Trendy Paris Restaurants
 

I'll be going to Paris next month with my boyfriend. We're in our mid-late 20s. Just wanted to know of any trendy moderate priced restaurants with good food. About $150 for two without drinks. Any recs would be great. Thanks.

If you don't get any replies there is a new book called 'Cool Restaurants Paris'. I'm not sure which restaurants are listed, but you mentioned 'trendy' so I thought maybe you should check this book.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but "trendy" and "Paris restaurants" are two concepts that don't really match: the French take their food seriously, and the vague attempts at importing the Anglo-Saxon concept of a restaurant that you patronize more for its decor than its food have bombed. That said, if you want to pay an arm and a leg for mediocre food, you can go to Bon, on rue du 4 septembre, or Kong, rue du Pont Neuf. But for 120 euros with no drinks, you'll have a great meal in a good, atmospheric restaurant that'll be far from being "ringard", as we say.

I was also going to suggest Kong, or Man Ray (I think they serve food there)

In my opinion, the trendiest bars and restaurants du jour are lining Oberkampf, the most prominent and pricey being cafe Charbon. Lots of cool places down side streets as well. You might check Time Out for specific reviews but otherwise you can't go wrong prowling around up there for trendiness.

au contraire, I think they have plenty of trendy restaurants in Paris. It seems like issue of Nouvel Observateur has an article about trendy restaurants (or other places). That doesn't necessarily mean its just the decor, but the clientele and perhaps some gimmick (and they are often new, so yes, can be decor also). Now a lot of them are more expensive than US$75 pp, however.

Joel Robuchon's L'Atelier in the Pont Royal hotel is one example -- now I ate there after it shortly opened and enjoyed it and it wasn't that expensive, but I've read they have raised prices considerably. Helene Darroze in St-Germain is trendy. La Regelade in the 14th is tres trendy (although I read the chef decamped). That Georges restaurant on the top of Pompidou center is very trendy, as is Cafe Marly and Spoon. L'Avenue is another one in the 8th (but isn't cheap). Chez Michel in the 10th got pretty popular after it was written up somewhere.

So I think there are plenty of trendy restaurants -- I think most of those would be in your budget but not all. Pamphlet in the Marais is another idea, that's pretty trendy. Try for Regelade. I would have suggested L'Atelier under the prices I had, but perhaps not now (I ate for only around 40-50 euro, with wine). I think both Man Ray and Buddha Bar are very trendy and do serve some food, as well as drinks, so that could be a good idea if you want that kind of experience (although probably not if you really want a great meal).

What does "trendy" mean exactly?