Le Pantruche

Le Pantruche is an excellent new charming bistro, located in a small side street, right off the vibrant Rue des Martyrs. Discrete, but warmly decorated, and with perhaps just as many tables inside as you could imagine. As both guests and staff are nice, open and accommodating; the proximity of a large number of potential friends just adds to the vibe of the place. The kitchen is inventive, but solidly grounded. Particularly worth exploring is the excellent application of fish and sea food, for example in oyster tartare, mackerel, or the likes. Wines are good - some even very good - and available for a bargain. Most definitely worth the visit - again...

lepantruche.com

l'épicuriste

L'épicuriste is easy to oversee on the large Boulevard Pasteur close to Montparnasse. However, once you've been there, you will most certainly remember. This place is simply how good bistros should be: Cousy but still sufficiently elegant, laid-back with out being easy-going, and friendly while maintaining classical deeds. The kitchen seems basque inspired without making a fuss about it, but elegantly masters different kinds of fish, pimientos and of course a bunch of other stuff. The food is excellent, very well-prepared, to the point, and everything on your dish serves a purpose. The selection of wines is rich and well done, and the value for money is good. Staff is friendly and accomodating, and the chef knows what he's talking about. Epicurism is about seeking pleasure and greatness through modesty. Spot on.

Chez Moustache

We are at a beardy place. And as strange as this may sound, it feels good. Bistrot Rigolo as they call it themselves. We are in the 11th, on the corner of Amelot and J-P Timbaud, where this new cool resto de tendance is welcoming you. A huge and usually quite crowded bar desk is at the entrance, until you're skillfully guided towards the back of the two rooms where tables are somewhat randomly organized. The staff is cool, friendly and attentive. The food is a good, not necessarily highly inventive, but a well grounded, creative cuisine de marche; things are well prepared, nicely served, and simply taste very good. An excellent place. Although the wines are a bit pricy for the quality, the place is highly recommended, particularly for the cool ambiance and the overall experience. Good cocktails too. For example in case you've actually left the table but somehow feel the need to chill for a second or two as the bar greets you again, just before reaching the exit...

www.chezmoustache.com

Racines - Marchand de Vin

Racines - or roots - is an excellent restaurant located in yet another one of Paris' many charming passages. The old wine shop is modestly decorated; empty bottles greet you welcome in the windows and the kitchen is open, practically hidden behind the bar. The guests are couples, business people with a need to charm their clients, or simply wine enthusiastic friends. There is no wine menu as such. The wines for sale are show cased randomly at shelves around the restaurant, which unavoidably forces you interact with the other guests around the small tables. Unless of course, you take the easy short cut, and get some good advice from the open and warm guys running the place. The wines are mostly natural. The kitchen is unpretentious, focused; the food is very well prepared, and the products well selected. Not a place for a comprehensive menu, but the place where the two or three main dishes they serve a good. Comme il faut. A very nice and cosy place.

Frenchie - bar a vin

Frenchie is an excellent wine bar serving bistronomy in a cosy and intriguing ambiance. Located in a small alley, on a side street from Rue des Petits Carreaux and Montorgueil, this place. The tables are small, so if the place is full, you're likely to be placed at the table of other guests. Normally for the better, but if you can find a corner, hold on to it. The food comes in small, well prepared, elegant, tasteful servings, allowing for real dining as well as curious snacking. 

Quedubon

As you are just about to think that there is absolutely nothing in the 19th district, aside from the magic Buttes Chaumont, a funny modern bistro appears: Quedubon. And it is "just good stuff". For example like a well conceived tuna tartare. Or pickled pork. An unpretentious place with delicious and well-prepared food, served by cool and charming waiters. An impressive and well selected wine list. Good and interesting bottles. Well priced.

Chateaubriand

An unusually good place. The style and ambiance is cool, so is the staff. Yet still knowledgable and able to make you feel good. For 55 euros you will get more than 9 highly innovative dishes of the highest quality created with no faults. It's a must do. The kitchen is basque inspired, and the food is light and elegant. The wines are creative (even a bit too creative at times, the thing with the craving for natural wine...) and most often very well selected. Be clear about your wine preferences in order to let all your wishes come true. They most likely will...

www.lechateaubriand.net

La table d'Eugene

Moving up North of the Grand Boulevards, even beyond Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, you will find the old 18th, what some people would clim is the only remaining parts of the real, old Paris. This small restaurant/bistrot, has an appetizing menu, served extraordinarily well. The place is small, but cosy; and the couple running it will most certainly take good care of you. The wine selection is equally good and very well priced. It's very simple: It's a good address.

Le Beef Club

Le Beef Club is essentially a good night out. The restaurant is a modern bistro, designed with a perfect touch for the good ambiance. The kitchen is traditional French kitchen but revived through a not overdosed dash of renewal. Focus is on the meat - although it might be one of the few places in Paris where the cuts as well as the meat are English, and not French. The wine menu is excellent, and the savvy staff can provide for trustworthy advice. As if this wasn't enough, underneath the restaurant you'll find a cool cocktail bar, crowded on all sides of the bar. A good night out...

www.eccbeefclub.com

Way south... basque country side: Kokotxa

If you happen to move southwards, you will find the regional food and kitchens that France is really all about. If you happen to go even further down south, if you'll cross the Spanish border, you might happen to find yourself in what could easily be coined as one of the cities in the world where you eat the best. This is San Sebastian, or Donastia in Basque. If you drop by Kokotxa, near the Northen church and the old habor, you are likely to be in one of the best restaurants in the world. The food is sharp, the focus is on the sea just a few hundred meters away... you'll get perfectly cooked octopussy, white tuna, prominent fish as well outsiders brought to fame. The kitchen is elegant, innovative and still you have the feeling that is is most of all just local food. With a rich and excellent selection of wines. For all tastes. With cool, nice and knowledgable people around you can ask for nothing more. This is what you should be looking for.

www.restaurantekokotxa.com/contactos-restaurante-kokotxa.php

Le Dauphin

Le Dauphin is perhaps one of the best value restaurants in Paris. Despite the rough neon light in the very basic tapas-place-styled metalic decor, the ambiance is fantastic; the place simply breathes food and good wine. The place is the the "the little sister" of Chateaubriand, the excellent restaurant more or less next door, hence the kitchen is somewhat similar in terms of inspirations: basque country style, a rich variety of sea food served in highly innovative and elegant ways. Extremely sharp in all details - despite the laid back coolness and tranquility of the staff. Although not all innovations are complete successes, the food is simply nothing less than excellent. The wine card is rich and holds a huge amount of very good wine experiences - despite a pronounced love for vins natures. You can book a table or you can just drop by and get a corner of the generous bar desk in the middle of everything. 

www.restaurantledauphin.net