We have rented an apartment on Rue Buffon, which I know from maps is near Gare d'Austerlitz, across from Jardins de Plants (and un grand musee), and near the Mosquee. We picked this area because it is a different area from the other places we have stayed (dans Le Marais, proche de Place de Clichy, etc.) and are familiar with the area closer to Jardin du Lexembourg and Rue Mouffetard.

Can anyone tell us about the shops, cafes, restaurants, boulangeries, patisseries, etc. near Metros Censier-Daubenton, Place Monge, or Jussieu?

One suggestion as a "do it yourself" while you wait on more personal responses - enter "monge" in the search box and read any threads about Hotel Monge, b/c often posters discuss what they did around their hotel...

and also read the reviews for Hotel Monge on Tripadvisor.com for the same reason...

(I know you didn't ask about <i>Hotel</i> Monge, but it is located a block of Place Monge.)

You will like the area. First of all, whatever info you can find on Place Monge or rue Mouffetard will apply to you since you will be pretty close to both. I think you will find a lot of info on those here. I am not familiar with the area right near Gare d'Austerlitz, so my info is going west from Jardin des Plantes, towards rue Mouffetard. A few of my favorites. (I am not using any of the accent notations, but you will know which streets I mean by looking at the map).
- Bakeries: My favorite is &quot;Gregoire&quot; (at rue Monge x rue Lacepede). Their &quot;tradition&quot; is good, but their other types of breads are also great. Another good one is at rue Monge x r. Cardinal Lemoine. I forget the name, but there are two bakeries here, and it is NOT &quot;Bannette&quot; with a red awning by the fire station; go to the one near rue des Boulangers, with (I think) a green awning. Near Censier-Daubenton, there is a boulangerie at the corner of r. Monge and r. Mirbel, by cafe Mirbel, that's good. Boulangerie Monge is also good, at the bottom of Mouffetard.
- My favorite croissant is from Eric Keyser, but that's close to Place Maubert and a bit far from your apartment. On Mouffetard there is a boulangerie called Panetton that also has really good croissants (their bread isn't bad either).
- Right next to Gregoire has an Italian deli (traiteur) that has a pretty good salad melange.
- The cheese shop on rue Monge across from Gregoire is NOT the greatest.
- Place Monge has an open market every Wed, Fri, and Sunday. You can find a lot of good prepared foods here.
- Restaurants: I like Buisson Ardent (on r. Jussieu) and Petite Pontoise (r. de Pontoise). Haven't had much luck with ANY of the restaurants on rue Linne.
- Shops; sorry, can't help you much there unless you want to know about bookstores. Maybe others have better suggestions, but this area is not exactly a shopping mecca (clothes, gifts, etc), which is the reason I like the area. There is a variety of stores for a normal day-to-day life, just not anything that will be written up in a travel magazine as a must-go. There are a lot of CD stores on/around rue. Linne, both new and used CDs, and you also see a lot of bookstores (French).

Let me just finish by adding a plug for Jardin des Plantes. The more I go there the more I like this place. It has several natural history-type museums, but it is a pleasant place ot stroll around in, and has a nice (albeit small) zoo as well.

Have fun!

There is a very nice dress shop, Le Vestiaire, just across from Censier-Daubenton, and another that looks interesting (can't think of the name) on the other side of the street.

Les Delices d'Aphrodite is a very nice Greek restaurant (a little higher end than those on rue Mouffetard) on rue Daubenton.

I stayed on the west side of Jardon des Plantes , on rue des Ecoles. Nice area, university vibe, nice to be near Seine, Mouffetard market, views from Insitut Arabe, Arene de Lutece. There are some very nice restaurants on rue Fosses St Bernard that I foind in Michelin Red (Moulin a Vent - Chez Henri, Moisonnier,etc). If you walk along Seine towards Notre Dame, a lot of good restaurants there, like Rotisserie du Beaujolais.

I think you'll find it queiter and more local' since tourists might not venture this way as often as other places in the 5th.