Other Paris Food Venues

Paris is a veritable feast for food lovers.  Eating at Paris restaurants and shopping in the Paris street markets can occupy your time for weeks. But for true "foodies," here are a few additional tips and places worth visiting.

• The Galeries Lafayette Gourmet
• The Galeries Lafayette, at 40, Boulevard Haussman (Métro: Chausée d'Antin) is one of the Grand Magazins (department stores) of Paris. Within the department store are its food halls, called Galeries Gourmet.
• A trip to Galeries Gourmet is well worth the effort even if you don't buy anything (the prices are higher than you will find in Paris street markets.) It is a huge space filled with all types of food products, both fresh and prepared. There are areas devoted to cheese, spices, meats, fish, coffees, bakery products, candy, and just about every other food item imaginable.
• Monoprix
• Large grocery stores are difficult to find in Paris.  However, Monoprix is everywhere throughout the city.
• From the street, Monoprix stores look quite nondescript—much like Target stores in the United States. However, most Monoprix have large grocery sections, usually downstairs. This is where you will find the best prices on meats, cheese, fish, green grocery items and other groceries.
• The Monoprix at 71, rue Saint Antoine in the 4th Arrondissement, not far from the Bastaille, is good. Also, try the Monoprix at 2, rue do Commerce in the 15th, (near Boulevard de Grenelle and Avenue la Motte Picquet.
• The Rue Mouffetard
• The Rue Mouffetard in the 5th Arrondissement is a lively street filled with interesting shops for food lovers. Start your walk in the Rue Descartes near Saint-Etienne du Mont and walk south. After a short walk, the Rue Descartes becomes the Rue Mouffetard.
• Unlike other Paris outdoor markets that are comprised of temporary stalls, the Rue Mouffetard market is made up of permanent shops whose owners push their wares out onto the street.
• The best part is near the southern end of the Rue Mouffetard just before reaching the Square Saint-Médard.
• Don't go on Mondays—everything is closed.
• Berthillon
• The best ice creams and sorbets in Paris, if not the world, are produced by Berthillon at its small, iconic shop at 29-31 rue Saint-Louis en l'Île. Restaurants throughout Paris feature Berthillon ice cream on their menus. And as you walk around Paris on a warm day, you will see long lines at store front windows selling Berthillon ice cream. But it is only at Berthillon's Île Saint-Louis store that you can purchase the ice creams and sorbets by the carton to take back to your apartment. They will even provide you with an insulated styrofoam container to keep it cold.
• Berthillon makes its ice cream and sorbet from all natural ingredients, with no chemical preservatives, artificial sweeteners or stabilizers. Its ice creams are made from only milk, sugar, cream and eggs. The result is a very dense and rich ice cream. A demi-tasse of Berthillon ice creame is the equivalent of other ice creams
• Every day Berthillon offers some 40 different flavors. If you like caramel, you have a choice among caramel, caramel au beurre salé, and caramel au gingembre. Five varieties of chocolat are available, including chocolat au nougat, chocolat blanc, chocolat du mendiant, chocolat blanc du mendiant and chocolat noir. True ice cream afficiondos judge and ice cream by the quality of the manufactures vanilla flavor. Berthillon's Vanille won't disappoint.
• For sorbet lovers, Berthillon offers every flavor from abricot to rhubarbe.
• There are often long lines in front of Bertillon waiting to purchase ice cream cones from the pass-through window. If you want to purchase a carton of ice cream to take away you don't have to wait in this line. Just go through the doors to the counter inside the shop to place your order.
• Place de la Madeleine
• The Place de la Madeleine in the 8th arrondissement behind the Opéra is filled with luxury food stores. The two most famous are Fauchon, at 24-26, place de la Madeleine, and Hediard at 21, place de la Madeleine.
• You will also find La Maison de la Truffe at 19, place de la Madeleine. This cramped and convivial shop is the source for black and white truffles, as well as foie gras, caviar, and other high-end foodstuffs. Be sure to bring you wallet. Fresh black truffles were recently priced at 2,900€ per kilo.
• Caviar Kaspia at 17, place de la Madeleine is a Parisian institution that is a meeting point for fashion designers, artist, and fine food connoisseurs looking for an unforgettable experience.
• The elegant decor of the restaurant, adorned with antique paintings, paneling, china and silverware, is an invitation to taste the authentic flavours from the sea and the land. In addition to caviar as the specialty of the house, Kaspia also offer other unique delicacies such as a rare assortment of smoked fish, wild salmon, lobster medallions, duck Foie Gras, Iberico Pata Negra ham and over sixty different vodkas from around the world.
• Rue Montorgueil
• The rue Montorgueil is a trendy street lined with famous restaurants, quaint cafés, bakeries (including La Maison Stohrer), fish stores, cheese shops, wine shops, produce stands and flower shops. The rue Montorgueil has become recognized as one of the best places for hip Parisians to socialize while doing their daily shopping.
• The rue Montorgueil actually begins in the 1st
  Arrondissement next to the Saint-Eustache Church and continues north into the 2nd Arrondisement. Most of the shops are open Sunday morning, but are closed in the middle of the afternoon and on Mondays.
• A. Simon
• A. Simon is a supplier of dishes, pans, knives, wine carafes and other food preparation and service items to the hotel and restaurant business in Paris and throughout France. Located at 48-52, rue de Montmartre in the 2nd Arrondisement, the store (actually, stores, as there are two located side by side) sells a wide assortment of items found in Paris restaurants, from the little carafes that hold wine, to the blackboard signs that post the daily specials. Items are priced according to the number you are buying, and also whether the sale is to the trade (where there is no value added tax) or to retail customers.
• E. Dehillerin
• E. Dehillerin at 18, rue Coquillière, is an excellent cooking utensils outlet located in the 1st arrondissement. It's a totally no-frills store, that has stayed pretty much the same since it was first opened in 1820 (something tells me they didn't sell silicon baking mats back then, though). It's open to individuals, but is mainly targeted at professionals. One of the consequences is that all prices are listed before tax (H.T. meaning "Hors taxes"), contrary to what is customary in regular French stores. It is also much busier on a weekday than on Saturdays.

• When you step inside the store, the first thing that may strike you is how narrow the aisles are, lined from floor to ceiling with metal containers and coarse wooden shelves, on which products are stacked in the most unglamourous fashion. There is hardly any space to walk around, and you keep having to make way for bustling sales reps checking the reference for sharpening stones, and for customers who are trying to get a closer look at the giant soup ladles right next to the stainless steel mandolines you're inspecting.

• The sales people are helpful and knowledgeable, but they are definitely not your patient, coaxing type. They'll tell you which type of bakeware is the sturdiest, but they won't hold your hand and nod while you debate which size gratin dish you really need. If you're looking for the French Williams-Sonoma, this might not be the place for you.