cheap and pricy recommendations alike will be appreciated!

February 4, 2006 6:07 PM

Recommendations for vegetarian food in Paris or Chantilly?

Hi all!

My girlfriend and I will be leaving for France next week.. and i am looking for suggestions on some good restaurants that are vegetarian friendly. Anyone with suggestions?

We'll be in Paris around Arr. 14 for a few nights and around Arr. 2 for others. I am presuming the metro makes it easy enough to get around, so I'll be open on location. And we'll be at a chateau in Chantilly for another 3 nights. (with car)

It strikes me that French food is not so vegetarian friendly, but we do have a restaurant in Boston that's quite the opposite. So I've not lost faith.

Oh and by the way, Vegetarian.. not vegan :)

Can you also suggest some good activities to do in chantilly? lots of info on the web for Paris, but not much for Chantilly.

Thanks!

posted by bhenry to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

Cafe Le Bistro on Rue Magenta in Paris serves some really tasty, veggie-friendly fare. My favorite dinner there was some sliced fresh tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, French feta cheese, buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil and shavings of parmesan all drizzled with olive oil and served with crusty bread and a caraffe of wine.

Simple, but very tasty.

In addition, most of the boulangeries on the street sell vegetable crudite sandwiches that are awesome.

Dunno if you'll make it up to Strasbourg, but there's a great restaurant there called Cloche de Fromage which specializes in cheese and is also quite veggie friendly.
posted by kaseijin at 6:31 PM on February 4, 2006

There are a ton of veggie friendly places in the Marais section of town. My wife and I are both vegetarians and we ate happily in the Marais every night when we were in Paris in June.
posted by BackwardsCity at 7:24 PM on February 4, 2006

Not strictly a restaurant (no candles on the table, but Skyrock or Beur FM on the stereo) but if you're like me and haven't much money, Maoz Falafel in the Quartier Latin (rue Xavier Privas) (for shame, I know it by heart) is the best falafel in Paris with a huge salad bar. Depending where you are in the 14th, it's not far to take line 4 up to St-Michel.
If you're made of money you can find cheese and bread in some form at any restaurant. Or any grocery store for 1/18th the cost.
Most (if not all three of them) of the specifically vegetarian restaurants in Paris are pretty dire and overpriced, especially compared to U.S. restaurants. The place on rue des Bourdonais sort of in Beaubourg is not too expensive and is nice enough and they have prix-fixe lunches and so on.
There is a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in the 13th but they have sort of strange hours.
posted by baklavabaklava at 10:43 PM on February 4, 2006

Paris veggie food. I'm sorry for the self-link, but I just addressed this exact topic in too much detail to copy and paste here.
posted by hazyjane at 12:40 AM on February 5, 2006

Paris is no problem at all for vegetarians, if you like ethnic food. Try Indian/Thai restaurants in Quartier Latin, or try Italian (that's more than pizza).

If you really want a French restaurant, you'll probably get lots of cheese, omelets, that sort of thing.

I wish I could remember specific restaurants, but it has been way too long. Enjoy your stay!
posted by davar at 12:45 AM on February 5, 2006

I see that L'Arpege is indirectly mentioned by virtue of its inclusion in hazyjane's link. Considering your question, I think it deserves more emphasis. I've never been but if I ever get to Paris, it's at the top of my list. It's a Michelin 3 star restaurant. The Michelin guide has taken some abuse recently for undue consideration of extravagant service and settings, for playing favorites, for being biased against non-French cuisine, for overvaluing sticker-shock inducing ingredients like caviar, for, well, for a lot of things. But, if you still think that three stars from Michelin means something and you're a vegetarian then you should be calling now for a reservation.

Passard, the chef, was world reknowned for his roasted meats. Since then he took a huge risk to create a vegetarian friendly restaurant with Michelin 3-star food standards. The restaurant apparently serves some fish and maybe some chicken but the chef's passion is the vegetables and by all accounts he creates masterpieces with them.
posted by stuart_s at 10:04 AM on February 5, 2006

It's been a while since I was in Chantilly, but there was a bike rental shop near the entrance to town. That could be fun, if the weather's fine.
You must tour the château, of course.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:30 AM on February 5, 2006