Foodie in Paris: not much money!
 

Our family is going back to Paris and our 25 year old son is joining us for the first time. He is a "foodie" and would like to try some different and unusual things but our budget is fairly limited.

We are staying in an apartment by Place de la Madeleine but will be walking all over. I would love to have one or two nice dinners but could not spend more than $150-200 for 5 of us. Any suggestions?

Any special places (bakeries, cheese shops, etc.) that you would suggest he try?

Would bakeries and cheese shops be "different and unusual" enough for him?

A truly great dinner for 5 for less than $200 (that's only about 25 euro each)or less will be a challenge at most restaurants. As a general rule, lunch is cheaper and often a better value. There are plenty of places that offer tourist menus, and while epicurean foodies may sneer at many (some deservedly) they offer a way to keep body and soul together on the cheap for non-splurge meals. Some guidelines that have served me well in a similar situation:
1. If the place is full of tourists, keep walking
2. If there is a laminated English menu or a guy at the entrance hawking customers, stroll on
3. If it is a hole in the wall in an out of the way place but has a local crowd, give it a shot
4. Carry along a pocket size translation list for food items
5. Be adventurous and remember that ethnic foods often cost less
http://tinyurl.com/2tvssy
http://tinyurl.com/2swyk4

Since you have an apartment you can certainly hit the markets and whip up some meals for yourself. The quality of the products is great, and with some simple preparation you have a delicious meal. http://tinyurl.com/2slbyo

Several people have recommended the Picard frozen food stores but have not yet tried them yet because the fresh market products are just so good.
http://www.picard.fr/

Our family of 5 ate quite well in Paris in 2006 without breaking the bank. We used Sandra Gustafson's "Great Eats in Paris" book as a reference. The thing to look for are the prix fixe menus.

We felt the following all offered good value:

Les Degrés de Notre Dame (3 rue des Grands Degrés), menus at €23.50 and €25.50

La Maison de la Lozère (4 rue Hautefeuille), total for 5 €124.90

Le Caveau de L’Isle (36 rue Saint Louis en l’Isle), €24.95 menu

Le Petit Prince (12 rue Lanneau), menu €18, assiette été €19

Le Pré Verre (8 rue Thénard), €25.50 menu

If he is 25, he can darn well afford to treat you. Let him worry about the cost.

Here's what I am thinking - set a daily food budget, with a couple of days being higher than others. Take your son to a grocery and the markets. there are a couple close by to where you are staying. What is average/typical to the locals feels exotic to us...I love to shop for groceries in Paris. It's an adventure. On the days you allow more money, go for a prix fix menu. It gives you some control and ensures you meet financial expectations. Search this board for ideas, go with a list, look around and make your decisions on the fly. The exchange rate is hurting us all - the key is to keep control.

So,here's a funny story, this past year six of us arrived in Paris and none of us got there when expected. All flights were late or cancelled. After 24 hrs of travel we crashed in our apartment. I must admit it was a fabulous apartment - In Palais Royal. We were hungry and thirsty. We had wine and Vodka from duty free. I scoured the apartment and managed to build a cous cous "soufle" topped with some sort of green vegetable meatballs (from the freezer). topped with instant bechemal sauce and some unknown dried cheese....we loved it!!! It was Paris , we are the best of friends and the food was exotic.... do not be afraid to eat in!!!!

bookmarking for Paris cheaper eats.

kerouac recently posted in this forum about a walk from gare du nord to montmartre.
here: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35095155

bookmarking

Hi P,

>He is a "foodie" and would like to try some different and unusual things ..

Almost everything will be different, if not unusual.

Let him try ris de veau, Andouillette sausage , rognons, gesier de canard, filet de Cheval, museau de boef, pied de cochon.

All of the above are available without going to high-priced restos.

((I))

What great help! Thanks for all the links to restaurants, markets and then specific ideas for meals. I actually think the idea of exploring all the food markets and cooking with products we can't find in our small town sounds fascinating.

sandi_travelnut: we all love bread and my husband always seemed to have a baguette in his hand.

