Whenever we visit new cities, I always love researching the best places to eat, shop and sight see. I rely heavily on Yelp and Trip Advisor, and I also love reading other people’s blog posts and looking through their photos as it feels as though I’m vicariously traveling with them! And so, I invite you to come along with us and see what we ate in the romantic and beautiful city of Paris. I absolutely LOVE French cuisine, so I knew we were in for a treat, and I could barely contain my excitement when our plane finally landed after our Translantic journey!
We were starving after we landed, so we headed off for lunch as soon as we checked into our hotel and dropped off our luggage. Our first lunch place was a quaint little restaurant tucked away on a small side street called “L’Ange 20”. This place was actually suggested to us by a blog reader after I asked for people’s recommendations before we left. I feel very blessed that people all around the world have stumbled upon my blog and I’m thankful that some took the time to give us suggestions!
L’Ange 20 is a very small restaurant where the tables are positioned closely together, but this adds to the charm of the restaurant. The prices are very reasonable, and it actually currently ranks #8 out of 7469 restaurants in Paris! It wasn’t too busy when we went for lunch, and our waiter was very friendly and accommodating. He presented us the menu on this blackboard after we sat down at our table.
After ordering, we chatted with Thierry, the friendly chef of L’Ange 20 who asked us where we were from and how we were enjoying Paris.
I ordered the duck with roasted potatoes, and this dish was very tasty and hearty. I scarfed this meal down pretty quickly!
Ryan had the pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes, and he was very satisfied with the meal. We ended up not ordering dessert since we knew we wanted to visit all the bakeries and dessert shops! We were happy that our first meal in Paris was at L’Ange 20, and we’ll definitely be returning in the future when we visit 🙂
Our first dinner in Paris was at a restaurant called “Chez Paul”.
It was a good thing that we made reservations in advance because it was very busy that evening. And yes, that is my fabric-lined cell phone cozy in the photo below! It’s nice being able to use something so functional that I crocheted, and I’ve received a lot of compliments whenever I whip my cell phone out of it 🙂
The menu was all in beautifully handwritten French. Ryan and I actually both studied French in school for quite a number of years, and we were thankful that it somewhat came back to us even though we hadn’t practiced in a very long time. Our waitress ONLY spoke French to us throughout the entire meal, and it made us feel happy that we could order and respond. All that hard work years ago in French class paid off!
Chez Paul felt like an authentic Parisian restaurant with its charming, intimate decor. The people seated next to us told us that this place was a favourite among the locals, and were surprised that we as tourists had found this place!
We started off with the classic French onion soup. I absolutely LOVE French onion soup, so this was definitely on my must-try list. It did not disappoint as the soup was deep and flavourful with the tasty onions and soft bread.
Mmm…behold the cheesiness! I LOVE cheese 🙂 This was the best French onion soup I’ve ever had!
We also ordered some escargots with parsley butter to start off our meal. They were flavourful and chewy, and I definitely could’ve eaten more of these tasty little treats!
How cute is this photo that Ryan snapped showing the ambiance of the restaurant? Our awesome waitress who only spoke to us in French is on the right.
Ryan and I ended up ordering the same thing as we were both craving steak. We had the filet mignon which came with either béarnaise or pepper sauce. We both went with the traditional, creamy béarnaise sauce and were very happy with our choice. The steak was tender and cooked just the way we like it. The potatoes were tasty as well. Once again we did not opt for dessert as we still had macarons left from our Ladurée visit!
We knew we had to try some authentic French crêpes on our visit to Paris, and my research showed that “Little Breizh” in the St. Germain-des-Prés area would be a good choice as it actually ranks #4 of the 7469 restaurants in Paris. We shopped around the area as we waited for this restaurant to open, and there were some delightful little stores nearby.
This crêpe restaurant is run by young people from Brittany, where crêpes originated from, and they pride themselves on their fresh, organic products and old-fashioned recipes. Our waitress spoke good English, and she was very friendly and helpful as she suggested what the popular crêpes were and told us about their great lunch specials. Little Breizh had English menus on hand for those who do not read and understand French as well.
We ordered some apple cider on the advice of our waitress as crêpes are traditionally served with cider in Brittany. Cheers!
Their savory crêpes are made of buckwheat, so they are actually called “galettes”. I ordered the “L’Orée des Bois” which had grilled bacon, cooked mushrooms with cream and an egg sunny-side up as our waitress informed us that this was a popular one. It was absolutely delicious as all the fresh ingredients complemented each other well inside, and I loved how the buckwheat galette itself tasted.
Ryan had the "Coquine St. Jacques" which was a galette with fresh scallops cooked on a bed of leeks with onion-cooked cream. These were by far the most delicious and fresh scallops I have ever tasted.
For dessert, we opted for the simple crêpe with salted butter caramel. It was absolutely heavenly with the homemade caramel and delicious thin crêpe. As you can see, we dove right in before remembering to take a pic of it!
Our last dinner in Paris was at a restaurant across from the Notre Dame called “Le Tournebièvre”. We crossed a couple of bridges along the Seine as we made our way to this restaurant on a rainy evening, and we had some difficulty locating it. People we asked along the way did not seem to know where it was, so we were very happy when we finally found it!
The decor was contemporary inside and once again we had a very friendly and helpful waiter who explained the menu clearly to us. Here I am reviewing some of the photos from our day 🙂
For starters, we had this puff pasty filled with goat cheese. Upon tasting it, the flaky puff pastry gave way to creamy, rich goat cheese that was absolutely divine (as I said, I’m a cheese lover!). The accompanying spinach salad was very tasty as well.
I ordered the fish (I can’t remember what it was called!) on a bed of vegetables. It wasn’t as tasty as the appetizer, so this was kind of disappointing.
Ryan had the pork tenderloin on rice, and we thought this could’ve been more flavourful as well.
To end off our meal, Ryan had the trio of chocolate desserts.
There was no way I could leave Paris without trying an authentic crème brûlée as it is one of my favourite desserts, and was definitely on my must-try list! The custard was light and creamy and the caramelized sugar was perfectly crunchy. This was my favourite crème brûlée ever 🙂 It was a great way to end the evening!
I hope you’ve enjoyed coming along this Paris food adventure with us! Hopefully it will give you some ideas of where you might want to go if you find yourself in Paris as I always love getting other people’s suggestions and seeing their photos. Overall, the food in Paris was absolutely delicious, and the people were all so kind and friendly. Check out my other Paris posts to see what else we did (Paris Desserts & Paris Highlights). We miss you a lot, Paris… Until next time 🙂
