Love it or hate, instagram gives everyone a little extra hobby in life that doesn’t really do any harm and actually can be seriously useful for travel tips. Keeping up with the local off-beat gems in Paris is a job best left to instagram; follow the right locals and seek out eateries that catch your eye. I’ve selected a few of my favourite instagram-ready restaurants to get you started and enlisted the help of a few other instagram users to help me prove just how instagrammable these eateries really are…
1. Le Square Gardette → #EclecticLocal
As local as they come, tucked away in an effortlessly cool neighbourhood in the 11th arrondissement, Le Square Gardette is a whimsical curio cabinet transformed from an old sewing shop into an eclectic authentic Parisian hang-out open from morning to night.
And yes, there’s a cat, who lounges where he pleases, on the bookshelves, on the piano, on the window sill, posing just long enough for you to immortalise him on the internet.
Stop by for your morning cafe, or enjoy your lunch on the terrace with a their inventive sandwiches “du jour”, or in the evenings, share a French “marmite” between friends– and with a little help from instagram, you’ll find a handy visual representation of said dish, below.
Le Square Gardette, 24, rue Saint Ambroise, 75011 Paris
2. Miss Báhn Mi → #LunchSpot
The neon sign had me at hello…
Then I spotted that wall of flowers and the pull of the photo opportunity was greater than me.
After a long morning of shopping in the edgy quarter of Etienne Marcel, stop by Miss Báhn Mi for a casual but chic asian fusion lunch. We had apple edamame and spicy mayonnaise quail eggs to start…
And if you know a little bit about Vietnamese cuisine, you may have heard of a Bo Bun, the uniquely delicious beef and rice noodle salad. The French influence saw this staple Vietnamese dish tuck itself inside a crispy fresh baguette, (naturally) and the Bhan Mi was born ↑. The team at Miss Bhan Mi, formerly a pop-up restaurant, has even taken it another step further and created the Bhan Mi tartine ↓
Yes, of course I had to get a picture in front of the flower wall.
Miss Bahn Mi, 5 Rue Mandar, Paris 75002
3. Les Chouettes → #FloorMe
If you have a thing with floors, this is your (and your instagram account’s) place. Layered on three levels of gorgeous art deco-reminiscent style, make your way up to the top floor, find a nook, order wine and start working on that perfect bird’s eye shot of those monochrome tiles below.
Housed in a former industrial factory, the menu is rather small but it’s made up for by the fact that each dish is very high quality (and very instagrammable).
It’s open all day which also makes it perfect for a quiet coffee in the morning or weekend afternoon cocktails.
Les Chouettes, 32 Rue Picardie, 75003
4. Anahi → #GoodAsGold
The cracks in the old tiles of a 20th century charcuterie are injected with gold leaf and the entire restaurant in bathed in golden candlelight. We sampled almost every wine on the menu before the sommelier happily brought us our chosen grape. The headwaiter charmed us with his Argentinian warmth and the soulful, homely food relaxed us into the gilded evening. It was so good, I actually forgot to instagram myself.
This iconic Argentinian spot is actually decades old, but it was recently sold to French entrepreneur Cédric Naudon, who bought 35 other forgotten businesses in the area to create a design-led village of restaurants, bars and boutiques. Anahi, the project’s first restaurant is the rebirth of a family-run restaurant hidden away on a non-descript backstreet in the Marais.
Anahi, 49 Rue Volta, Paris 75003
5. Le Clown Bar → #SexyTimeCapsule
I found out about the Clown Bar thanks to Instagram. I saw a snap of the sea urchin salad on my newsfeed and within minutes, I was on the phone booking myself in for a lunch and making sure the salad was still on the menu. FYI: it lived up to its instagram photo.
Next to the Cirque d’Hiver, an impressive 1852 circus arena right in the middle of Paris, the Clown Bar has been around since the Belle Epoque, and has the tiling and frescoes to prove it. But recently under new management, there is no clowning around with a standard Parisian bistrot menu– this kitchen is sending out some very sexy plates that will have you instinctively reaching for your smartphone…
Le Clown Bar, 114 Rue Amelot, Paris 75011
Oh go on then, one more!
Bonus Restaurant: Pamela Popo → #Parisienne
You can imagine Brigitte Bardot or some other Parisian bombshell in pedal pushers leaning against this car with a cigarette before going back inside to finish her lunch. Look out for the photograph of Serge Gainsbourg in his bathtub; Bardot’s once lover and the French crooner of a song called, you guess it, Pamela Popo.
There’s a very stylish bar downstairs and a hidden restaurant up the staircase with quirky wallpaper and a library nook. A sexy little Parisian classic for the instagram address book, with good food to match.
Pamela Popo, 15 Rue Francoise Miron, 75004
Follow @MessyNessyChic on instagram for more Paris tips!
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