French food is known as tasty but decadent — white bread, mountains of cheese and lashings of red meat, all drowning in butter. Vegetarians and even those who like simple, clean food often have a love-hate relationship with the French capital. But health-conscious eating is growing in popularity.
Here are the best healthy eating options in Paris: one fine dining experience, some mid-range restaurants and cheaper choices, market food and the DIY options. All prices per person.
Fine dining
Alain Passard is a magician. Ten years ago he fell in love with vegetables and now, in his kitchen near the
Eiffel Tower, he makes them sing.
l'Arpege is elegantly subdued but friendlier than most restaurants in its class — after most sittings, the chef visits each table for a chat. The daily menu uses ingredients sourced each morning from his private kitchen gardens outside Paris.
Our lunch included a martini glass filled with corn and pear in a frothy white wine sauce, tiny mussels with onion and sauvage (wild baby asparagus), as well as green beans with almonds and peaches. There were also tricolour beetroots, roasted and tossed with Moroccan couscous, and then a piece of monkfish, perfectly poached. And finally, his signature dish: a tart made from apples carved into rosebuds. Food as art — delicious art.
Even with butter sauces this has to be the healthiest Michelin -starred eating option in the world. If you only have one blowout meal in Paris, make it l'Arpege.
Dinner is €360 ($515) but you can grab a relative bargain at lunch, when six-plus courses will set you back €120 ($170). Vegetarian and vegan set menus available on request.
84 rue de Varenne, 75007
+33 147 050 906
www.alain-passard.com
Mid-range bistro
An organic vegan bistro and B&B in the 16th near the
Arc de Triomphe, the
Gentle Gourmet is run by an American-French family who might possibly be the friendliest people in Paris. All food is vegan and they cater for special requests (no salt, no nuts, gluten free, etc). The restaurant is open to non-guests but only seats eight, so book early.
Everything we ate came from the local market that morning and was handmade with love. We started with glasses of melon soup and avocado, cucumber and mint mousse. Provencal vegetable stacks of aubergine, pink beans and herbs sandwiched between grilled slices of green and red summer tomatoes made a colourful entree. A main of beans, mushrooms and artichokes with risotto, grilled tofu stuffed with basil and a creamy lemon sauce hit the spot. And tiny almond cakes with apricot plum compote and almond ice-cream were a perfect finish.
We can't rate this innovative B&B highly enough. It's truly like being welcomed into a family home, so if you can possibly stay the night rather than just for a meal you'd be mad not to.
A set three-course bistro costs €30 ($43), a gourmet four-course dinner is €50 ($71), brunch is €25 ($35; try Deborah's vegan French toast) and picnic baskets are available from €15 ($21).
21 rue Duret, 75116
+33 145 004 655
www.gentlegourmetbandb.com
An unpretentious industrial-styled bistro in the 11th, Soya offers mostly organic vegetarian food (vegan on request). We had the set brunch — fresh fruit smoothies with slices of melon followed by a mezze plate with dips and grainy French bread. Then a huge plate of roast pumpkin, nut loaf, spicy potato and chickpea croquette, grilled aubergine with cheese, pesto, roasted tomato sauce and salad. We almost didn't have room for the apple crumble and incredibly dense chocolate brownies — but we'll be back!
Weekend brunch costs €25 ($35).
20 rue de la Pierre levee, 75011
+33 148 063 302
www.soya75.fr
Tucked down a side street in the 5th near the
Pantheon and the
Sorbonne, Tugalik is chic and modern yet cosy. They offer interesting fixed-price menus with a range of international dishes and organic wines. We were too full for anything beyond tea, but the next table was happy with pumpkin and coconut soup followed by Brazilian-style fish in a tomato and coriander sauce and orange panna cotta for dessert.
Set lunches start at €12 ($17), dinners from €24 ($34), or grab a tea and cake for €5 ($7).
4 rue Toullier, 75005
+33 143 544 149
www.tugalik.com
Cheap eats
Primarily a "food boutique", Voy specialises in indigenous foods from South America including little-known plants from the Andes. They also have an excellent juice bar and cafe near
Canal St Martin in the 10th. For lunch try a glass of xocolatl (a chocolate tea made by the Ancient Incas) followed by the blini topped with three different salads plus tahini, sesame seeds and sweet yacon syrup. For dessert, a very rich raw mousse made with dark chocolate, coconut milk, nuts and agave nectar. Very cheap and very, very good.
Lunch will set you back about €10 ($14).
23 rue des Vinaigriers, 75010
+33 142 010 344
www.voyalimento.fr
Although not the most spectacular food in Paris, with 15 locations all over the city
Paradis du Fruit is hard to beat for a convenient fail-safe. The spaces are light and bright, with a wide range of fresh fruit crushes and smoothies (including hard-to-find fruit like pawpaw) and salads with or without meat or fish. The lightest option is their quinoa vegetable salad — yum.
Lunch starts at about €15 ($21).
www.leparadisdufruit.fr
For real fresh fruit or green juices, power smoothies and supplements like acai and spirulina, head to
Bob's in the 10th. An American-style juice bar with one communal table, they also offer muffins and daily vegan soup and salad combos. Corn, sweet potato and cumin soup plus avocado, quinoa, beans and beetroot salad are the perfect antidote for that pain au chocolat you had for breakfast.
Lunch starts at about €6 ($9).
15 rue Lucien Sampaix, 75010
+33 950 063 618
Bob’s Facebook page
Street food
Celebrities shop at
Marché Raspail, Paris' most famous outdoor food market (organic on Sundays), but
Marché Batignolles near Montmartre in the 17th is a little cheaper and more interesting. Here you'll find fresh produce and can create a picnic lunch or grab some take-away dishes for later.
- Marché Batignolles: Saturdays 9am to 2pm; lunch from €2 ($3)
- Boulevard de Batignolles in the 17th between Métro stations Rome and Place de Clichy
- Marché Raspail: Sundays 9am to 2pm
- Boulevard Raspail in the 6th between Métro stations Renne and Sévres-Babylone
DIY: organic supermarkets
If you're on a budget or feel like making something yourself, the
Biocoop and
Naturalia chains each have dozens of locations in Paris. No US-style megastores here: most are mid-sized supermarkets with mostly organic food, household products and bakery/deli counters. They can be expensive, but look for daily specials and nuts, sugar, flour, pastas, grains and dried fruits sold by the kilo. Sadly, no Vegemite.
For a comprehensive list of vegan/vegetarian restaurants in Paris with reviews, check out Happy Cow.