QueScaisJe: Is there one of these that stood out as a great memory?

Maybe this will help?

Author: tod
Date: 03/07/2008, 11:09 am
Luther- Cheap cheap food:-
A fellow Fodorite living in Paris has put forward these fantastic cheap eats:
Metro;Max Dormoy. 2 Rue de la Chapelle - Au Roi du Cafe, meals for less than 10euros.
or
Boulangerie de Mogador, 10 rue Chapelle.

94bis Rue Riquet, Indian restaurant with set meal 7.50euros-18euros.

You like Chinese food?

Rue Torcy is the main restaurant street of the local Chinatown.

La Locomotive, 25 Rue Torcy has huge meals for 8euros.
Across the street, Thai San @ no.44 or Hanouman, no.36 has set menu 10, 12 & 13 euros.

35 Rue de Torcy is Shin Juku with meals @ 9euros or La Maison Thai, 2 rue de l'Evangile ( only 2 tables)where you can eat well for 5 euros!!!

I, me, myself, can't wait to get there as I absolutely adore Eastern food!
Hope you try some too!

OK Ira, I had to google most of those foods and I'm glad my son is the "foodie" and not me: pig's trotters, kidneys, and I quote: "Ris de veau is veal sweetbreads. There are two types: the pancreas and the thyroid gland, generally only used from the young animals - calves and lamb." Oh, my. I actually love to cook but don't even like giblets in our Thanksgiving gravy!

OMG, but ris de veau is not exotic. It's one of the world's most famous & most outstanding gastronomic delights. Nobody may call him/herself a serious eater without having it regularly!! ("Giblets" are a gastronomic non-category. Each of them tastes so differently!, it's absolutely impossible to determine anything they have in common. If you don't like kidneys, for example, you can't conclude that you won't like ris de veau, as well. That's like saying "I don't like cheddar cheese, certainly I won't like beef steak, too" - both being cattle products!)

Perhaps I need to "google" less and just be brave to try everything!

Definitely. IMHO, even the notion of being brave if you try unknown food is distorted. If I'm going elsewhere, I try to sample ONLY unknown food. How boring to eat what I can have back home, too. (A dear Fodorite friend, a big foodie as well, once wanted to send me to Vietnam just to sample chicken penis :) - I've yet to do it, but indeed, for me, those chicken penis dishes are a strong reason to go! Where else would you find them?)

Ok, let's be serious. While I don't doubt that it may be possible to get fine food at reasonable prices in Paris, I always failed to, even with considerable research and preparation. On my last visit, I found the - for me, of course - definite solution: each day, I had brunch and dinner at home, i.e. at the apartment I had rented; or breakfast instead of brunch, plus a light, cheap, unassuming lunch somewhere out - for these meals at home, I bought cheese, first of all (the cheese shops are gorgeous in Paris - don't even think of buying cheese at the supermarket, PLEASE!), or pies/terrines/galantines (gorgeous shopping, as well), with baguette. And as far as eating out, I planned each afternoon around one of Paris' world-famous patissiers, eating two or three sweet phantasies or a gelato (which is great in Paris, not just in Italy!). Those confectioners creations cost a fortune for what they are, but that's still less than even a cheap meal!, and the quality is superb - pastry confections like nowhere else in the world, and gelato that hasn't too much competition, as well.

One way to keep costs down is for just the son and one parent at a time to go for a restaurant lunch. Be sure each of you gets at least one turn.

Also, if your son likes cheese, you can buy small amounts of several kinds each day and do a cheese-tasting back at the apartment. Same with pastries and breads. Try and compare some different butters; they are a revelation. Chocolate bars--he'll have the thrill of going into a store and seeing long rows of chocolates (I like Cote d'Or from Belgium). I hope he can find caramels au beurre sale--the best candy I've ever tasted. He will love the markets and grocery stores.
I bet even the younger kids will enjoy this. You'll have so much fun cooking with your family.

Hi PW,

>Perhaps I need to "google" less and just be brave to try everything!

Well, let me help you a bit.

