I spent a week walking the streets of Paris searching for amazing vegan food along the way! If you're traveling to Paris anytime soon, here is a guide to some of the "vegan eats" I found!
My first time in Paris was a memorable one! The amazing sites, the architecture and art, and the incredible food. Being in a huge, new city was exciting yet challenging. Disclaimer; I don't speak French, so, emphasis on challenging! The week that I was wandering around the city was a learning experience. I discovered what worked and what did not in terms of finding vegan food in Paris. I hope these tips will help my fellow plant powered people!
Paris cuisine is very meat based, which you can easily see walking the streets of the city and reading restaurant menus. Since I was traveling with one other vegan and three non-vegans, I found it was easier and more efficient to research the restaurants before we left to sightsee. So, the night before we all would plan what we wanted to do or see the next day. If the group decided on the Louvre the next day, I would use the Happy Cow app and search for restaurants within a few blocks of the Louvre. Happy Cow, if you don't already know, is an amazing app where you can search for restaurants in the area that are vegan, vegetarian, or that have veg-options. I would find a restaurant, map out where it was located, and figure out the easiest walking route. Now you may be asking yourself, "Audrey, why didn't you just search it after you were done at the Louvre? Why the excessive planning?" Great question! I asked myself the same question...until I got to Paris. Unless you set up international cell service before you travel, you will not get cell phone data or reception. So planning the night before, while you are in your Airbnb or hotel and have accessible Wi-Fi, is a necessity.
However, I'm not perfect and some nights I forgot to plan. So there were many instances when my friends and I were going restaurant to restaurant trying to find a menu that had some sort of vegan option (sometimes this process took a lot of time and a lot of walking). When this happens, I would suggest looking first at the salad section on the menu and looking for a salad without meat or cheese. In Paris, there were not many places that had a "sides" menu. Although they do have appetizer menus (fair warning; appetizers in French restaurants are called "entrées"....I know, if your from the States it's confusing). Some restaurants had roasted vegetables for a starter that were vegan. Although a salad or an appetizer may not be the most appealing meals, sometimes when you are starving in a foreign city you just have to roll with the punches.
When we went out to eat, it was normally for lunch and dinner with the occasional morning outing for espresso. As a vegan, breakfast isn't the easiest meal to order at a restaurant. We stayed in an Airbnb, so we had an apartment to which we could bring home food from the market. For breakfast, we bought whole wheat bread for toast, jam, crackers, hummus, and bunches of fresh fruit like bananas and peaches. Buying food from the market and preparing it yourself is a way to save money when staying in an expensive city like Paris. Another good thing to buy at the market would be some type of portable snack to take with you throughout the day. I bought cashews and some vegan granola bars that I found.
My last, and pretty obvious, tip would be to study some common French phrases. Although most places we went to had someone who spoke English, there were some that didn't. Not only would knowing some French be helpful but it also shows respect towards another culture. Whether you nail the accent or not, it is worth the effort!
With the basics out of the way, lets get into the delicious plant-based food I enjoyed while in France!
Yem'a Paris
Yem'a Paris is a 100% vegan Mediterranean fast food style restaurant. The owner and workers spoke perfect English and were absolutely amazing. The vibe of this restaurant makes you want to stay for hours and just hang out. I ordered the "bowl Yem'a" which was 9.90€ ($11.27) and a piece of their delicious carrot cake for 3.00€ ($3.41). The bowl Yem'a includes a choice of four of their dishes and bread. I chose the roasted carrots, hummus, arugula chickpea salad, and quinoa with mango and almonds. The flavors were unique and the food was delicious! The dishes you can choose from change every week. My favorite thing about Yem'a was their environmental consciousness. The dishes and silverware were all washed and reused and the bowls and cups were made our of biodegradable material. This restaurant really goes the extra mile when it comes to looking after our mother Earth!
Yem'a Paris is a few minutes walk from the beautiful Paris Opera House. The closest metro stop to Yem'a is Havre-caumartin.
Hot Vog
Hot Vog was an amazing find! It is a 100% vegan take-away restaurant that serves vegan hot dogs with toppings that make this little nook-in-the-wall stand out. The staff spoke some English, so it definitely helps to know some general French phrases before going. I ordered the Classique which includes a hot vog, a sweet, and a boisson, or drink, for 8.90€ ($10.13). The hot vog I chose was the "Best-Seller." It had caramelized onions, pickles, fried onions, and mustard and ketchup. SO good! With the Classique, I picked their vegan pound cake as my sweet. In all the time I've been vegan, I have never had or made vegan pound cake; Hot Vog's was scrumptious. This was a great stop that made me feel as if I were back in the States eating a hot dog on a warm Florida summer day.
Hot Vog is right near the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens. It's the perfect opportunity to grab a bite and sit near the fountain in the gardens. The nearest metro stop to get to Hot Vog is Notre-Dame des Champs.
Luxembourg Gardens Glaces Artisianales
In the Luxembourg Gardens, their is a food stand that serves glaces, or ice cream, and sandwiches. After strolling the gardens, a cup of sorbet was the perfect treat. If you didn't know, sorbets are vegan versions of ice cream that are made without milk. The sorbet flavor that I ordered was poire, or pear. It was by far one of the most amazing sorbet flavors I have ever had. For two scoops it was 6.00€ ($6.83). The owner of the stand spoke amazing English and was sweet to me even when I butchered my French when trying to order. It's the effort that counts! The sorbets at the stand were also organic which was an added bonus.
The closest metro stop to the Luxembourg Gardens is Notre-Dame des Champs.
