, actually, they have lardons in them or something), but I think a lot of restaurants will not allow you to eat a salad as a main dish. Not "nice restaurants" in any case, of course, at a cafe you can do anything you want. And at lunch you could, but not at dinner.

So I think some research will be in order to find some main dish that is vegetarian in a nice French cuisine restaurant for dinner. In the places I go, the main dishes are meat or seafood.

Hey Ch,

> I think a lot of restaurants will not allow you to eat a salad as a main dish. Not "nice restaurants" in any case, ....<

Does Taillevant qualify as "nice"?

((I))

Thanks for the website, nukesafe. It will be helpful.
As far as restaurants cooking my GF pasta. ... Was done several times in Croatia as well as an Italian Restaurant in Bruges. They were very accommodating, but were small places. I would not ask in an upscale restaurant.

Safest not to ask in a "non-upscale" restaurant in Paris either.

You could try Firmin Le Barbier. The last time that I ate there they had a delicious vegetarian main course of risotto and grilled vegetables. They serve "modern" (my server's word) French food.

I wouldn't ask anyone, anywhere, in any restaurant, to cook something I brought in with me..can't imagine doing that. Sounds medieval to me, like the days when folks brought their own dough to the communal oven for baking.

At any rate, vegetarian and gluten-free are concepts that the French have grasped for as long as everyone else. And by law they have to post their menus outside the establishment, so you know what you're getting into.

For vegetarian options, go to www.happycow.net.

There are, according to that site, several places in the Marais area and near the Latin quarter that are all-veg or veg-friendly.

StCirq's comment is extremely pertinent -- since every restaurant in France posts its menu outside, there is really no problem at all to find a place serving appropriate dishes.

There is absolutely no need to come to the city with a specific list of restaurants, some of which might be closed or totally inconvenient. There are restaurants EVERYWHERE and you have to be pretty unlucky to stumble across the bad places.

Kerouac, that's just not true. It is not easy being a vegetarian in Paris. I stumbled around for an hour today, between the 5th and 6th arrondissements, looking for a suitable restaurant. I finally found a place, which had decent ravioli (I forget the name...a student place on the corner of Rue St Guillaume and Rue de Grenelle, near Sciences Po).

Eating salad gets old quickly. Of course there are restaurants all over Paris, and I'm sure plenty of them have vegetarian options. But not necessarily where you are when you get hungry.

imelda, get the Happy Cow app for your phone. It lists veg and veg-friendly places all over the world. I never plan a trip without it. I had no problem finding places to eat in Paris.