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Quick Tips

When’s the best time to visit? Any time, all the time; though it gets busy at dinner. And probably not in August because many restaurants go on vacance.

Who should I go with? Anyone who appreciates a good bowl of ramen; small groups are best, given the tiny restaurants.

Is it worth multiple visits? Definitely. Plenty of places to try!

Great for: affordable meals, Asian groceries

What to get: super rich ramen at Kotteri Ramen Naritake, bento specials with boba

Leave it up to a bunch of UCLA students studying abroad to figure out where to get a steaming bowl of ramen in the middle of Paris. Rue Sainte-Anne is what I fondly call, the Sawtelle of Paris. Any Angeleno’s mouth should be watering by now. Everyone else, pocket that note and save it for your next trip to LA – you won’t regret it.

Right in the center of the City of Light (straddling the 1er and 2e arrondissements) is a cultural enclave that can satisfy all of your Asian food cravings. Sandwiched between Palais-Royale and Opéra is a series of small streets filled with eateries. While it is predominantly Japanese, there are also several Korean, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Taiwanese restaurants and stores in the area.

My roommate first discovered the area when walking home to our apartment in Place des Victoires. Walking down one of the six streets extending from the Place, Rue des Petits Champs, we began to see signs in Japanese. The cozy storefronts often have lines extending out from them, a big deal for a sit-down eatery, because I rarely see Parisians wait in line for a restaurant.

The first time my roommate and I wandered the area, we ended up at Dosanko mostly because it was a cold night and they have a giant pot of boiling broth by the window. The warm soup definitely hit the spot. Did we feel guilty for not enjoying French food? Yes. But did we regret caving in to familiar flavors for half the price of a cafe special? Definitely not. In fact, in my time spent in Paris, I probably gave in about a dozen times. I timed the walk once: 7 minutes from my room to the nearest ramen store. In Paris of all places. Who would have imagined?

Here are some places to check out if you’re in the neighborhood:

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Kotteri Ramen Naritake
31 rue des Petits-Champs
75001 Paris

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Kotteri Ramen Naritake can be recognized by the bright orange sign and the line out the front door. Unlike say Asia or LA, are few places in Paris where people submissively line up to wait for food, so you know it’s good. The interior is tiny, but service is pretty quick. Their pork ramen is very fatty, rich and salty – but can be adjusted to taste, and you can add broth to tone it down. At €10 base (you can add an egg, extra charsiu, etc), it is pricey when compared to ramen elsewhere, but pretty budget friendly compared to typical meals in Paris. Plus the richness makes it really filling. Oh, and they have whole garlic cloves that you can smash into your ramen. Their menu has English, French and Japanese, but pointing might be a better bet than ordering in English. Closed Tuesdays.

Another popular Japanese restaurant is Hokkaido, right around the corner. It feels less like a hole-in-wall and more like a restaurant, and has a larger menu with benton boxes, ramen, and gyoza. The menu is in French and Japanese and romanized Japanese (so if you know your foods, you should be able to get by, but the descriptions are in French). Most dishes are €8-€12. While there doesn’t seem to be a standout dish, in general everything is a safe choice and will hit the spot on a rainy day. It gets busy at meal times, so its best to come early to avoid waiting, especially for a larger group. They have lunch specials, €11 for an appetizer and ramen.

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Le 37m2
64 rue Sainte Anne
75002 Paris

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I couldn’t help myself from gravitating toward the Taiwanese shops that smelled like home. And ordering in Chinese was actually a relief. Le 37m2 (I’m just as confused about the name believe me) has a tiny storefront with a boba sign outside. Inside, you can order boba drinks and bento boxes at the counter next to the tiny kitchen. They have a small homey dining space upstairs, but most people just take it to go. At €9,50, bento boxes are a pretty cheap meal: they come with your choice of protein, rice and the daily side dishes, very typical of Taiwanese lunch joints. During lunch, they also have a special for bento and boba or dessert for €12,50, which is pretty good considering boba itself sells for €4,50.

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Zen Zoo
2 Rue Cherubini
75002 Paris

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A more fancy restaurant-like Taiwanese option is Zen Zoo which means pearl in Chinese and is also another name for boba. They also have lunch bento options, at €14, with a protein of your choice plus side dishes, a drink or dessert. After 3pm, they have afternoon tea specials with Asian-style pastries and dim sum dishes and different combo options with a drink. The milk tea in Paris actually tastes a lot more authentic than the ones in America, probably because the milk is creamier. But in general, save this for a special day when cravings hit hard, because the price to size ratio is pretty sad, even compared to American prices.

Note: menus are hardly helpful in most cases. “Soja” means soy sauce, but in this case it was more of a Tonkatsu kind of base…translations are pretty bad in general, especially when wontons, gyoza, and every other type of dumpling are called “ravioli.”

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Also check out:

Palais Royal

Galerie Vivienne

Opéra

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