If you’re exploring Paris but fancy a break from its famed French dishes, you’ll soon discover that the well-established international cuisines (Italian, Chinese) don’t tend to be good, but there are plenty of other options. Let’s take a quick tour of the diverse cuisines Paris has to offer.
Chinese
Firstly, we have a huge number of Chinese restaurants, but the majority are poor and the Chinese traiteurs are a disgrace.
Many Chinese restaurants in the West still follow the same formula – the big round table, the scroll over the wall showing landscape scenes with smoke rising from a little village or a solitary worker in a field. A reminder of the main styles of Chinese:
- Cantonese cuisine – the basic image is freshness: fresh vegetables (lightly braised) and seafood, so the sauces tend to be subtle and mild not to overpower it. Lots of pork and chicken too, and egg noodles. Dim sum also comes from here.
- Mandarin cuisine – the cuisine of Beijing. Beef dishes, and more spicy and heavy sauces than you find in Cantonese. They go for steaming and braising, leafy cabbage, and not much rice. Crispy Peking duck.
- Shanghai cuisine – stews, and strong rich sauces
- Sichuan and Hunan – Sichuan dishes are well known to be spicy hot. Examples include ma-po tofu. Hunan dishes can be even hotter!
In London we enjoy Cantonese food thanks to our links with Hong Kong. In France it’s different. There’s been immigration from a number of areas of China. Most numerous are those from Wēnzhōu, a few 100 kms south of Shanghai on the East Coast. They set up restaurants and tobacco shops, and are found mainly in the ChinaTown of the 13th arrondissement (Le Triangle de Choissy) and also in the less salubrious quartier of Belleville in the 20th. Chinese from more sophisticated areas look down their noses on the immigrants of Wēnzhōu, saying they know nothing about cuisine. But this is perhaps not so much an objective question of cuisine but a reflection of the pecking order in Chinese society. Those from Shànghǎi are at the top, then Běijīng which is about five years behind in terms of development, and then Guǎngzhōu behind them. In Paris, the poor sans-papiers immigrants from the North East (Dōngběi, historically known as Manchuria) are looked down on by everyone.
South East Asia
We can enjoy many other Asian cuisines thanks to an immigration from the 1950s from Indochina, as they fleed communism and looked for a better life. There are some excellent cheap Vietnam restaurants in the 13th. And Thai restaurants are everywhere. The multi-purpose restaurants (Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese combined) are obviously to be avoided. It’s always nice to ascertain the provenance of the owners – given the surfeit of Chinese restaurants, many Chinese pretend to Thai or Japanese.
Korean
Some fine restaurants around Rue St Anne (Opera area) and in the 15th arrondissement, although I always end up getting the same things – bibimbap, bulgogi (BBQ with marinated beef), and Korean fried chicken. But at least we get a wide selection of “banchan” – the small side dishes you get at the start of a meal (which can be replenished if you’re lucky) including kimchi, namul (sautéed vegetables like bean sprouts), japchae (stir-fried noodles and vegetables) and pickled vegetables.
Japanese
There is a glut of false Japanese sushi shops in Paris, as in most European cities. You can tell by the plastic menus in the window. The food is not authentic, but that’s not to say it can’t be decent.
There are also some nice authentic Japanese restaurants everywhere and especially around Rue St Anne, near Opéra – sushi, cheap fast-food (ramen, curry, don etc). Other dishes are available too but then you have to pay a lot.
Indian
Always disappointing. The French can’t take spice, and Indian food is always toned down to their palate. Best to head to the La Chapelle “Little India” area in the 10th, around the Passage Brady and Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis for a chance of authenticity.
Italian
It’s only the pizza and pasta of the South, and it’s generally not good. The pasta here is always overcooked. The French are supposed to appreciate fine food, so it’s surprising they put up with this.
Middle Eastern
We have a wide range of Middle Eastern and North African restaurants in Paris. These include:
- Tajine and Couscous of North Africa
- Lebanese restaurants (during the long running Lebanese civil war, many came to France so there’s a big immigrant community here) – tabbouleh salads, hummus, Lebanese flatbread, baba ghanoush, harissa spice, shawarma, falafel (one of those dishes you find across the Middle East)
- Delicatessens serving delicious Maghreb flatbread (“msemmen”), and the “pâtisserie arabe” – extremely sweet deep-fried confections, especially during the month of Ramadan. There are hundreds of these, including honey doughnuts (zlabias), “gâteau au cheveux d’ange” (horse hair cakes) and baklava.
Jewish
Rue des Rosiers in Le Marais is the centre of the Jewish quarter, and we can find wonderful Israeli dishes like falafel and sabich (also very easy to make at home).
Fast food
Of course the ubiquitous fast food joints of the American or Turkish variety. Kebabs (a “grec”) are better than in the UK, and the best sauces are Samourai (a spicy cream sauce with chili and garlic) and Algerian (onion, tomato, spices).
English
The only English food one can find in Paris is fish & chips – which has now entered the French menu – and the hearty food of Irish pubs. English food is insipid for those who like food brought to life with spices, and our nice local dishes don’t really export – steak and kidney pie, Lancashire hotpot, Cornish pasties. The sandwich is certainly universally appreciated, although in France they always go for the same old tired combinations and often with too much hard baguette bread in proportion to the filling. You really have to cross the channel to savour our best national dish, Chicken Tikka Masala!