Crusty Baguettes, crumbly croissants, buttery crepes, and picture-perfect pastries – Paris is one helluva culinary delight. Savouring these delicacies is, without a doubt, one of the things you must do in Paris.
But it can be a veritable labyrinth of patisseries and creperies for a visitor. Bakeries and restaurants tempting tourists with their wares at every corner are bound to leave you baffled. Fear not – Bruised Passports’ genies are here to help 🙂 Read on to find out more about the restaurants that made it to our list of Paris best cheap eats:
#1 Creperie Bretonne
Do not take the task of finding a gob-smackingly awesome Creperie in Paris lightly. There are Creperies at every corner with huge jars of Nutella calling out your name. Do NOT be tempted. Keep calm and carry on – onto Rue de Montparnasse i.e. CREPE HEAVEN.
Rue de Montparnasse is a tiny street dotted with a dozen Creperies. The most popular one is La Petit Josselin (expect a queue to get in). But our favourite is La Creperie Bretonne, a small airy Creperie right opposite La Petit Josselin.
Begin your meal by trying one of their savoury buckwheat galettes. If you’re vegetarian, try the Ratatouille galette. If not, we suggest the classic cheese, ham, and egg galette – the crisp galette interacts with the runny egg to make magic happen.
But the best is yet to come. Their pièce de résistance is their crêpe au caramel au beurre salé (salted butter caramel crepe), a local speciality. Nothing we say could possibly articulate how this buttery sweet concoction, perfectly complemented by their creamy home-made ice-cream, satiates the taste buds.
We are sure you will go back for more.
Price: Each crepe costs approximately €7 (as of September 2013)
Nearest Metro Stations: La Creperie Bretonne is a 5 minute walk from Montparnasse — Bienvenüe (Lines 4,6,12, and 13)
Address: 56 Rue du Montparnasse, 75014 Paris, France
#2 Du Pain et des Idees
Paris has the most amazing boulangeries (bakeries) at every corner.
Flaky pastries in show-windows, delectable macarons in every possible colour, the drifting smell of freshly-baked bread, and Parisians nibbling the top of their baguettes out of brown paper bags – that’s Paris for us.
Having tried dozens of boulangeries in Paris over the years, we’ve narrowed down a firm favourite – Du Pain et des Idees. Du Pain et des Idees has won several awards for its bread and is extremely popular with locals, but we haven’t seen it on any itineraries of Paris.
Try their pain au chocolat and chocolate and pistachio escargot. The latter almost looks too pretty to eat, but eat it you must. Take a bite and let your taste buds succumb to their perfectly flaky, buttery, crumbly texture. Nom!
There is outdoor seating but we suggest picking pastries and breads and hopping over to Canal St. Martin, less than 100 metres away, for a picnic.
Price: Expect to pay €2-3/pastry (as of September 2013).
Nearest Metro Stations: Du Pain et des Idees is a 5-minute walk from Jacques Bonsergent (Line 5).
Address: 34 Rue Yves Toudic, 75010 Paris, France
#3 Chez Hanna
Le Marais is one of Paris’ most cosmopolitan and fashionable neighbourhoods. Most of its alleys are populated with art galleries and avant-garde boutiques, but at Rue des Rosiers, the Falafel reigns supreme.
There are a number of Falafel shops here and all around you see Parisians huddled up trying to devour messy pita sandwiches.
L’as du Falafel is the most famous shop on the street. But we don’t really think their falafels live up to the hype.
We are partial to Chez Hanna, a reticent restaurant at the other end of the street. Their falafels are flavourful, tahini intense, and their sandwich comes topped with a generous portion of grilled eggplant. Yum.
These are not the best falafels in the world (remember the ones we had in Israel?), but they’re definitely amongst the best we’ve had in Western Europe.
Price: €5 for the Falafel/Doner Kebab Pita Sandwiches (as of September 2013).
Nearest Metro Stations: Chez Hanna is a 10 minute walk from St. Paul (Line 1).
Address:
#4 Churrasqueira Galo
If all that butter, chocolate, and oil has left you craving for something low on carbs or you’re just missing Nandos, it’s time to head to Churrasqueira Galo, which comes recommended by David Lebovitz.
It is a tiny little Portugese restaurant/ take away tucked into a quiet street off Montmartre. Try their rotisserie chicken and fries – cheap and cheerful.
Price: €9 for a meal comprising 1/2 chicken, fries, salad, and a glass of wine (as of September 2013).
Nearest Metro Stations: Churrasqueira Galo is a 10 minute walk from Anvers (Line 2).
Address: 69 Rue de Dunkerque, 75009 Paris, France
If you are planning a trip to Paris, have a look at our list of top things to do in Paris. While in Paris, the best way to explore the city is The Paris Pass (use code JULY6 for 10% discount on the 6 day pass and 6% discount on 3 and 4 day passes)
Enjoyed reading our list Paris Best Cheap Eats? Which is your favourite budget restaurant in Paris? 🙂 Tell us in the comments below!
