Destinations > France > Paris > Eating & Drinking

Paris

Eating

Good food is deeply entrenched in French culture and Parisian restaurants are among the best in the world. Although many of the top restuarants are priced to blow your budget, it is still posible to eat cheaply in Paris. The main trick is to go for the prix fixe or formule menu which offers a three course meal for a reasonable price. This special set menu is offered by restaurants all over town (and indeed all over France) including most cafés and brasseries.

You can cut costs even further by ordering un carafe d'eau (a jug of tap water) rather than the more expensive bottled water. If there is a group of you, you may want to order a pichet of house wine.

With its excellent parks and gardens and good value supermarkets, you may want to buy picnic supplies and wine from a supermarket. Making your own picnic is one of the cheapest and most pleasant ways to dine in Paris. The cheapest supermarket in Paris is Ed l'Epicier (Ed the grocer), although some of the big suburban supermarkets, like Auchan, have a better range. Remember to take a corkscrew (on your Swiss Army Knife) and something to drink your wine from. Unlike in the US, its perfectly legal to drink in public although you should keep off the grass if you see Pelouser Interdite signs on the lawn.

Don't leave Paris without trying French fast food such as the amazing hot dogs - a third of a baguette with a frankfurter, melted cheese and Dijon mustard. The Sandwichs Gréc (kebabs) available in the Latin Quarter are excellent too.

Drinking

The French capital has a great range of drinking options ranging from a quiet coffee in one of its many cafés, to wine bars and noisy pubs.

Every culture has something which embodies the heart and soul of its people. Take London, for instance, you can trek all over the city seeing all the museums and famous sights, but you will never have seen London until you have had a pint in a local pub.

In Paris you can find English, Irish and Australian theme pubs, but to really know the city you have to aquaint yourself with the famous French institution - the café.

Famous writers, artists and politicians throughout the centuries have warmed the seats of their favourite café while contemplating their next novel or revolution. Even now as more varied theme restaurants are popping up around the country, the traditional café still has an important place in everyday life.

Cafés can be really confusing places, like any national institution they have their own set of customs which only the French seem to understand. If you don't understand the way things work, you will inevitably join the thousands of other tourists and start complaining about rip-off prices - however, those in the know drink coffee at almost half the price of London.

To understand the French café a little better, follow these golden rules:

Drink at the bar

French cafés post a price list with two sets of prices - au comptoir or zinc (at the bar) and à terrace or salle (sitting down). It is much cheaper to drink at the bar, it is also where you are more likely to meet the locals. Many cafés put their prices up after 8pm.

Eat the set menu

If you want to eat at a café, ordering à la carte can be very expensive. However virtually all cafés have a set menu called a menu formule where you can get a good three course meal for €9-15.

Drink what the French drink

Espresso coffee and pastis are the cheapest drinks followed by wine and beer. However bottled water, Coca Cola, tea or fruit juice will burn a big hole in your wallet.

Know your coffee

When you ask un café s'il vous plaît, you are asking for an espresso. If espresso isn't your cup of coffee, order one of the following:

Order in French

It doesn't take much French to order a drink. Remember if you are asking for a beer, you ask for a demi (a half pint). You can also ask for un serieux (a pint) or une formidable (a litre), although the standard café drink is the demi.

Wait to be served - In French cafés the waiter/waitress will serve you if you are seated, so you don't need to go to the bar to get your drinks. If you want to attract the waiter's attention, don't call out garçon. Garçon means boy, and can be taken as a derogatory term. Unfortunately American and English films and older guidebooks may give you the impression that garçon means waiter. The correct term is serveur although you would generally call out S'il vous plaît, madame/mademoiselle or monsieur if you want to attract their attention.

Have a French breakfast

The French normally have a quick espresso and either a croissant, pain au chocolat or tartine. A pain au chocolat is a chocolate filled pastry and a tartine is a buttered stick of baguette. In most cafés this type of breakfast would set you back around €2. This is especially the case in and around train stations.

Avoid tourist traps

If you drink at cafés near the main tourist attractions, expect to pay through the nose. Places to avoid are cafés near the Sacre Coeur, Opéra, the Effiel Tower, the Notre Dame and anything on the Champs-Elysée and Boulevard St-Germain near Saint-Germain-des-Près. In some of these places you can pay more than €3 for an espresso - even at the bar. The normal price is €1.

It's not just a place to eat or drink

There are a lot of other services which you can get from a café. The obvious advantage are the toilets, which for the most part are free - a rarity in France. Many people also pop into a café to use the telephone (without a phonecard), and some cafés even have minitel terminals. Another advantage are free postcards, which are usually found downstairs near the toilets and telephone.