Places for Vegetarians to eat in Paris?
 

Hey!

I was wondering if anyone knows of any places in Paris, 7th, or near there, that cater for Vegetarians. Restaurants/cafes that have more than pasta on the menu as an option! I've tried chowhound.com but no luck?

Me and my partner are going in December, but most restaurant reviews I've seen for Paris aren't Veggie friendly.

Any links/places/ideas appreciated!

Thanks, Melanie

Happy Cow to the rescue!

http://www.happycow.net/europe/france/paris/index.html

For a very upscale, 3 starred veggie restaurant, Arpege is in the 7th.( on the rue de Varenne, I believe.)

And actually almost any restaurant can fix up a vegetarian plate. Vegan might be harder however.

And if you google this is just one site that comes up.
http://www.jack-travel.com/Paris/Par...estaurants.htm

I've had a nice salad plate at Brasserie Ecole Militaire, and a rather large side of 'haricots vert' with my fish there...

Do you eat dairy? it isn't hard to find a baguette sandwich with mozarella, basil and tomato...or a 'Croque Monsieur' (like grilled cheese).

Exceot that a croque-monsieur has ham in it!
LOL, travelnut!

Most any cafe will fix a mean omelette (forestiere w/mushrooms or tomates/oinons for example). Creperies will basically do the same, except with a crepe instead of the egg.

Maceo on rue petites champs has an excellent vegetarian menu

I hate to bring up a touchy point, but does anyone know how many places and how many things in Paris use lard, rather than vegetable shortening?

There are loads of places in the 7th that serve salads, sandwiches with just crudités, pizza, soufflés, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, omelettes, and all kinds of things a vegetarian would eat. What, exactly, do you not eat?

I don't think being a vegetarian in Paris is really an issue unless you are a vegan or on some very restricted regime. It will probably prevent you, however, from being able to take advantage of the lower cost of daily menus, and you'll need to order à la carte.

oooops - I forgot about 'ham' ! so sorry!

Will you eat dairy? A nice salad with chevre chaud is one of my favorite dishes. I could eat that several times a week. Or toast with chevre, some herbs and a drizzle of honey. Great snack.
Les Fous de l'Ile, an inexpensive little restaurant on the Ile St. Louis, usually has vegetarian dishes on their menu.
Another vote for Arpege if you want to splurge. And for all the little Asian restaurants--IMO, French/Chinese food is a lot better than typical American/Chinese food.

if you are lacto-ovo-veggie much easier... vegan will be harder.

Hi Melanie - I'm a vegetarian (not vegan) and with a little extra effort really had no issues eating in Paris - of course that may have something to do with gorging on chocolate, bread and cheese all day leaving no room for a proper meal in any event :)

That being said I did not find much in the way of strictly "vegetarian" restaurants or dishes, but as other posters have said most restaurants you visit will be willing to prepare something without meat if there is not something already on the menu. I'm not sure how good your french is but you might want to check out this site which might be a good resource: http://www.vegetarisme.fr/ [and it does have one small english language link]

Monsouria (in the 11th) is a nice Morroccan restaurant which has a number of vegetarian dishes.

I am going back to Paris in less than a month and if I stumble upon any new finds I will post the names, so you can consider them for your december trip.

Good Luck.

I could suffer thru crepes from the sidewalk stands for at least one meal every day :-)

Melanie:

I'm vegan, and took my mom to Paris last year. I printed a list of vegetarian restaurants from vegdining.com and happycow.com, and took them with me. These 2 sites have always helped me - wherever I've traveled.

Mom and I went to Le Grenier de Notre Dame (4th?). I also enjoyed a delicious vegetable tagine at L'Atlas Moroccan (5th).

I would have hit more veggie places, but mom is a carnivore, and the trip was for her. Nevertheless, I was able to order food a la carte in regular restaurants. You should be fine. Enjoy!

Hi melanie
We don't eat meat and we never have any problem finding more than enough good food in Paris restaurants. We never even bother to look for "vegetarian" dishes, they make the best soups, salads and vegetable dishes..
If you are staying in the 7th, you can shop for treats on rue Cler , they have some great shops, a crepe place, boulangeries and fromage as well as a great wine shop. We have been known to stock a hotel room with snacks :)
On rue Grenelle are two South of France restaurants that we loved in March. One is called Sud, the other slips my mind but it is a block away :)
Croque Madame is without ham.
Onion soup is usually made with beef stock, but they make lovely vegetable soups and creamy soups. Do you eat fish? Leone is a great mussel place, just in case.
You can get fab omeletes at Cafe Deux Magots..my favorite late night dinner there is a cheese omelete and hot chocolate.
Most restaurants have a blackboard or a menu posted in the window with their days specials and you can find places on your own that way. That is what we did our first trips, BF (BeforeFodors)..we never had problems finding food we could eat :D

Is that true, Scarlett? Here I always thought a Croque Madame was a Croque Monsieur with an egg mirroir on it...and since that doesn't appeal to me, I'd never tried one, hence never realized there was no ham. Learn something new every day on this site!

Thank you all so much for your ideas, links and help! :D

I've got a few things to go on now, so it's great to know we won't starve to death or get sick of eating pasta or cheese sandwiches everday!! :)

I was also wondering though, if anyone knows what type of Christmas celebrations they have over there? I've tried Google-ing it, but nothing is really coming up. Like, are there any special events in mid December or things like that?

Thanks again everyone, this site is really helping me to plan my trip, I'm so glad I came across it!

x x x

P.S. HappyCow.com is EXCELLENT!! Thanks for that one! :D

Paris does a great job of decorating for the Christmas holidays, and there are often special foods available. About the middle of the month a skating rink goes up near the city hall, and last year there was also one in--IN--the Eiffel Tower. Department stores dress up their windows in a feast of colors and lights. Christmas concerts will be scheduled at churches, as well as other places.

After talking to my husband about this :) he remembers that the Croque Madame had an egg on it and no ham. But that might have been a request of ours rather than the Real thing.
So don't take my word on this :)

Melanie,

My hubby and I are going to Paris in 5 weeks and he is a veggie too (sorry, I'm only veggie about 1 meal a day w/him)

I looked for Thai, Moroccan, Chinese and Indian places on http://www.reservethebest.com
You can view the menus and get a feel for offerings.

We are going to try a Thai place,Blue Elephant, on Rue de la Roquette.

Also, I believe Yod Peng is "tofu" on the menus.

Will let you know if we come across any great places when we are there in late October.

I second the suggestion of Le Grenoir de Notre Dame. Terrific veg. restaurant and wont break the bank

Le Sept/Quinze in the 15th near UNESCO very close to the 7th, at 29, av. de Lowendal, had 2 vegetarian main dishes on its lunch menu last May, one of them pasta and the other one risotto. Some of the first courses were also vegetarian. It was delicious.
Also, on one of the avenues that go south from the 7th, I think it was avenue de Segur, and reach Métro Sévres-Lecourbe, there was, on the left side, some restaurant/coffee shop that served organic vegetrain food. It has an English name and the menu is also written in English, but I just couldn't find its name afterwards. I might try again and post its name if I find it.