Paris Weekend Break

Paris restaurants, cuisine and eating

Paris is famed for its enticing cuisine and the restaurants that serve it, but many foreigners assume that eating out in Paris is an expensive luxury.

In actual fact this is not the case and most Parisians dine out regularly at a cost of between 10 and 30 euros per head for a 3 course meal including wine and coffee.

These prices become even more appealing for the lunchtime diner as most restaurants offer a fixed menu at somewhere close to (and often less than) 10 euros per person. Typically this type of lunch comprise 3 courses, normally with a reasonable selection of starters and main courses, and a bottle of wine will usually be thrown in too.

Eating out at these prices does not mean seeing a drop in standards either. The quality and selection of the menus will be high and the ingredients will be freshly sourced and prepared.

Eating out is a serious pastime for Parisians and a poor restaurant soon goes out of business, so you are very unlikely to have a bad culinary experience. Parisian dining is a treat that you should certainly indulge in on a Paris weekend.

Where to find restaurants in Paris

Finding a restaurant in Paris is never a problem. They are present on every boulevard and every street corner and there are well over 200 restaurants meeting the price criteria described above. Famous Paris restaurants include the likes of "Fouquets" and "Bistro de la Gare" on the Champs Elysees, but the city is overflowing with them. If you want something extra special, then your options are just as extensive.

Deciding exactly where to eat in Paris is something to think about very carefully. On a Paris weekend break you will have a limited number of dining opportunities, so you need to make the most of them.

If you want to dine out with a view of one of the city’s famous landmarks in front of you, expect to pay a premium for the privilege. Equally, do not expect the emphasis to be on the dinning experience. Restaurants in these locations know that you are paying for the view every bit as much as you are for the menu. These are the tourist restaurants and the locals rarely visit them.

For a dining experience that is really authentic, with food of a high quality and at a reasonable price, leave the main tourist areas and wonder down some of the city’s side streets. Almost every street has a restaurant and you can measure its quality simply by putting your head through the door and listening. If you hear predominantly French voices, then you have found the “real” thing.

With these restaurants do not expect impeccable table dressing or clean cut waiters and waitresses. These restaurants will be busy, bustling and full of activity with kitchen doors banging and waiters running around. Find a place like this and you will have a real eating experience and one that you will never forget.

Types of Restaurant

Paris is one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities and this is reflected in its cuisine and restaurants. Food and dinning are enormously important aspects of any Parisian’s life and variety, variation and experimentation all contribute to their eating experience. Food is their passion, be it on a week day or a weekend.

Most visitors to Paris (quite rightly) want to sample authentic French cuisine, but for those with a more varied ethnic pallet, Paris can offer every variation on European and Asian eating. You will find Chinese, Indian, Spanish and Italian restaurants throughout the city along with every other dining denomination that you can think of.

You will also notice that the mood and aura of some restaurants will change considerably from lunchtime to evening dinner. Some restaurants have different chefs, depending upon the time of day, with an almost frantic atmosphere during the busy budget lunchtime menu and a more relaxed ambience at night.

In the evening, good quality economic food can sometimes make way for nouveaux cuisine with the emphasis moving more towards presentation and service, rather than what some would call good, honest Parisian food. But all the options are there and it is down to every visitor to decide what they want from their Paris weekend dining experience.