What do you get if you cross a city made for walking with seriously foodie locals? Gourmet street food. Few cities do takeaway with as much finesse as Paris. But then, this can be a capital woven from Haussmann boulevards, elegant city parks, iconic food markets as well as an overwhelming desire to eat extraordinarily well.
Quality products – often local, seasonal and organic – plus a pinch of grassroots gastronomy and a generous dose of Parisian panache are chef essentials at these takeaway favorites, recognized for their distinctive gourmet twist.
Here's where to find the best street food in Paris – and just what to eat.
Gourmand sandwiches
L''Epicerie et Sandwicherie du Verre Volé
Ditch the standard jambon-beurre sandwich (ham and unsalted butter slipped in the crusty baguette). Head instead to L''Epicerie et Sandwicherie du Verre Volé for a gourmand sandwich to visit. Brain-child of Cyril Bordarier from Le Verre Volé bistro and wine cellar, this retro grocery crafts bespoke sarnies from an exceptional choice of gourmet ingredients, including milk-suckled calf pastrami, Prince de Paris ham and silky pork fat cured in Carrara marble vats in Italy. Build your own, or put your taste-buds in the hands of the chef with a daily special.
Frenchie To Go
Quality ingredients have an American makeover at Frenchie To Go in the next arrondissement. Its Reuben enjoys cult status among local foodies and there's no doubt about this: the combo of shaved house-cured pastrami and zingy homemade red-cabbage coleslaw stuffed inside toasted rye bread spiced with caraway seeds is divine. Wash it down having a bottle of aromatic pale ale, craft-brewed by Les Brasserie du Grand Paris in the capital's northwest suburbs.
Noglu Takeway
Noglu Takeway épicerie arm from the upmarket restaurant, is really a spot for gluten-free street food. The atmospheric setting inside Passage des Panoramas, a covered passageway dating to 1800, only increases the charm. Order a sandwich or bun du jour – a tangy mixture of aubergine, red peppers, yams and blue cheese perhaps inside chickpea-flour bread – to take away within an old-fashioned brown paper bag.
CheZaline
Traditionalists seeking a classic French jambon-beurre (ham and butter) sandwich can track down the perfect ham sandwich only at that upcycled horse-meat butcher's shop named Chevaline, transformed by the down-to-earth and talented Delphine Zampetti into a much-loved village-style deli in the foodie 11e arrondissement.
Oysters
Hu^itrerie Régis
A street-side platter of freshly shucked oysters along with a glass of wine is insanely satisfying. On the Left Bank indulge at Hu^itrerie Régis whose oysters arrive fresh from Marenne-Oléron Bay on the Atlantic Coast.
L''Ecailler du Bistrot
On the best Bank, slurp oysters as well as their tangy sea-air juices from L''Ecailler du Bistrot, the seafood annexe of Bistrot Paul Bert. It's EUR14 for any dozen tantalizingly small No 4s from Creuses in Brittany and EUR38 for any dozen No 2s from Normandy's Utah Beach.
Marché Aligré
Or hit the covered market hall at Bastille's chaotic street market Marché Aligré for any six-oyster tasting platter (EUR8.60) and obligatory glass of Sancerre (EUR4) at the Marée Beauvau fish stall – you will not find cheaper or tastier around.
Crêpes
Crêperie de St-Germain
Scoffing a finger-licking crêpe on the street, slathered in warm chocolate Nutella or sweet crème de marron (chestnut paste), is really a Parisian essential. Genuine street stands are like gold-dust nowadays: make a beeline for Crêperie de St-Germain before 'Eglise St-Germain des Près in St-Germain des Près. The delightfully retro kiosk has cooked up large thin pancakes to some faithful crowd during the last 20-something years.
L'Avant Comptoir
Hipsters get their gourmet crêpe fix at L'Avant Comptoir, the hors d'oeuvres bar and takeaway arm of celebrity chef Yves Camdeborde's bistro Le Comptoir. There's little elbow room in the zinc bar, however the creamy triangle-folded crêpes are strictly to visit.
L''Epicerie du Breizh Café
Authentic Breton crêpes to take-away are the order of the day only at that specialist Breton grocery store, run by Breizh Café next door. Order a savoury galette (pancake) created using organic buckwheat flour and your choice of fillings, and eat it in the small park next door. Sweet crêpes too, doused in salted-butter caramel along with a bevy of other killer-calorie toppings.