Aux Délices de Gambetta
Aux Délices de Gambetta is a Chinese fast food style restaurant. It is not a vegan restaurant, however, it had many vegan options. The owners were a sweet couple that knew a little bit of English and were very kind and patient. Although Chinese food wouldn't be everyone's first choice in Paris, this food was not like American Chinese food. It was fresh and had an authentic flavor that American versions do not have. My vegan friend and I ordered 4 samosas , 8 steamed vegetables dumplings, 0.2 kilograms of bean sprout salad, and 0.2 kilograms of sautéed vegetables. All together it was 11.25€ ($12.80), which is about 5.63€ ($6.41) per person. So cheap and so delicious!
Aux Délices de Gambetta is a couple blocks from Père Lachaise. Père Lachaise is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris measuring over 4.7 million square feet. This is where you can find the graves of icons like Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. To truly experience this amazing place, plan on allowing time to explore. I would recommend hitting Aux Délices de Gambetta before you make the journey. The closest metro stop to the restaurant is Gambetta.
India Gate
India Gate is one of the Indian restaurants that we went to while in Paris. Yes, you read that correctly, one of. We went to a couple Indian restaurants during our stay due to the numerous vegan dishes available. Plus I adore Indian food! All Indian restaurants normally have a vegetarian section on their menu, you just have to make sure the dish you order does not contain yogurt. India Gate was one of the best we found with really authentic dishes. I ordered my favorite Indian dish Aubergines Bartha, or eggplant bartha, with basmati rice and naan nature, or plain. All together it was 14.00€ ($15.93). This was one of the best eggplant bartha dishes I have ever had!
India Gate is located near the Grand Mosquée of Paris, or the Grand Mosque. Although I did not enter the mosque, the site has beautiful architecture and is worth the metro ride. The closest metro stop to India Gate is Saint-marcel.
Végét'Halles
Végét'Halles was by far the best vegan restaurant we went to in Paris. It is a 100% vegetarian and vegan restaurant that is located outside the Les Halles mall. The service at Végét'Halles was spectacular and the waitress and waiter knew English. We sort of splurged on the food here because we knew it was going to be amazing. Not a single dish fell below expectation!
To begin, we ordered the beignet de légumes et son chutney aux raisins, or vegetable beignets with raisin chutney. This was a mixture of zucchini, asparagus, and eggplant fried to perfection with a delicious, sweet raisin chutney. It was 6.70€ ($7.63) and a great start to the meal.
We ordered the Linguini au pesto, or linguini with pesto, which came with sautéed mushrooms and fried onions on top and it was 13.10€ ($14.91). The pesto was so fresh that it was almost as if I could taste every ingredient separately. The mushrooms added a wonderful "meatiness" to the pasta and the fried onions were unexpected, yet they made the dish. Absolument délicieux!
We ordered the Brochettes de Kebab végétal marinées au gingembre, or the vegetable and chicken kebab marinated in ginger. This was the most insane vegan dish I have ever tried! The chicken was made from soy protein that they grilled and it tasted EXACTLY like grilled chicken meat. The most realistic plant-based protein I have ever tasted. The kebabs came with lentils, rice, and sautéed veggies and was 13.10€ ($14.91). This dish tasted so real that we came to Végét'Halles a second time and brought our non-vegan friends with us, solely to try the kebab dish. They were amazed as well.
We finished off the night with two absolutely incredible vegan desserts. The first is the Crumble du joir, or crumble of the day, which ended up being a delicious peach crumble with a raspberry sauce on the side. The second is the Crème au chocolat noisette, or a chocolate hazelnut crème. The crème gave me serious Nutella vibes and was delectable! The crumble and the crème were both 5.90€ ($6.71) and were the best ending to our meal at Végét'Halles.
Végét'Halles is definitely my top pick for vegan food in Paris and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. It happens to be a few blocks from the Louvre as well as a couple metro stops from Notre Dame. The closest metro stop to Végét'Halles is Les Halles.
Amorino
Amorino is an ice cream and desserts chain and they are scattered around Paris. There were a couple of nights when we were all craving ice cream. So, we would hop on the metro and head to Amorino. They have multiple sorbet flavors that are clearly labeled "vegan" and they were delicious. The flavors pictured above were passionfruit and melon. This was a regular size and it was 4.50€ ($5.12). There are multiple locations so you can easily use google maps to map out where to go in order to satisfy that ice cream craving!
Pret-a-Manger
Pret-a-Manger is a ready-made sandwich and breakfast chain in Paris that has a multitude of quick and tasty vegan options. We vegans bought a salad with lentils and quinoa, a baguette with marinated artichokes and arugula, a veggie sandwich with fresh avocado, 2 lemonades, and I got a soy cappuccino. All of the food was under 25€ ($28.45)and it was fresh and delicious! And it was the first restaurant that I found, that wasn't explicitly vegan, that had soy milk for coffee! (not including starbucks) AMAZING! There are a few around Champs-Elysées, which comes in handy when you don't want to spend 50€ on a meal! There is also one near the Louvre, the opera house, and Sacré Coeur. It was a nice place to have when we needed something 100% vegan, quick, and cheap.
Espresso
I also wanted to touch on the subject of coffee, because, one, coffee is a very important part of Parisian culture and, two, coffee is a very important part of Audrey culture! Espresso was the go-to coffee to get in Paris because it was milk free and cheap. The espresso in Europe is incredible! It is strong, smooth, and sweet. Even if you don't like coffee, I would recommend trying an espresso for the experience.
In Conclusion
Paris, France was an incredible city that I hope to return to. Although I discovered a ton of great "vegan eats," I know there are so many other plant-based gems that I will have to find next time. The food, the culture, the people, and my friends made this an unforgettable experience! I hope you enjoyed "vegan eats" in Paris, France. SAFE TRAVELS! Au revoir!