YUM!!! Looks like a great excuse to go to Paris to me! That crepe looks especially delicious. 🙂
Creperie Brettonne make some of the best crepes we’ve ever had. It is usually the first place we hit in Paris 🙂
Never been to Paris, but I hope to get there one day 🙂
Hope you make it to Paris soon Agata 🙂
I loved Paris, some of my favourite eateries were in Monmatre though! These all look so yummy though!! 🙂
Kate (UK Bloggers)
http://beautyhotsquad.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/a-womans-quest.html
Montmartre has some gorgeous eateries Kate. Do you have any favourites? 🙂
Yummmmmm! We’re looking to go in December so will make a mental note of these x
Mez do bookmark these places for your trip. We’ve eaten at dozens of places in Paris (all in the name of research of course 😉 ) and included only the choicest places in this list.
OMG that salted caramel crepe has me drooling!! I’m living in Madrid right now and even though France is so close, Paris isn’t on the top of my list of places I want to check out in the next year, but I think it is now! I’m serious, I neeeed to try that crepe!
Book your tickets pronto I say 😉 That crepe is probably the best thing that happened to us in a long long time – it’s so so good
Thanks for sharing these places, I’m off to Paris next month and I can’t wait 🙂
I hope you make it to the creperie and boulangerie in this post Hayley. Do write to us to tell us whether you loved them as much as we did 🙂
Thank you! We’re off to Paris in May (yet to book, just decided!) so this will come in very handy. I literally just this minute finished a blog post about it, I’m so excited!
I definitely want to visit Du Pain et des Idees and Mr M loves Crepes, he’s always talking about some old pancake haunt in Manchester.
Thanks again xx
Melanie you MUST MUST MUST visit Creperie Bretonne. You two will love it. Make sure you try the salted caramel crepe. Hope you have an absolutely lush holiday in Paris. Just drop a line if you need any help planning your itinerary.
We’re off to Paris, um, tomorrow morning 😛 so we will definitely be bookmarking these places, they all look amazing! Especially looking forward to that bakery, all those sweet pastry things have me drooling…. 🙂
That bakery is the bomb! Hope you have an amazing time in Paris. Check out our Top 10 Offbeat Must Dos in Paris (https://www.bruisedpassports.com/category/france) – think you will really enjoy some of them 🙂
Thanks for sharing these ideas … they will come in handy for my trip to Paris for the New Year. BTW, I really like the pattern of Vid’s shirt. Who is the designer / brand?
You are welcome 🙂 Definitely head to the Creperie. I think Vid’s shirt is from Primark !
Going to Paris soon, and just about time I stumbled across this article! Lovely words, gorgeous photos, brilliant article! Ahhh can’t wait! Great job guys!
Thanks Raph. Hope you’ve read our other articles about Paris, especially Top 10 Offbeat Things To Do in Paris.
Have an amazing holiday 🙂
Ahh finally true ‘cheap eats’ suggestions. I got lead here through reading Time Out’s not so cheap listof Paris’s cheap eats…. This seems more like it.
Hope you have a great time in Paris Vivian 🙂
This is a great list! I married a Frenchman (from Lille) and we had our first born in 2012 – we are taking him to meet his family in Lille for 10 days – 3 days of it will be spent in Paris which he stays with his mami… we ALWAYS du L’as Du Felafel but you’ve convinced me to try Chez Hanna. Can’t wait! Thank you for your time and attention to the best of Paris!
Hey Nina,
Thank you so much for your sweet comment. We enjoyed the falafel at Chez Hanna quite a lot. Do go to Rue De Montparnasse for the crepes too 🙂
Great tips! I will definitely have to try this awesome creperie next time, when I’m in Paris. 🙂
Hey Milena – the creperie is amazing. We go back to it everytime we’re in Paris 🙂
Du Pain et des Idees no point recommending it if you don’t give the address
Hey Kevin,
Added the address 🙂
Cheers
Thanks for your suggestion! I tried Chez Hanna; their falafel doner sandwich was to die for! I loved the grilled aubergines that came on the plate!
So happy to hear that Darshana 🙂
What were your other favourite eateries?
We were in Paris recently and tried 3 of your recommended eateries Chez Hanna, Creperie Bertonne and Churrasquiera Galo. All 3 wonderful in their own way. Trust your taste buds and will follow your recommendations for other destinations too.
Awww thanks so much for reading our post on Paris and going to those places too. We are happy that you liked all the three eateries you visited. Hope you had an awesome vacation!!
Today if someone asks me what you saw best then I would like to say that I saw your post best today and it is a very beautifully written post which I appreciate. And I also think that if you see someone’s post and it is beautiful and well written, that should be appreciated.