Destination Guides

Alcazar

• Dining | Late Night

A hip bar and restaurant run by Terence Conran (of Conran Shop fame). It has a huge dining room that sits beneath an atrium skylight. The cuisine is contemporary French and British fusion, although an occasional nod to the more humble fish-and-chips makes

Ambassade d'Auvergne

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

This semiformal yet rustic restaurant serves a distinct taste of old France. Very popular among Parisians as it serves some of the city's best cuisine from the southern Auvergne region of France, such as pig's feet, lamb stew, country sausage, black puddi

Anahi

• Dining | Steakhouses

Even without a sign on its old butcher-shop exterior, it's hard to keep Parisians away from this Argentinean steak house tucked on a side street in the trendy Temple district (north of the Marais). Be sure to reserve a table and take along a big appetite.

Angelina

• Dining | Cafes and Tearooms

This fashionable teatime favorite in a belle epoque setting is located across from the Tuileries. Famous for its hot chocolate that is so rich it's almost a meal in itself.

Asian

• Dining | Asian

Specializing in seafood, this is a fashionable restaurant popular with the art and film set. Dishes from China, Vietnam, Thailand and Japan.

Astier

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

More popular each year-and with good reason-this bustling bistro has built its reputation on serving classic French fare that won't empty your wallet. (When we last checked in, the four-course dinner <i>formule </i>was less than 30 euros.) The menu change

Au Pied de Cochon

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

Opened in 1946 next to what was once Les Halles, the wholesale food and meat market for Paris, this all-night brasserie is still considered one of the best places in town to feed big appetites. Pig's feet (<i>pied de cochon</i>) aren't all that's on the m

Au Porokhane

• Dining | Additional Experiences (Restaurants)

Set in a vast ochre-colored room, this restaurant offers some of the most authentic Senegalese cuisine in Paris. Try a palm-wine aperitif and then enjoy specialties such as the lamb <I>mafe</I> in peanut sauce or the chicken <I>yassa</I> marinated in lemo

Au Trou Gascon

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

Despite its location well off the tourist track, it's hard to beat the consistently excellent cuisine at this traditional bistro with turn-of-the-20th-century decor. Specialties from the Gascony region include seafood, lamb, foie gras and cassoulet. The w

Bar du Marche

• Dining | Cafes and Tearooms

This has become a Paris institution, with servers wearing overalls and caps. Decor includes wicker chairs, dark-oak fermenting casks and huge gilded mirrors in the sitting room. The walls are plastered with posters of singer Edith Piaf, and great jazz is

Berthillon

• Dining | Additional Experiences (Restaurants)

The finest ice cream in Paris (some say in Europe) is served in this modest space on the Ile St. Louis. You may have to wait in line for 15-30 minutes for a cone-longer if you want a table-but many do it gladly to sample fresh-fruit sorbet or rich ice cre

Bistrot Cote Mer

• Dining | Seafood

This bistro presents innovative and traditional French dishes in a friendly, convivial environment. The menu changes according to the availability of fresh produce. The prix-fixe lunch menu (30 euros) and dinner tasting menu (50 euros) include coffee.

Blue Elephant

• Dining | Asian

In this popular Thai restaurant, the dining room is designed to look like a Thai village, and the servers wear traditional attire.

Bofinger

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

This place opened in 1864 and supposedly served the first draft beer in Paris. The building, with its sweeping, winding staircase and graceful cupola, is a real belle-epoque treat. Specialties include <I>choucroute </I>(a pile of Alsatian-style sauerkraut

Cafe de Flore

• Dining | Cafes and Tearooms

This is one of Paris' most famous cafes, on the celebrated Boulevard St. Germain. It was once frequented by Jean-Paul Sartre and his band of existentialists, and it is still popular with Parisians, although the staff seems to be a bit jaded by the constan

Cafe de l'Homme

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

Just inside the Musee de l'Homme in the Palais Chaillot, this trendy restaurant with a huge terrace overlooking the Eiffel Tower attracts a mix of chic West Parisians and tourists-in-the-know. The food is excellent, a fusion of traditional French cuisine

