Budget
Le Grenier de Notre Dame
A vegetarian restaurant with a great selection including a number of vegan items, the Grenier is, as the name suggests, just around the corner from the cathedral. The English-speaking staff is super friendly.
Jardin des Pâtes
The range of pasta dishes is just fantastic at this cute little restaurant tucked away near the Jardin des Plantes. Although some meat dishes are served there is a huge range of choice for vegetarians as well.
Midrange
Le Volcan
Serves delicious traditional French dishes in a welcoming environment. Excellent service. The set meals are very varied and represent superb value.
Les cinq saveurs d'Anada
Macrobiotic and vegetarian specialties, cooked mainly in the French tradition but with some fun additions from around the world.
Kootchi
Afghan cuisine, small and cosy, food is not too spicy, good value for money.
Le Petit Prince de Paris
A notably Parisian restaurant experience, but with friendly and warm service. Traditional French food try the duck with feathers and deliciously complicated sauces. Relaxed and uncrowded, but reserve in the morning for a weekend night. Reasonable wine selection.
Chez Ernest
Very nice little restaurant in a small side-street. Typical and less typical French food.
Top end
Le Petit Pontoise
Nice restaurant with a homely feel, on a quiet street. Popular enough to have an 'also' section next door. Expatriate Americans mingle with native Parisians, and a few tourists. The food is of the local French standard i.e. high but does included vegetables, which many other non-tourist restaurants do not. The balance and spicing of the sauces is the main draw. The pig's cheeks stew is notably delicious - and one of the cheaper items to boot!
La Tour d'Argent
For fat wallets La Tour d'Argent is a must-see. One of the oldest restaurants in Paris, located along the iSeine, it is famous for its duck recipes.
| This guide uses the following price ranges for dinner typical set menu starter+main+dessert whenever available: | |
| Budget | below â¬15 |
| Mid-range | â¬15-25 |
| Splurge | over â¬25 |
A lot of travellers arriving in the 5th from across the river are lured into the restaurants and fast-food outlets between rue St Jacques and boulevard St Michel in Rue de la Huchette, rue Saint-Séverin. This area may be handy for a quick snack say, a "Greek sandwich" in a pita, but the quality of restaurants there is not so good - beware especially of restaurants advertising typical French specialties. A similar phenomenon occurs around rue Mouffetard, where many students from the Jussieu Campus and the Ãcole normale supérieure have snacks; most of the "French" restaurants are overpriced tourist traps.