Au Pied de Cochon
  • 08
  • Dec
  • 2009

Their famous onion soup and namesake speciality ( grilled pigs’ feet with béarnaise sauce) still lure visitors and where in Paris can you get such a good meal at 3 am ? It’s our favourite when we come to Paris very late . It’s always very crowded but the service is very efficient.

As the name of the restaurant says most of the porc dishes are excellent.

At the street outside, you can buy some of the freshest oysters in town.

Au Pied de Cochon, 6, Rue Coquillière, 75001 Paris, tel 01 40 13 77 00, M° Les Halles or Louvre, reservations recommended

Chez Vong
  • 04
  • Dec
  • 2009

This is the kind of Les Halles restaurant you head for when you’ve had your fill of grand cuisine and pretensions.

The decor is soothing mix of greens and browns, steeped in a Chinese-colonial ambience that evokes early 1900s Shanghai. You could easily imagine James Bond coming in with a nice woman at his side.

The chef’s speciality is lacquered peking duck with shrimp, we did try it some years ago and it’s very tasty but rather expensive.

Chez Vong, 10, Rue de la Grande-Truanderie, 75001 Paris, tel 01 40 26 09 36, M° Etienne-Marcel or Les Halles, reservations recommended.

The Hidden Kitchen
  • 15
  • Oct
  • 2009

Since a year or two we see an influx of young American chefs . They change the traditional restaurant scene a bit with tiny restaurants – 4 tables only ( genre Spring) or serving food at their appartment (genre Hidden Kitchen). And if there is one dinner to plan in advance of your trip to Paris, make it Hidden Kitchen. Located in the swanky Parisian flat of two talented American chefs, this secret restaurant is where food-loving strangers come to meet and eat.

Two pioneers in this delicious movement are Braden and Laura. In 2007, the couple moved from Seattle to Paris to set up Hidden Kitchen, an underground, word-of-mouth, dining destination located in their central and super chic Parisian apartment.

So how does it work?
Twice a week, Braden and Laura host elaborate, market inspired, ten-course tasting meals with wine pairing for 16 diners  (their address remains “hidden” until your reservation is confirmed via e-mail).

To reserve a spot at Hidden Kitchen, send an email to: hkreservations@gmail.com. Dinners are on Sundays and either Friday or Saturday of each week. Reservations are recommended several months in advance. Suggested donation: 80€/person (cash or check only). See the Hidden Kitchen website for sample menus and more information.

Finkelsztajn Sacha
  • 10
  • Oct
  • 2009

This Jewish deli specializing in what it calls “la gastronomie Yiddish” from Central Europe and Russia has been around since 1946. Sacha Finkelsztajn has a pricey but … delectable selection of breads, spreads, pastries, cold cuts, and other take-out specialties.

His Strudel are delicious andso his cheese-cake. But the reason to come here is for their incredible pastrami sandwich. This isn’t New York pastrami, but lean spiced beef cut thinly and layered with slim cucumber and tomato slices, red chili paste, and eggplant caviar on an onion roll. There are also a handful of tables where you can enjoy your freshly made sandwich

Finkelsztajn Sacha, 27, Rue Rosiers 75004 Paris, tel 01 42 72 78 91