The perfect spot for an authentic Chinese breakfast. The atmosphere is lively and bustling a bit chaotic and packed with people, but with great options for breakfast, a snack, or a quick lunch. Super affordable and simple. It’s a small place and always busy, but totally worth coming back for!

We went for the youtiao fried dough, which we loved especially dipped in the soy milk, which was surprisingly light and served warm. And of course the tofu, pure comfort food for us here.
We actually had our very first youtiao in Milan, and there’s quite a story behind that. If you’re curious, you can read about it here. 

A spot very popular with locals – there’s already a queue forming by the time it opens. It’s a small artisan deli where you can either grab a ready-made dish to take away or build your own sandwich from whatever takes your fancy on the menu. We tried the chicken salad and mayonnaise sandwich. Really high quality ingredients, nice baguettes and interesting combinations.

A true gem in Paris for bento lovers – and just as unmissable for those who have never tried one. It’s a tiny place run by a teacher who spends her days off doing what she loves: preparing fresh, delicious bento boxes. You’ll need patience or an early arrival, as she works alone and everything is made from scratch. When you get there, grab a ticket choosing between the two bento options of the day, join the queue, and collect yours when your number is up. We arrived late and waited over an hour, so our advice is to get there right when it opens and grab one of the first tickets. That said, the wait was absolutely worth it. We had the fried chicken bento, which was incredible, melt-in-your-mouth with a perfect crispy coating. The rest? Every detail carefully thought through, and everything delicious.

If you have no idea what a bento is, read this article and all will become clear.

This place specializes in shengjian (or shengjian mantou) – a filled dumpling distinguished by its double cooking method: first steamed, then fried on the bottom until crispy. The cool thing is they have soup inside, kind of like xiao long bao in concept, but cooked completely differently. They stay still in the pan the whole time, resulting in an amazing double texture. We had the pork and the vegetarian versions – and discovered that only the meat one has the broth inside, which is a lot of fun to sip. Very different from the bao we’re used to, but the world of bao is vast, and this is a delicious variation worth exploring.

If you’re craving great New York-style pizza slices – ideally paired with a good natural wine – Rori is the place for you. The slices are thin, light and crispy, and if you pick one up and do the fold test, it holds up perfectly straight, just as a proper New York slice should. They’ve also created their own secret tomato sauce, and the toppings are original and made with quality ingredients. The space itself is really nice inside, and we know you can also order small plates and cocktails – though we didn’t try those, so we can only vouch for the pizza!

There are two places called Di Napoli right next to each other, we went to Di Napoli 1. The name might throw you off and make you think it’s Italian, but what you’ll actually find is seriously delicious Tunisian food. The charming owner told us that after a trip to Italy he fell in love with Naples, and that’s how the place got its name. We tried two chapati: one with spicy harissa and one without. Absolutely incredible. We were genuinely surprised by how good it was.

Tunisian chapati is a popular street food, originally from Mahdia. Think of it as a kind of soft calzone or flatbread, filled with eggs, tuna, harissa, cheese, vegetables and onions – everything made and cooked fresh to order, including the flatbread itself.

Saigon Sandwich is a small, no-frills takeaway offering a tempting selection of Vietnamese specialties – order, grab your sandwich, and go. The bread is French-style (though not the best we tried in Paris), but everything else – the fillings and the flavour – is entirely Vietnamese. We got the sandwich with pork belly, slices of chả lụa (basically Vietnamese mortadella), shredded chicken, pickled grated carrots, coriander, cucumber and chili. For us, a combination of simple things that work well together, a flavour quite different from what we’re used to, but genuinely interesting.

Taco Mesa is a renowned taqueria founded by Mexican chef Beatriz Gonzalez. The place is celebrated for its authentic Mexican street food experience, with homemade tortillas prepared using the traditional nixtamalization technique and fresh French ingredients combined with ancestral methods. On the menu you’ll find a solid selection of permanent tacos – well balanced and thoughtfully put together – plus rotating vegetarian options that change based on whatever fresh ingredients are available.

A celebrated Kurdish institution known for its authentic street food. Famous for its homemade bread, baked fresh to order over a charcoal grill, and for dürüm wraps filled with fresh meat – beef, chicken or lamb – assembled right in front of you. What makes it special is the entirely artisanal process: the dough is hand-stretched and cooked to order. We had the Kurdish sandwich with beef skewers and a mix of fresh salad and tomato. The bread has that unmistakable handmade, just-baked quality, the meat soaks up all the flavour from the charcoal, and the simple fresh vegetables inside add just the right crunch and freshness. Delicious.

A restaurant located in La Chapelle, on the main street of Paris’s little India – a lively, colourful stretch full of Indian grocery stores and restaurants. The area near the station, we’ll be honest, didn’t feel like the safest part of Paris, but it’s worth the trip.

As soon as you arrive, you’ll spot the super friendly chef kneading dough right there in the window – quite a show, honestly hypnotic to watch. When we visited he was making parotta, which we tried with honey and cheese. Really good, proper comfort food. We then had the masala dosai – a popular crispy crepe filled with a spiced potato mix, served with a vegetable curry and two spicy coconut chutneys. It was our first time trying it and we were blown away. Both the dosa and the parotta were excellent, though the dosa is definitely the more complex experience when eaten together with the coconut chutneys.