Tour · 6 stops · ~3 hours (one meal in)
Bouillons & Brasseries
Belle-époque dining rooms, still serving.
The bouillon was a 19th-century invention — affordable, fast, working-class restaurants serving a fixed menu. The brasserie is the more upmarket cousin. Six survive in their original Belle-Époque rooms; this tour visits them in the order they're easiest to walk between.
Through the9e · South Pigalle & Opéra1er · Louvre & Les Halles12e · Bastille, Bercy & Aligre6e · Saint-Germain-des-Prés14e · Montparnasse & Denfert
1Bouillon Chartier
7 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, opened 1896. Still the original recipe: long communal tables, paper tablecloths, waiters in long aprons writing your order on the cloth itself. Three-course dinners under €20. The interior is classified historic.
No reservations — go at 17:30 (opening) or after 21:30 to skip the worst queue. Communal seating: you'll share a table with strangers, which is the whole point. Don't expect refined cooking; expect oeuf mayonnaise, hachis parmentier, and a crème caramel for €15 total.
From Wikipedia›
Bouillon Chartier, or simply Chartier, is a "bouillon" restaurant in Paris founded in 1896, located in the 9th arrondissement and classified as a monument historique since 1989.
Read more on Wikipedia →Verified nearby ·Bouillon Chartier (Grands Boulevards)1 minHôtel Chopin2 min
→Walk south down Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, ~15 min through Sentier to Les Halles. Or métro Grands Boulevards (lines 8/9) → Châtelet (line 4 from Strasbourg-Saint-Denis), then walk to Rue Coquillière — ~15 min total.
48.87160, 2.34330
- 2
Au Pied de Cochon
6 Rue Coquillière, opened 1947 to feed the workers of Les Halles market. Open 24 hours since 1948 (briefly closed for COVID). The eponymous pig's foot — grilled, breaded, with béarnaise — is still the move at 4am.
Best between 1 and 4 am — the room fills with chefs from other restaurants finishing their shifts. Order the soupe à l'oignon gratinée and the pied de cochon panné. The basement bar is open on the weekends and serves until dawn.
From Wikipedia›
Au Pied de Cochon is a restaurant in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 536 Duluth Street East in the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal. Au Pied de Cochon also has a Sugar Shack and La Cabane d'à Côté in St-Benoît de Mirabel, which are open to normal reservations during the maple sugar season. The restaurant was founded by chef Martin Picard in 2001. In 2019, the Montreal location was named the 34th best restaurant in Canada, according to Canada's 100 Best.
Read more on Wikipedia →Verified nearby ·Bourse de Commerce — Pinault Collection2 minGalerie Véro-Dodat4 min
→Métro Châtelet (line 1) eastbound directly to Gare de Lyon — 5 stops, ~12 min. Le Train Bleu is upstairs in the station; follow signs to the main hall and take the grand double staircase.
48.86280, 2.34380
- 3
Le Train Bleu
Inside Gare de Lyon, opened 1901 for the Exposition Universelle. 41 ceiling and wall paintings depicting destinations served by the station. Coco Chanel, Brigitte Bardot, Jean Cocteau, all regulars. Even if you don't eat, walk in to look up.
Up the grand double staircase from the main concourse, signposted from inside Gare de Lyon. Walk into the main dining room without a reservation just to look up; the staff are used to it. For a bite, the bar (no reservation needed) serves a small menu and is at the front.
From Wikipedia›
The Calais-Mediterranée Express was a French luxury night express train which operated from 1886 to 2003. It gained international fame as the preferred train of wealthy and famous passengers between Calais and the French Riviera during the interwar period. It was colloquially referred to as Le Train Bleu in French and the Blue Train in English because of its dark-blue sleeping cars.
Read more on Wikipedia →→Quick hop. Métro Gare de Lyon (line 1) westbound one stop to Bastille. Bofinger is on Rue de la Bastille on the north-east side of the square — exit toward Boulevard Beaumarchais and walk one block. ~7 min total.
48.84430, 2.37360
- 4
Brasserie Bofinger
5-7 Rue de la Bastille, opened 1864 — claims to be the oldest brasserie in Paris. The first Parisian establishment to serve draught beer. The stained-glass dome is 1919 and original; ask for a table directly under it.
When booking, ask for "sous la coupole" — under the dome — that's the room you came for. The choucroute is the menu staple; the seafood plateau is also excellent and fairly priced compared to Le Dôme.
Verified nearby ·Coulée verte René-Dumont1 minLe Balajo4 min
→Métro Bastille (line 1) westbound to Châtelet, transfer to line 4 southbound to Saint-Germain-des-Prés (4 stops past the transfer). Vagenende is two blocks west on Boulevard Saint-Germain. ~20 min total.
48.85300, 2.37000
- 5
Vagenende
142 Boulevard Saint-Germain, opened 1904. Art Nouveau interior almost untouched since opening — flower-mosaic frieze, etched glass, brass fittings — and classified a historical monument in 1966. Reasonable prix-fixe lunch.
The 25 € prix-fixe lunch is the best Belle-Époque-room-for-the-money in Paris. The mosaic frieze of seasons running around the upper walls is the photograph; ask for a banquette table, not the centre.
Verified nearby ·L'Avant Comptoir de la Mer2 minLe Comptoir du Relais3 min
→Métro Odéon (line 4) southbound to Vavin (4 stops, no transfer). Vavin's exit puts you directly on the Carrefour Vavin — La Coupole is on the south side. ~10 min total.
48.85280, 2.34010
6La Coupole
102 Boulevard du Montparnasse, 1927. Already a stop on the Literary Cafés tour, but worth ending here for dinner — the Art Deco columns light up at night and the lamb curry has been on the menu, unchanged, since opening.
Reserve in advance. Ask for a table along the perimeter so you can see the painted columns properly. Don't skip the curry just because it's been on the menu for a century — that's the point.
From Wikipedia›
La Coupole, also known as the Coupole d'Helfaut-Wizernes and originally codenamed Bauvorhaben 21 or Schotterwerk Nordwest, is a Second World War bunker complex in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Saint-Omer, and some 14.4 kilometers south-southeast from the less developed Blockhaus d'Éperlecques V-2 launch installation in the same area. It was built by the forces of Nazi Germany between 1943 and 1944 to serve as a launch base for V-2 rockets directed against London and southern England and is the earliest known precursor to modern underground missile silos still in existence.
Read more on Wikipedia →Verified nearby ·Lenox Montparnasse1 minHôtel Raspail Montparnasse2 min
48.84200, 2.32870