Highly Specific Recommendations: Paris Restaurants For When You Want Lunch at 14:53
Off-hour meals don't have to be sad.
If you’re anything like me, lunch usually happens around meetings, if it happens at all. In my old life, it was a Starbucks grazing box at 2pm while I did emails, while also in a meeting. On Thursdays, it was a sushi bowl at my desk at like 11:20 because I wanted to get my sushi bowl before the line got long. So when I arrived in France and found that the entire country eats lunch strictly from 12:00-14:00 and not a minute before or after, I felt kind of trapped. And hungry.
What if I was busy and forgot to get lunch? What if I simply wasn’t hungry until later in the day? I found out the hard way that that meant I went hungry or ate a croissant or a box salad from Monop’. This is especially tricky when I have American guests visiting, as they may be jet-lagged and hungry at odd times. They also are not usually used to the odd and oddly-enforced rules of France that make it difficult to get lunch after 14:00, sometimes even as early as 13:45 pm.
And don’t get me started on lunching during vacation. At about 10:30, you need to start watching the hour, making sure you’re at the village lunch spot by noon to get a table. Otherwise, you'll be relegated to the secondary village lunch spot. Otherwise, you’ll miss the lunch window entirely and be super hungry because the supermarche will also be closed. I’m now hardwired to eat no later than 12:30pm when I’m anywhere in the Hexagon.
Over the years, I began to take note of safe havens for late lunches, spots I could count on if I waited until I was hungry to eat instead of eating at the same time as the entire country. In Paris, lunches are getting a bit more flexible than they used to be, and this is less of an issue than it was even as recently as six years ago.
But just in case, I decided to share with you my go-to spots for when I need to eat off-schedule. Specifically, when I want to eat something not sad, off-schedule.
First Of All: Get Familiar With Your Local Boulangerie
If we’re talking eating purely for function, then get familiar with the inventory habits of the nearest boulangerie. For example, I know one of my favorite boulangeries in my neighborhood has sandwiches I like, and that I can probably grab one as late as 15:00 before they run out. The other good boulangerie will have nothing after about 13:00, so no use walking there if I forget the hour.
Do not try this on a Wednesday if you live near a college or lycee; those teenies get out of school before lunch on Wednesdays and will eat all of the food in a three-block radius.
Same For Your Local Bistros and Cafes
If a boulangerie sandwich or quiche won’t do, but you can’t get out to lunch before 2:00 pm, get to know the kitchen capabilities of your nearest bistros and cafes. Some will serve food around the clock, and others will absolutely not.
This used to be more cut and dry; everyone knew that no bistros served food all day except for the few that explicitly had big “SERVICE CONTINU” signs all over the place. Recently in Paris, this line has been blurred, much to the benefit of late eaters. More and more bistros are serving food continuously, but they don’t always state it plainly. If they aren’t officially a service continu spot, they might squeeze in a neighborhood regular, then tell a tourist that the kitchen is closed.
If this is the case, find yourself a “service continu” resto, then you don’t even have to ask if the kitchen is open or not. Some of my favorites that may or may not technically be “service continu” but seem to be “service continu” or at least “service well into the afternoon” in practice include Pause Cafe, Cantine Diderot, Le Pure Cafe, Cafe du Coin, Lezard Cafe, Sunset, and Cafe Cosmos. Yes, hard bias towards the eastern side of Paris, sorry, it’s just where I live and hang out.
Coffee Cafes With Light Food
The entrance of the modern coffee-focused cafe, as opposed to the classic French cafe, has many benefits for clients. The first and most obvious is the very good quality coffee that comes with them, as opposed to the classic French coffee pod. This good quality coffee comes with things like oat milk, ice, cookies, Swedish buns, and other accoutrement that I need to maintain my will to live. Many of these also boast light food that will do the trick if you happen to miss lunch.
