We're considering a trip to Paris. (I've been, 2x, DH 0x.) We want a romantic meal at least once, but our palates do not run to dishes such as foie gras, lamb, veal, etc. Any suggestions?

There's no reason you have to eat those items, there are loads of other wonderful choices. If you are not fluent in French, consult a restaurant page so you know what you'll be ordering (like in the back of most phrase books).

are you saying you don't eat meat?

There are wonderful seafood restaurants in Paris. A Whole Lot!!

Any restaurant will have some sort of poultry or beef dish on their menu. And there's always seafood. You will have no problem whatsoever.

One of my favourite restaurants in Paris is Pomze: www.pomze.com. All of the dishes have apple in them somehow, but it's not gimmicky - instead, quite modern and subtle. The restaurant is quite attractive - modern but not hard-edged and it's located in a converted archetypally French apartment. The prix fixe menu is quite reasonable - 35 euros for 3 courses. Usually, though, my husband and I order one prix fixe menu, plus an appetizer and main course of the regular menu - to give us more flexibility in terms of choices. If you're a bit fussy about some French dishes (there is foie gras in one of the appetizers on the prix fixe menu, for example), two people combining one prix fixe with a la carte choices gives you more flexibility.

This is true for other restaurants as well. The only thing you might want to watch out for is that some small, classic French restaurants might have a limited prix fixe menu (e.g. 3-4 choices for an appetizer and 3-4 choices for a main course), some of which might be on your ick list. If the restaurant doesn't have a more extensive a la carte menu (usually they do, but some don't), you might be out of luck. But most (if not all) French restaurants post their menu at the door, so that you can preview it before you step inside and sit down.

Hi,
I don't eat red meat, foie gras, ham, etc. but do eat chicken and fish, and have never had any problem finding nice things to eat in Paris restaurants!
Most restaurants will always have a non red-meat (fish, chicken) option, and if you eat beef too then I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding things you enjoy.
You can always check the menu before you go in to a restaurant anyway, as it must by law be posted outside.

Thank you for the recommendation on Pomze, Kate. I have wanted to try it for a year or two now but missed it agian when I was in Paris a few weeks ago. I have read good reviews on it from French diners and the menu looks lovely. Maybe I'll try it in September when I hope to be in Paris again.

I also don't eat meat or chicken but only fish. I have never had a problem finding something delicious to eat in Paris.

Daetrips

I think we need to check, do you eat meat, are you vegan?

If so then you probably need to look at north african restaurants (Paris has many). Unless others have better ideas?

If this person has been to Paris twice then she should know the MANY different things that are on French menus.

So eat chicken, eat beef, eat seafood.

As above, in your first two trips did you run into an extraordinary amount of these dishes? That was not my experience.

"I also don't eat meat or chicken but only fish."

Never can work that one out. I eat meat and chicken, but no fish unless it is farmed on ethical grounds.

The planet is running out of fish to the extent that previously common fish, such as cod and some tuna are threatened with extinction.

No shortage of cows or chicken.

I don't think Daetrips likes our suggestions

I had a friend who used to eat only seafood but not meat (and sometimes a little poultry). I don't know why, guess she thought it was healthier, some people think that. SOme people like to call themselves vegetarians when they aren't, also, because they think it's cool for some reason. She used to do that, until I pointed out that eating seafood did not make her a vegetarian.

I'm sure Daetrips is not a vegan or he would simply say so instead of this thing about not liking foie gras, veal or lamb. Also, if he doesn't eat meat, I would guess he would say that. I don't even know what those things have in common in terms of dishes like them. A lot of cultures eat lamb who don't eat beef, because I think they are easier to raise, and for other reasons.

Which is why I mentioned she had been to Paris before. Why is she asking.

As someone who eats seafood but no chicken, beef, pork, etc. I do not call myself a vegetarian. A lot of other people seem to want to do so, just for convenience. Anyway, I don't eat this way to preserve the numbers of a certain species, waring. I don't know anyone whose diet is geared toward that. For me it's about the cruelty that fowl and cattle face in their cages and in the slaughterhouse. And a visceral repulsion to the consumption of the flesh of these intelligent, beautiful creatures.

If I had greater will power, I would eat only plant foods and no fish. It's my compromise. Maybe someday I will give up seafood as well.

Daetrips, add me to the list of those who would never eat foie gras, lamb, veal, chicken, beef, or pork and who has never had trouble eating in Paris.

I think the fish-only eaters are called "pescatarians" or something.

"No shortage of cows or chicken"

I think some people don't eat these, but eat fish only because of the strain they "allegedly" make on the environment. Such as the amount of space it takes to raise them, the pollution they create in the farming or transporting them or something like that.

vjp, you're right about the environmental ramifications of a meat-based diet.

I call myself an ovo-lacto-pescatarian!

"For me it's about the cruelty that fowl and cattle face in their cages and in the slaughterhouse"

And the "humane" slaughter of fish has been likened to sticking a gaffe in an animal's back and chasing it around a field until it dies. It's cos they don't have fluffy babies and big brown soppy eyes isn't it?