Food markets
Marché des Enfants Rouges
Street food aficionados go bananas within the Marché des Enfants Rouges, Paris's oldest covered market. Duck through the vintage green-gated entrance to discover a dimly lit, ramshackle maze of alluring food stalls cooking up steaming bowls of Chinese noodles, Moroccan couscous, Lebanese falafel et al.
Chez Alain Miam Miam
Weave the right path with the makeshift kitchens to Chez Alain Miam Miam. Alain – a retired baker from Touraine with grey surfer locks, neck scarf and T-shirt with attitude – pulls everyone else with monster sandwiches steaming on the sizzling crêpe griddle. All his ingredients – grated fennel, carrot, smoked air-dried beef, avocado, lemon zest, sesame salt, honeys and goats cheese – are fresh and organic. The skill, passion and humour with which he deftly flips and turns his worn wooden turner to craft his legendary galettes (savoury pancakes) is electrifying.
Croque monsieurs
Fric Frac
The croque monsieur (ham and cheese toasted sandwich, topped with creamy béchamel sauce and melted cheese) is really a Parisian staple. Grab someone to munch around the banks of Canal St-Martin from quayside Fric Frac. Order a classic Titi from the 'croques mobiles' hole-in-the-wall or indulge your culinary curiosity in a gourmet Winnie (Crottin de Chavignol cheese, dried fruit, chestnut honey, chives and rosemary) or exotic Shaolin (king prawn and Thai chutney).
World food
Petit Bao
Vegetarians and carnivores alike enter seventh heaven only at that trendy neo-Shanghai canteen overlooking Canal St-Martin. Takeaway dishes cooked up by Paris-born Chinese chef Céline Chung in the achingly cool, waterside joint include deep-fried tofu with a killer homemade garlic sauce, veggie-stuffed buns and wontons, rice and noodle dishes.
Nonette
Female French-Vietnamese chef Khánh-ly Huynh and Pearlyn Lee from the nearby Asian-styled coffee shop The Hood prepare Vietnamese bánh mì (sandwiches) bursting with creative Asian-French fusion fillings only at that buzzy new hangout within the edgy 11e. The spicy turkey pastrami with liver p^até, pickled daikon and carrots, and fresh coriander is sublime, as are the donuts filled with homemade kaya, vanilla black garlic or syrupy gula melaka (palm sugar) cream. Drinks-wise, grab a brand new coconut or bubble tea to visit.
Boutique Yam'tcha
In the Louvre area, dig into succulent bāozi (Chinese steamed buns) to visit from the take-away window in the upmarket boutique of Michelin-starred chef Adeline Grattard from fine-dining restaurant Yam'Tcha. Unusual flavors include Stilton cheese, onions and curry, or Basque pork with Sichuanese eggplant. Wash them down with aromatic green or oolong tea.
L'As du Fallafel
It would be amiss not to flag this iconic falafel shop, with two takeaway joints on rue des Rosiers, 4e. Join the eternal line on the street for kosher, perfectly deep-fried falafel (chickpea balls). Chez Marianne, nearby, is that this neighborhood's other falafel fave.
P^atisserie
Tapisserie
Starlet of the moment, this outstanding patisserie on trendy rue de Charonne in the 11e arrondissement may be the brilliant development of the Michelin-starred alchemists from Septime and Clamato. In the creamy egg tarts and seasonal fruit flans to Septime's signature sinful maple-syrup tartlets, things are artisanal and insanely fresh – a sign in the window tells you what time for you to expect what hot in the oven. The retro decor, crafted through the city's most talented cabinet makers and sign writers, is equally Instagram-worthy.
Cédric Grolet Opéra
Queues stretch across the street for Cédric Grolet's elaborate creations. Wunderkind Grolet opened their own boulangerie-p^atisserie in 2022, showcasing his viennoiseries including pains au chocolat, magnificent filled still-warm baguettes, and signature pastries, for example caramel-and-Tahitian-vanilla St-Honoré.
Stohrer
Opened in 1730 by Nicolas Stohrer, the Polish pastry chef of queen consort Marie Leszczyńska (wife of Louis XV), this area offers house-made specialities, including its very own inventions baba au rhum (rum-soaked sponge cake) and puits d'amour (caramel-topped, vanilla-cream-filled puff pastry), all open to takeaway.
Fou de P^atisserie
Single-name patisseries scatter over the city, but for a greatest-hits range from its finest pastry chefs – Cyril Lignac, Christophe Adam (L''Eclair de Génie), Jacques Genin, Pierre Hermé and Philippe Conticini included – head to this one-stop concept shop. Takeaway treats include chocolates, sweets, jams and La Fabrique Givrée ice cream in summer.