Cafe de la Mosquee de Paris

• Dining | Cafes and Tearooms

Enjoy sweet mint tea and flaky pastries laced with honey in an authentic Moorish-style cafe on the grounds of the Paris mosque. The food is also brought into the antechamber of the hammam (bathhouse) attached to the mosque, so you can relax on a floor mat

Cafe de la Paix

• Dining | Cafes and Tearooms

This spot is a beautiful addition to the area around the Opera Garnier. Diagonally across from the Opera in the InterContinental Hotel, the cafe's opulent 19th-century interior is an elegant setting for a coffee break.

Cafe des Deux Moulins

• Dining | Cafes and Tearooms

It wasn't much more than a run-of-the-mill, local cafe serving good food before the director of the film <I>Amelie</I> picked it as the workplace setting for the movie's protagonist. Now it's become something of a tourist attraction, but it still serves e

Casa Bini

• Dining | Italian (including Pizzerias)

Located on a little side street in St. Germain, this restaurant has an atmosphere that's as fresh and inviting as its food. It serves lots of carpaccio and <i>crostini di mozzarella </i>(slices of Italian bread topped with tomatoes or red peppers and mozz

Chartier

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

Art nouveau meets New York hustle at this Paris institution (opened in 1896). The white-apron-clad waitstaff serves 1,200-1,500 meals a day in this turn-of-the-century dining hall. The food is average and the staff rude, but the international atmosphere i

Chez Omar

• Dining | Additional Experiences (Restaurants)

Expect great Moroccan couscous and grilled meats in a lively, overcrowded atmosphere. Despite the fact that the servers are always in a bad mood, it's a popular place, and you'll have to wait in line to get in unless you get there early.

Coffee Parisien

• Dining | Breakfast and Brunch

Brunch continues to gain popularity in Paris, especially at this noble attempt to translate the New York diner experience into a distinctly Parisian hangout. It's almost worth going just to witness French hipsters and families wolfing down bagels, pancake

Emporio Armani Caffe

• Dining | Italian (including Pizzerias)

As stylish and chic as an Armani suit, this is considered one of the best (and trendiest) Italian restaurants in Paris.

Ginger

• Dining | Asian

This chic and stylish Thai-Vietnamese fusion restaurant on a quiet side street off the Avenue George V attracts models and actresses watching their figures. Dishes are fresh and inventive, and spiced according to your tastes. Try one of the powerful house

Guy Savoy

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

One of the great master chefs of this generation, Guy Savoy has a distinctly contemporary style. His menu changes regularly to play to the flavors of the season, taking advantage of the freshest ingredients and generous helpings of prized black truffles.

Hiramatsu

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

Chef Hiramatsu has stripped and rethought French cuisine, and his dazzling exploits have quickly earned him recognition. Specialties include foie gras with a truffle sauce that melts in your mouth, roasted sea bass with champagne sauce and lamb on a bed o

L'Arpege

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

Chef Alain Passard's specialties draw primarily on fish and seafood, but he also works wonders with vegetable dishes, whose ingredients are grown on the chef's own organic farm. Other offerings include eggs in cream of black Perigord truffles or lobster w

L'Os a Moelle

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

A small, unfussy restaurant outside of Paris' overly chic districts, L'Os a Moelle offers excellent food at reasonable prices. Chef Thierry Faucher worked with the brilliant Christian Constant, and the experience shows-the restaurant is fully booked most

La Coupole

• Dining | Late Night

This big, bustling art-deco restaurant was one of Hemingway's hangouts, and they are still talking about the opening party in 1927 when 1,500 bottles of champagne were destroyed. The ambience is enhanced by walls and columns hand-painted by local artists.

