Paris: Cafe de la Nouvelle Mairie

By the time we arrived in Paris I'd just spent three days eating like crazy in Tel Aviv and really couldn't face the prospect of sitting down to a big dinner straight away.  We stayed in a cute hotel in the Latin Quarter called Hotel Petit Paris with the most exceptional reception staff who were the perfect mix of attentive and relaxed and, very importantly, made some great food and drink recommendations. Laetitia, who was our favourite, mentioned this small cafe bar about two minutes walk from the hotel called Cafe de la Nouvelle Mairie.

So we decided to give it a go and walked along Rue des Fosses Saint Jacques until saw people sitting outside a cafe, all looking a bit chic and Parisian, and headed inside.  We ended up ordering some excellent red wine in a 'pot' which was pretty cheap by Paris standards, a big plate of cheese that was absolutely phenomenal and a hefty slab of rabbit terrine (that I spotted someone else tucking into and was sold) containing about 1000 calories - obviously all with a non-stop supply of amazing crusty baguette. 

So, this little feast ended up being by far our best food experience in Paris. The bar staff were fantastic, the owner was really great and patiently taught me the pronunciation of 'brobis', which was this amazing goat-ish cheese,  and gave us some recommendations for food markets in the area. And really importantly it didn't feel pretentious or frosty - just an interesting crowd out for a quick drink and bite to eat on a Friday night. In fact we wished that we'd had the chance to eat there again but the owner closes on Saturday and Sunday! Totally my number one recommendation for Paris - in fact if I lived in London it would be worth a Eurostar day trip.