Sweetbreads, kidneys, gizzards and pig feet are quite good.

Beef cheeks are rather unctuoous. I like them but my Lady wife doesn't.

Andouillete are tripe sausage. Definitely an acquired taste, but very good with a powerful red wine.

You can get very good Italian, Algerian, Chinese, Thai and Singaporan food in Paris.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

PW - I don't take credit for the foodie reccommendations. All came via Kerouac who has been given the link to his "walk" from hhilderbrandt.

Ira - Please do tell where we can find Singaporean food in Paris!
I would kill for a good dose of Sate`!

The gezziers that Ira mentioned can be a good choice. Many restaurants offer a Salad with Gizzier and Blue Cheese. Often it will have walnuts.

Normally this is a cheap dish and it meats the foodie's requirements.

I have a salad similar for about 5 € for the smaller and the BIG salad is 10€ but not possible to finish.

Blackduff

bookmarking

ttt

PWAbbott, you asked "Is there one of these that stood out as a great memory?"

Le Pré Verre fashions itself to be a wine bar, and has a good selection of fine wines on offer. We picked a nice Ostertag Riesling to go with the seafood most of us ordered from the €25.50 menu. My eldest son was having a spice encrusted entrecote, so we ordered an additional glass of red Cheverny for him. The food was quite creative, with some especially dubious combinations for dessert (parsley ice cream? vanilla ice cream with olives?), but everything tasted wonderful; your foodie son would enjoy this. However our final bill came to €174 which may be out of your price range.

The specialty of La Lozère is Aligot d’Aubrac, a potato, cream, and cantal cheese dish which is really good but really, really filling. They start you off with a loaf of bread and a large knife, which you are supposed to use to hack off slices. The rustic-feeling restaurant was fun, and interesting as we'd not had Aligot before.

All of the restaurants we thought were very good value for what we received. Enjoy Paris!

I don't get it, your son is 25 and you are worried about paying for a nice dinner for him,, and you are also probaly paying for his accomadation,, you are even worried about pleasing him,, wow, he must be a great kid. As a great kid I bet he would love to treat his family to a nice dinner !

I also like the idea of taking him out for a nice lunch one on one instead of a group dinner. You can dine at a nicer place for less money that way.

PWA: I have found that even a simple roasted chicken meal is a delight in Paris as it is well prepared and delicious. I don't think it is as much about what you eat as how it is prepared that makes French cooking so sublime. There are many bistro's that may not make the "foodie" list but are simply delicious. One of my most memorable meals in Paris was a cheese plate, fresh breat and onion soup eaten at an outside table watching the people on the streets. I dream of that meal more often that should be considered normal.

You have received many good recommendations here but you will be able to find many more places as you walk along and read the menus. If your foodie 25 year old son needs Michelin rated restaurants then I would suggest that he open up his wallet and pay for them.

Enjoy your trip and enjoy the wonderful food in Paris.

Hi T,

>Please do tell where we can find Singaporean food in Paris!

This is taken from another poster.
I have included it in our upcoming visit to Paris.

IndoChinaTown
Take the 14 Dir Olympiades to the end.

To visit IndoChinatown from the Olympiades station, walk SW along rue de Tolbiac towards the apartment block. Go to the upper esplanade (outdoor escalators) and walk through the maze of pagoda roofed shops and restaurants to the Oslo shopping mall, which is straight out of Bangkok or Saigon.

To go back down into 'outdoor Chinatown' turn right at the BNP Paribas agency and either take the direct escalator down or enter Paris Store, one of the Asian hypermarkets (the other one is Tang Frères, next door downstairs), which has a moving ramp to go down. The upper section of Paris Store has a delightful selection of Asian dishes and cookware for almost nothing.

Once you are back out on the street, you can continue south on ave d'Ivry to the tramway line 3, or cut over to ave de Choisy, which will allow you to pass by the Chinese McDonald's, also on your way to the tramway.

La Lune, 36 Ave de Choisy is a very good Singapore resto.

The OP also indicated that there was a wealth of good restos in the area.

((I))