Eating and drinking are among Paris's chief delights, as they are in the country as a whole. The capital offers a tremendous variety of cuisines: as well as regional French cooking, notably from the southwest, you can sample Senegalese, Caribbean, Thai, eastern European and North African cuisine, among others. There's also a huge diversity of eating and drinking establishments: luxurious restaurants in the traditional style or elbow-to-elbow bench-and-trestle-table jobs; spacious brasseries and cafés where you can watch the world go by while nibbling on a baguette sandwich; or dark, cavernous beer cellars and tiny wine bars with sawdust on the floor offering wines by the glass from every region of France. You can take coffee and cakes in a chintzy salon de thé , in a bookshop or gallery, or even in the confines of a mosque. Bars can be medieval vaults, minimalist or postmodern design units, Paris-style pubs or period pieces in styles ranging from the Swinging Sixties to the Naughty Nineties.

It's true that the old-time cheap neighbourhood cafés and bistros are a dying breed, while fast-food chains haveburgeoned at an alarming speed. Quality is also in decline at the lower end of the restaurant market, particularly in tourist hotspots. Yet, however much Parisians bemoan the changing times, you'll find you're still spoiled for choice, even on a modest budget. There are numerous fixed-price menus ( prix fixe ) for under ?12.20, particularly at lunchtime, providing staple dishes; for ?22.87 you'll have the choice of more interesting dishes; and for ?30.49, you should be getting some gourmet satisfaction.

The big boulevard cafés and brasseries are always more expensive than those a little further removed, and addresses in the smarter or more touristy arrondissements set prices soaring. A snack or drink on the Champs-Élysées, place St-Germain-des-Prés or rue de Rivoli, for instance, will be double or triple the price of Belleville, Batignolles or the southern 14e. Many bars have happy hours , but prices can double after 10pm, and any clearly trendy, glitzy or stylish place is bound to be expensive.

We list the different eating and drinking establishments by area. They are divided into restaurants , including some brasseries, and bars and cafés , incorporating snack bars, ice-cream parlours and salons de thé .

The Islands
Bars and Cafés Berthillon 31 rue St-Louis-en-l'Île, 4e. Mº Pont-Marie. Wed-Sun 10am-8pm. Long queues for these excellent ice creams and sorbets (?3.35 a triple), with a big choice of unusual fruity flavours, such as...
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The Tuileries, Champs-Élysées and around
Cafés and bars Angélina 226 rue de Rivoli, 1er. Mº Tuileries. Mon-Fri 9am-7pm, Sat & Sun 9am-7.30pm; closed Tues in July & Aug. A long-established gilded cage, where the well-coiffed sip the best hot chocolate in...
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The Grands Boulevards and around
Cafés and bars L'Arbre à Cannelle 7 passage des Panoramas, 2e. Mº Grands-Boulevards. Mon-Sat till 6.30pm. Exquisite wooden panelling, frescoes and painted ceilings make this an enchanting spot for puddings, flans and ...
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Quartier Beaubourg and the Marais
Bars and cafés L'Apparemment Café 18 rue des Coutures-St-Gervais, 3e. Mº St-Sébastien-Froissart. Mon-Fri noon-2am, Sat 4pm-2am, Sun 12.30pm-midnight. Chic, but cosy, café resembling a series of comfortable sitting rooms,...
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Bastille
Bars and cafés Bar des Ferrailleurs 18 rue de Lappe, 11e. Mº Bastille. Daily 5pm-2am. Dark and stylishly sinister bar, with rusting metal decor, an eccentric owner and fun wig-wearing staff. Relaxed, friendly crowd. ...
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Quartier Latin
Cafés and bars Café de la Mosquée 39 rue Geoffroy-St-Hilaire, 5e. Mº Monge. Daily 8am-midnight. You can drink mint tea and eat sweet cakes beside a fountain and assorted fig trees in the courtyard of this Paris mosque - a...
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St-Germain
Cafés and bars Le 10 10 rue de l'Odéon, 6e. Mº Odéon. Daily 6.30pm-2am. The beer here is very cheap, which is why it attracts young people, particularly foreigners. Small dark bar with old posters, a jukebox, and a lot of...
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Trocadéro, the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides
Cafés and bars Café du Museé d'Orsay 1 rue Bellechasse, 7e. RER Musée-d'Orsay & Mº Solférino. Tues-Sun 11am-5pm. Superb views over the Seine in the museum's magnificent rooftop café. Snacks and drinks. Quick and...
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Montparnasse and the 14e
Cafés and bars La Closerie des Lilas 171 bd du Montparnasse, 6e. RER Port-Royal. Daily noon-1.30am. The smartest, artiest, classiest Montparnasse café, with excellent cocktails for around ?9.15 and a resident pianist. The...
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The 15e arrondissement
Cafés and bars au Bon Coin 85 rue Brancion, 15e. Mº Porte-de-Vanves. Daily till 9pm. Located next to the Parc Georges-Brassens this well-established bar with original zinc counter attracts a well-read clientele looking for...
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The 13e arrondissement
Cafés and bars La Folie en Tête 33 rue Butte-aux-Cailles, 13e. Mº Place-d'Italie & Mº Corvisart. Mon-Sat 5pm-2am. A very warm and laid-back address, where you can get cheap beer, sandwiches andmidday plat du...
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Montmartre
Cafés and bars La Petite Charlotte 24 rue des Abbesses, 18e. Mº Abbesses. Tues-Sun till 8pm. Crêpes, pâtisseries and ?8.84 formule on sunny tables. Le Refuge Cnr rue Lamarck & the steps of...
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Pigalle and south of pigalle
Cafés and bars Le Dépanneur 27 rue Fontaine, 9e tel 01.40.16.40.20. Mº Pigalle. Open 24hr. Relaxed and fashionable all-night bar. aux Deux-Théâtres 18 rue Blanche, cnr rue Pigalle, 9e tel 01.45.26.41.43....
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Eastern Paris
Cafés and bars L'Atmosphère 49 rue Lucien-Sampaix, 10 e. Mº Gare-de-l'Est. Tues-Fri 11am-2am, Sat & Sun 5.30pm-2am. Next to the Canal St-Martin, this is a lively bar with food and occasional live music. The Hôtel...
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Paris for vegetarians
The chances of finding vegetarian main dishes on the menus of regular French restaurants are not good. You could choose a selection of non-meat starters or order an omelette or a salad, but you'll be much better off going to an ethnic restaurant - Middle...
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Late-night Paris
It's not at all unusual for bars and brasseries in Paris to stay open after midnight. Note that the three Drugstores , at 133 av des Champs-Élysées and 1 av Matignon in the 8e, and 149 bd St-Germain in the 6e, stay open till 2am, with bars,...
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Student restaurants
Students of any age are eligible to apply for tickets for the university restaurants under the direction of CROUS de Paris. A list of addresses, which includes numerous cafeterias and brasseries, is available from their offices at 39 av...
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Restaurants of Paris
As you would expect, there are some really spectacular restaurants in Paris. One of the best is Alain Ducasse at 59 av Raymond Poincaré, 16e (tel 01.47.27.12.27) which has beenawarded three Michelin stars. It's run by the enterprising Alain...
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