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How to Save on Meals when Traveling in Paris

Crepe in Paris; woman eating crepe

My Top Five Favorite Foods of Paris

My Dear Polite Traveler,

The streets of Paris are lined with food vendors, which as a small business owner always looking for the best bang for my small-budget buck appreciates greatly.  Most offer excellent food at amazingly affordable prices, especially my favorites.  Those who love chocolate, butter, and ham – not necessarily at the same time – should appreciate my list of favorites as well.  Get ready to drool.

#5 Croque Monsieur

As Paris is the land of ham and cheese, it's a no-brainer they would have a killer grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  Jambon, French for ham, appears on almost all menus in one form or another and of course, cheese is...well, everywhere. 

My favorite Croque Monsieur is the less heavy open face version.  This is a piece of toasted dense bread coated with a slight touch of mustard, crumbled cheese—such as gruyere—followed with a slice of ham and finished with the cheesy béchamel sauce.  These are typically € 7. 

More often, this is a closed sandwich beginning with a slice of bread, the mustard, cheese, ham, topped with another slice of bread and finished off with the cheesy béchamel. 

Both sandwiches are set under the broiler until golden brown. 


#4 Explore the Salads

Ooh la la, French chefs make the absolute best salads.  During my last visit to Paris, I was looking for a quick and inexpensive meal.  So, I chose a salad from the menu—about € 10. The ingredients intrigued me: salad greens, aged ham, walnuts, pommes frites, olives , and warm camembert.  Even so, I still expected to receive a small salad with a few chunks of warmed cheese and bits of ham.  What arrived exceeded all expectations. 

Salad; France; Paris

The tantalizing salad was huge!  It was topped with an inch-thick, four-inch-round of warm camembert, filled with a generous amount of aged ham – what we would call prosciutto – and the pommes frites were thinly sliced potatoes fried quickly in extremely hot oil, so the pieces puff up.  This is just one example.  Every salad I ordered was a delicious adventure.

#3 Crepes

Street food!  Crepes are most often street food that is cooked per order right in front of each lucky, drooling diner.  Crepes can be filled with just about anything, but commonly many order their crepes filled with yummy Nutella.  Still, my favorite is ham and cheese—approximately € 6. 

Notice a trend here?  

#2 Croissants, Pain de Chocolate and Pastries

In my opinion, the French make the absolute best pastries, especially croissants and tarts. With Patisseries dotting the Paris landscape, there's no end of choices or waist expanding opportunities.  My favorite is pain de chocolate, which is a crisp croissant filled with chocolate—less than € 2. 

#1 Cheese, Wine, and a Baguette

Most grocery stores in Paris sell a variety of excellent cheeses for an unbelievably low price.  As for wine, I found the crémant from Burgundy to be delicious and a great buy.  Grab a baguette from the neighborhood boulangerie and dinner is perfection. 

Summing it All Up

Of course, there are fancier, more elaborate meal choices, but sometimes simple is best.  And, simple in Paris is stupéfiant (amazing)!

More by The Polite Traveler

Top 5 Free Things to Do When Visiting Paris

How I Save Money When Visiting Paris, France

Three Top Traditional Foods of Beaune

 


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