Despite the growing number of chain bakeries like Paul or Brioche Dorée, there are still many, many artisan bakeries in Paris and they all compete for bragging rights. The ruthless, cutthroat world of baking apparently holds enigmatic contests and it looks like every single bakery won something at some point. It goes from “2020 croissant challenge winner”—good job, guys!—to more puzzling and oddly specific accolades, like “voted best éclair au chocolat in June 2015” or “8^th place in best ham-and-cheese sandwich in 2008.”

La Tour d’Argent was founded in 1582 and Paris’ oldest restaurant epitomizes upscale French cuisine. To give you an idea, the cheapest lunch menu is €140 per person, “cheese included,” and it’s €135 for the langoustine starter from the à la carte menu. However, the building looks surprisingly unimpressive. I must have walked past it a thousand times without even noticing it.

My Airbnb was right at the corner of rue Saint-Anne. I had always heard the area was “Little Tokyo” and oh my God, it’s true! It’s a few blocks of sushi haven and possibly the only place in Paris where you’re guaranteed a cheese-free meal.

For some mysterious reasons, giant teddy bears have been taking over bars in Paris. Apparently, this community project started Avenue des Gobelins in 2019 and it quickly took off. You can see them all over the city “drinking,” greeting customers or just having fun with other bears (… not in an X-rated way, I know this is France, but we do have standards!).

I’m usually desperate for French food if I’m coming from Canada—give me buttery goodies, a slice of quiche and flan, quick! But this time, after three months in France, I was mostly hoping for true Chinese food in Paris. I headed to avenue de Choisy for bāozi (steamed buns) and zhájiàng miàn (noodles with ground pork simmered with salty fermented soybean paste). I shopped in Cantonese-style bakeries for savoury buns and I had great Vietnamese bún chả (vermicelli with peanuts, spring rolls, meat, cucumbers and carrots) when the weather was just too hot for Northern China specialties.