La Maison de l'Aubrac

• Dining | Steakhouses

The best steaks in town are served around the clock in this suitably rustic setting. The meat, which comes direct from the owners' family farm near Laguiole, is succulent. Specialties include the standing rib-roast for two, and the beef steak is served w

La Tour d'Argent

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

A sublime experience, this Paris icon traces its roots back more than 400 years. The cooking is heavenly, the half-million-bottle wine cellar is beyond categorization, and the top-floor view of Notre-Dame and the Seine (a popular place for marriage propos

Le 404

• Dining | Additional Experiences (Restaurants)

Low lighting, flickering candles, incense and the rai music create a festive, exotic atmosphere in this popular North African restaurant near the Pompidou Centre. The Berber cuisine includes tangines, couscous and grilled meats and stews served in earthen

Le Jardinier

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

This cozy restaurant near the Folies Bergeres, now owned by Stephane Fumaz, is a windfall for diners looking for quality on a budget. The menu has a good mix of classic dishes, such as snails in garlic and parsley butter, roast pork with baked potato or h

Le Pain Quotidien

• Dining | Breakfast and Brunch

French-style brunch is served daily at this casual chain of country bakery-cafes. Clientele seat themselves at long, communal tables for salads, quiches, sandwiches, eggs, and the eatery's famous organic breadbaskets with a selection of spreads such as ho

Le Pamphlet

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

This popular, cozy little restaurant has maintained its quality and freshness throughout the years. Le Pamphlet succeeds in offering well-prepared, traditional dishes for reasonable prices. Risotto in squid ink, terrine of tender pork with foie gras, and

Le Pre Verre

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

This neighborhood bistro has become a local favorite, with reasonable prices and friendly service. The sleek decor reflects the modernity of the cuisine: Dishes such as spicy, crusted tuna with a lemon risotto or beef cheeks with onion chutney and Basque

Le Sous Bock

• Dining | Late Night

This beer and mussels joint is a favorite among young Parisians and students. The interior is dark and a bit dingy, but the atmosphere is always lively and the food is tasty. The drinks menu is a veritable bible of international beers.

Le Train Bleu

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

This belle epoque extravagance with blinding chandeliers, and a riot of stucco, gold and ceiling paintings portraying French regions must be the most glorified railway buffet in the world. It was named after the famous Blue Train that ran between Paris an

Les Ambassadeurs

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

A meal at Les Ambassadeurs is as close as you'll get to experiencing dinner at Versailles. The magnificent frescoes and marble halls of this former palace make it worth splurging for a meal. The food is superb, too-a perfect blend of traditional and conte

Les Bouquinistes

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

This gourmet bistro, first opened by Guy Savoy and now managed by one of his students, is popular for its excellent but simple and relatively affordable food. Decor is modern chic with fiberglass chairs, leather benches and large mirrors.

Maceo

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

Named after James Brown's saxophone player Maceo Parker, this comfortable spot has a saloon bar and Louis XV-style chairs. One of the few upscale restaurants with an extensive vegetarian menu, it also does wonders with lamb and fish. There's even an inter

Pizza Cesar

• Dining | Italian (including Pizzerias)

This busy place serves what might be the best pizza in Paris-there are more than 20 types on the menu. There are two restaurants-one somewhat formal and one around the corner that is more popular with families (50 Ave. des Gobelins). Prices at both are ab

Restaurant Alain Ducasse at Plaza Athenee

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

The famed chef's creations using fish, shellfish, pigeon and lamb are served in elegant Louis XV-style surroundings with a contemporary twist.

Sacha Finkelstzajn

• Dining | Cafes and Tearooms

Also known as "La Boutique Jaune," this is arguably the best Jewish delicatessen and patisserie in Paris. Poppy-seed bread and cakes, apple strudel, Albanian cheese and onion bread. Go there just for the mouthwatering display and the welcome.

Senderens

• Dining | Local and Regional Specialties

Alain Senderens has turned his once venerable, three-Michelin-stars Lucas Carton restaurant into a more scaled-down haute-cuisine establishment. With menu items hovering around 100 euros (instead of 300 euros-400 euros), its historic belle-epoque interior