Paris: Food + Drink

This meat, bought directly from the butcher, was absolutely delicious and far better than anything I’ve eaten back home!

UPDATED: 2/4/2023

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Paris is known as a food lover’s paradise for a reason. Here are our top tips from a week spent dining in this food mecca.

breakfast

We always find having a hearty, filling breakfast when we travel prevents us from needing lunch too early. If you stay in the heart of the city, you are likely always within walking distance of one or more bakeries. We alternated between two that were equidistant from the apartment we stayed in. The best pastries go to the early birds who get them fresh out of the oven! In addition to the French breakfast standard of croissants and other pastries, we had the occasional quiche and croissant aux jambon (a croissant filled with ham and swiss cheese). Every single morning was delicious, and these fresh pastries were one of the first things we missed when we returned home.

Croissant tip: if you are looking for a buttery croissant, make sure you order a ‘croissant au beurre’ (sounds sort of like ‘oh brr’). There is also a similar looking croissant called ‘croissant ordinaire,’ but a croissant without all that buttery goodness is just sad in my opinion.

Definitely wash this down with your favorite form of morning caffeine. We had a French press where we stayed and made that at home. You can also get cafe au lait or espresso, which is very popular in France, out at bakeries or cafes.

One morning we split a escargot de raisins and an escargot de chocolat along with our coffee.

lunch and dinner

How formal or informal you wish to dine is up to you. For our trip, we predominantly ate in restaurants and tended toward lighter fare at lunch and more substantive meals at dinner, though each day varied. Places can get fairly crowded depending on the season and weather, but we found there were always lots of options. Unlike in the United States where restaurants tend to pressure diners to eat and move along, Paris (and, well, lots of other places around the world with a less harried culture) are much more laid back. We often spent hours at restaurants eating, talking, eating some more, and enjoying the ambiance and rest for our feet. Dining is an experience that can be enjoyed in Paris.

how will i read my menu?!

In I think every single place we ate, they handed us English language menus. Sometimes our group of four we ended up with 2 English and 2 French menus. I actually found a lot of things were easier to read in the French menu because the translations were sometimes odd or confusing but having both was a good balance. If you are handed a French menu in a major city like Paris, it is worth asking for an English version.

important dining tips

A hot cappuccino hits the spot on a cold April day in Paris

Water is not served as a standard at most places, so you will likely need to ask for water. Or when it is offered, it is generally either sparkling or flat water, both of which come at a cost. If you are looking for (free) tap water, it helps to know the secret words to ask for it: une carafe d’eau (a carafe of water). The “d’eau” is pronounced like ‘doh’.
Should you wish to try to place your order in French, the key words are “Je voudrais [menu item].” This is saying “I would like…”
When you are done eating, you may find yourself waiting and waiting for a bill that will possibly never come. That’s because as I mentioned before, the French aren’t in a rush to finish up and so when you’re ready to go, you have to actively ask for the bill. You can say “l’addition s’il vous plait” (the bill, please).
If you are looking to go beyond my really basic tips on French dining and ordering, here is a website we found and used on our trip that had a lot of great information.

tipping in paris

The subject of tipping is always an area of uncertainty for us when traveling. Each place has its own approach for how much waitstaff are paid, expectations of tips, and offering them can even be insulting in some cases. In Paris, the tip is usually already included. Often people will leave a euro or two on the table as well, but that is not really expected from what we could learn. There is no spot on the receipt for a tip, so you would have to leave cash.

meal times

Like much of Europe, dinner is served much later. If you are an early diner, you will want to look up opening times for restaurants. Most evenings we ate in the 8-9pm range. On our latest night, we didn’t wrap up dinner until 11pm!

where to splurge and what to try

I am not a fan of duck generally speaking, but duck is very popular in France and on most menus. It is worth trying once if it is new to you, or if you enjoy duck, you can eat plenty!
Order French food. This may be a given, but because of the globalization of restaurants and influx of American tourism, you can find highly Americanized foods at many restaurants. To truly experience French dining, avoid the burger and get a croque madame.
Go all in as often as you can. For dinner most nights, we had wine, a starter, entree, dessert, and sometimes espresso to finish the meal, which is common in France. Not everyone’s budget allows for this, of course, but Paris is definitely a city where enjoying the food is truly worth it.
Try café (small cup of dark coffee that is closest to espresso). I never drink espresso at home, though I do love strong coffee. It is common to have espresso after lunch or dinner in Paris. Because so many Americans expect their regular coffee, waitstaff who know you are American may ask if you mean ‘café Américain,’ to which the answer is ‘non’! If you want to read more about the different types of coffee and how to order it, this website has a lot of useful information.