Budget meals in Paris

Le Boullion Chartier

Busy and affordable bistro serves up no-frills traditional French food. Established in 1896, this 19^th century hall has a great atmosphere. Starters range from €1-€13, most mains are around €10, side vegetables and cheeses are just under €3. Service was friendly and waiters spoke good English. Probably not ideal for vegetarians as they do not have vegetarian mains. Otherwise, a great place where you can enjoy the classic French meal, with wine (€2.70 for 25cl house wine) all at very affordable price.

Le Boullion Chartier, 7 rue du Faubourg Montmartre|, 9th arrondissement, Métro: Grands Boulevards

Higuma

They do home-style Japanese comfort foods such as ramen noodles and donburi rice bowls. A bowl of ramen starts at €7.50 and fairly large portion. Nothing too fancy in terms of food, décor and service and okay for a quick lunch. 3 branches all in central locations. No vegetarian options.

163 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris, Métro : Pyramides, Palais Royal

Falafel in Jewish quarter

You will see a several falafel joints on Rue des Rosiers in Le Marais area. The famous MI-VA-MI and L’As du Falafel, standing opposite each other, both had very long lines for a €6.50 falafel sandwich. We walked on and there were a couple more falafel places, no big lines but the price also began to go down a bit, €5.50 for a falafel sandwich.

We got our falafel pita sandwiches at Chez Hanna which is a restaurant, but the sandwich is €5.50 from a takeaway window. Luckily they had a few chairs outside so we could sit with our food. Really delicious – falafels tasty, hummus creamy, aubergine melts in your mouth… The man behind the takeaway counter didn’t speak English, but kindly explained things to us with gestures.

Chez Hanna, 54 rue des Rosiers, 4e Paris, Métro : Saint-Paul

Bakeries

If you throw a stone in Paris it will hit a bakery. They are everywhere and they are good. Prices obviously varies from a shop to shop, but croissants and baguettes are just around €1, pasties and tarts are €2-3. I’m sure there are so many ‘best’ bakeries in Paris, but you can’t probably go wrong with just exploring. C got very busy with his extensive research on croissants, but my personal favourite was baguettes. During our stay, our favourite bakery turned out to be the one just near our hotel called Boulangerie Michel (103 Avenue Parmentier, 75011 Paris).

The golden trio

Bit of a cliche, but they DO have good wines, cheeses and breads over there. This is something we try to do whenever we are in France; get a baguette from a bakery, get a selection of cheeses and a bottle of wine from a supermarket – the golden trio! The result can be more satisfying and exciting than ending up in some over priced restaurants or tourist traps. Do not forget your wine opener and cups, plastic cutleries and paper plates may also come in handy.

Tabacs

Sells cigarettes and lotto tickets, sometimes coffee and beer and popular meeting point for local gentlemen (day or night) and can be found all over town… is my current understanding of Parisian Tabacs. At café-tabacs, an espresso is little over €1. The one we went had a proper coffee machine and gave us a perfectly good espresso. We enjoyed the laid back atmosphere and the fact that they leave you alone whilst being friendly. If you don’t feel like spending €3 for a single espresso and don’t mind not being in a fancy cafe, do venture into Tabacs.