Paris’ best food & drink

You’ll find plates from all over France, but Parisian specialities include: Paris-Brest (choux pastry with praline cream), croque-monsieur (cheese and ham toastie), steak tartare (raw beef chopped with spices and herbs), hachis parmentier (ground beef and mashed potato pie) and cheeses like Brie de Meaux and creamy Coulommiers. Also see our round-up of traditional French foods to try in France.

Wine predominates, but look out for Parisian beer (often brewed within the city limits), like Gallia, La Parisienne and La Baleine.

Paris and fine food have always gone hand-in-hand. But over the last twenty years, classic French cuisine has transformed into something wholly exciting and contemporary, largely in its bistros (local eating houses), thanks to a culinary movement known as bistronomie (a mix of bistro and gastronomie). In short, it involves making ‘simple’ bistro dishes with high-end gastronomic techniques, resulting in creative, elevated food, at affordable prices.

The one staple that never seems to change, however, is the Parisian café – the people-watcher’s dream with tiled floor, zinc bars, and tables sprawling onto the pavement. Cafés tend to open early for breakfast then serve food all day until late.

You’ll also find traditional menus in the city’s brasseries – grand, noisy institutions, where black-and-white suited waiters serve seafood platters, sauerkraut and steak in historical dining rooms with décor unchanged since the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The street food scene in Paris has exploded in recent years too, with everything from Afro-French soul food to Brazilian stews on offer from pop-ups and vans around the city.

Paris is also now home to more than eighty food markets, all overflowing with locally-grown produce, cured meats, pates, cheeses and of course, French wines. The quaintest is Enfants Rouge, but Marche Bastille, where colourful stalls are often interspersed with street performers, is also worth a try.