Gastronomy · 4 min read
Paris at the Table, One Neighbourhood at a Time
The morning market, the lunchtime bistro, the dinner in no hurry. A guide to the Paris of good taste, one neighbourhood at a time, from the 2nd to the Marais and on to Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
In Paris you eat well almost everywhere, but you only eat truly well where you live. The secret is not to chase the table of the moment on the other side of the city: it is to know your own block, the baker, the cheesemonger, the bistro where, by the second day, they recognise you. That is why, for us, a food guide always begins with an address.
ACT 3 chooses its addresses across Paris, one by one. Here are three neighbourhoods in the heart of the city, the 2nd, the Upper Marais and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and how they are lived at the table.
The rhythm of the day
The Parisian day has its own grammar. In the morning, a coffee at the counter and a croissant; at noon, a lunch that is short but serious; in the evening, a dinner that can last as long as the conversation. In a hotel, you put up with this rhythm. In an apartment, with a real kitchen, you choose it: breakfast is made with bread just bought, the cheese from the market waits on the table, and after dinner you walk home.
The 2nd, between the passages and rue Montorgueil
The 2nd is the smallest arrondissement in Paris and one of the most gourmand. Rue Montorgueil, a pedestrian street, is the neighbourhood's daily market: fishmongers, cheese shops, pastry shops, terraces where you stop for no particular reason.
On rue Vivienne, Daroco occupies Jean-Paul Gaultier's former boutique: Italian cooking, a wood-fired oven, a vast space that comes alive in the evening. An address an Italian will judge severely, and rightly so. In a cobbled alley of the Sentier, Frenchie is Grégory Marchand's table: precise, seasonal cooking, to be booked well in advance. And for a last drink, the Experimental Cocktail Club, behind a discreet façade, is one of the addresses that gave birth to the cocktail scene in Paris.
The Marais, the market and the sweets
In the Upper Marais, at noon, everything converges on the Marché des Enfants Rouges, the oldest covered market in Paris: stalls of cuisines from around the world and little tables where you lunch elbow to elbow. Not far away, Breizh Café serves buckwheat galettes and Breton crêpes made with carefully chosen produce.
The sweet chapter has a name: Jacques Genin, chocolatier and pâtissier, with his caramels and his pastries made to order. In the evening, at Candelaria, you walk through the taqueria to reach the bar at the back.
Saint-Germain, the classic table
On the Left Bank, taste is more composed. The Café de Flore, the café of Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, remains the place to watch the boulevard over a coffee. On rue Bonaparte, Pierre Hermé signs the Ispahan, rose, lychee and raspberry, and the seasonal macarons. And for a dinner that matters, Restaurant Guy Savoy occupies the salons of the Monnaie de Paris, overlooking the Seine.
Between one address and the next, the 6th offers above all its shops: bakers, cheesemongers, pastry shops you leave with a parcel for dinner at home.
Eating at home
A gastronomic journey is not measured in restaurants alone. It is also measured in the evenings you dine in the apartment, with what you bought at the market, around a table large enough for everyone. Our apartments have equipped kitchens and dining rooms designed for entertaining, with two to four bedrooms.
For the most sought-after tables, our concierge books on your behalf: the city becomes our concierge. The apartments are in the collection; our neighbourhood guides help you choose where to stay, and for those who also travel for style, there is our guide to fashion Paris.
The ACT 3 Team