Le Trumilou
This little restaurant on the Seine doesn't seem like much at first. The food comes out in metal plates and bowls and the "tablecloth" is nothing but disposable paper. Don't be fooled, though--packaging isn't everything. Your main dish doesn't come with colorful sides or garnishes, but one bite into your succulent cut of lamb and you're so blinded by the flavors that it doesn't matter what your dish looks like. For six people we got a heaping (and I do mean heaping) platter of crispy, oily french fries served with Heinz ketchup (italicized for those of you who don't realize how difficult it is to get good ketchup in an anti-ketchup country). For dessert I'd say try the crème brûlée à la framboise: the raspberries are actually baked into the cream giving it an extra bit of vivacity. Although basic, like the most of the rest of the food at Le Trumilou, the chocolate cake was also quite good. It was hearty and moist with a dusting of powdered sugar and a surrounding pool of crème anglaise. To top everything off, I'd have to say that our waiter at this restaurant was the most friendly and funny of all our Parisian waiters to date.
Le Trappiste
4 rue st. Denis (Metro: Chatelet)
A good restaurant for mussles and beer.
Breakfast in America
I've already mentioned Breakfast in America, but it's such an important part of a study abroad student's life I thought I'd mention it again.
Bar le hideout
25 rue de Lappe (Metro: Bastille)
This is the bar to go to if you’re looking for cheap drinks during happy hour. The cheap price comes at a cost, though: quality. It was at this very comfortable, inexpensive bar that I had the worst mojito of my life. Although the NY café style chairs and low coffee tables made for a pleasing ambiance, the wretched taste of poor ingredients in a badly made mojito make it impossible for me to want to return there. However, if cheap alcohol is more important to you than quality and flavor, Bar le Hideout may be for you.
The American Dream
The over-done exterior of this hoot of a restaurant is really as good as it gets. It didn’t matter that our waiter was friendly because he was serving terrible food. Although I only sampled dessert, I can confidently guess that if a simple Sunday could be messed up so badly (and a strawberry milkshake messed up even worse) the dinner probably isn’t that good either. To top off our bad Sundays was the expensive check. The only thing worse than a bad meal at a restaurant is being overcharged to not enjoy it.
Berthillons
In "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" the tour stands in front of lickable wall paper as Mr. Wonka exclaims: The oranges taste like oranges, the rasberries taste like rasberries, the shnozberries taste like shnozberries! This is how I feel about Berthillons. Whatever flavor you order is so pure; it is not a representation of the flavor you ordered, but the flavor itself. If you order raspberry ice cream, you will not be getting "raspberry flavored ice cream" but rather raspberry in ice cream form. This incredible purity and accuracy of taste can make it a delight to mix-and-match your ice cream. My chocolate and raspberry was the ice cream version of taking the freshest of raspberries and smothering it in the purest of dark Godiva chocolate. I beg you: do not leave Paris without a trip to this ice cream parlor.
Angelina’s
A must in Paris. I have already expounded my love for this cafe here.
L’as du Falafel
The most famous place to get falafel in the Marais district in Paris, this little shop gathers a line out the door almost every day. If you have fifteen minutes to spare, join the club to see why this little place is so well known.
This little restaurant on the Seine doesn't seem like much at first. The food comes out in metal plates and bowls and the "tablecloth" is nothing but disposable paper. Don't be fooled, though--packaging isn't everything. Your main dish doesn't come with colorful sides or garnishes, but one bite into your succulent cut of lamb and you're so blinded by the flavors that it doesn't matter what your dish looks like. For six people we got a heaping (and I do mean heaping) platter of crispy, oily french fries served with Heinz ketchup (italicized for those of you who don't realize how difficult it is to get good ketchup in an anti-ketchup country). For dessert I'd say try the crème brûlée à la framboise: the raspberries are actually baked into the cream giving it an extra bit of vivacity. Although basic, like the most of the rest of the food at Le Trumilou, the chocolate cake was also quite good. It was hearty and moist with a dusting of powdered sugar and a surrounding pool of crème anglaise. To top everything off, I'd have to say that our waiter at this restaurant was the most friendly and funny of all our Parisian waiters to date.
Le Trappiste
4 rue st. Denis (Metro: Chatelet)
A good restaurant for mussles and beer.
Breakfast in America
I've already mentioned Breakfast in America, but it's such an important part of a study abroad student's life I thought I'd mention it again.
Bar le hideout
25 rue de Lappe (Metro: Bastille)
This is the bar to go to if you’re looking for cheap drinks during happy hour. The cheap price comes at a cost, though: quality. It was at this very comfortable, inexpensive bar that I had the worst mojito of my life. Although the NY café style chairs and low coffee tables made for a pleasing ambiance, the wretched taste of poor ingredients in a badly made mojito make it impossible for me to want to return there. However, if cheap alcohol is more important to you than quality and flavor, Bar le Hideout may be for you.
The American Dream
The over-done exterior of this hoot of a restaurant is really as good as it gets. It didn’t matter that our waiter was friendly because he was serving terrible food. Although I only sampled dessert, I can confidently guess that if a simple Sunday could be messed up so badly (and a strawberry milkshake messed up even worse) the dinner probably isn’t that good either. To top off our bad Sundays was the expensive check. The only thing worse than a bad meal at a restaurant is being overcharged to not enjoy it.
Berthillons
In "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" the tour stands in front of lickable wall paper as Mr. Wonka exclaims: The oranges taste like oranges, the rasberries taste like rasberries, the shnozberries taste like shnozberries! This is how I feel about Berthillons. Whatever flavor you order is so pure; it is not a representation of the flavor you ordered, but the flavor itself. If you order raspberry ice cream, you will not be getting "raspberry flavored ice cream" but rather raspberry in ice cream form. This incredible purity and accuracy of taste can make it a delight to mix-and-match your ice cream. My chocolate and raspberry was the ice cream version of taking the freshest of raspberries and smothering it in the purest of dark Godiva chocolate. I beg you: do not leave Paris without a trip to this ice cream parlor.
Angelina’s
A must in Paris. I have already expounded my love for this cafe here.
L’as du Falafel
The most famous place to get falafel in the Marais district in Paris, this little shop gathers a line out the door almost every day. If you have fifteen minutes to spare, join the club to see why this little place is so well known.