Five Days in Paris: curating the perfect experience

Paris is my second favorite city in the world (next to New York, of course). I had to indulge my inner Francophile while in Europe so I carved out the trip with a few friends during my year-long journey.

I am not alone in my devotion to this city. Paris somehow manages to balance the static and dynamic, the old and the new. And it does so with seamless integration despite its evolving culture and style. While the cityscape doesn’t seem to change, the neighborhood vibes, diversity and culinary trends certainly do. And they only get better over time.

The challenge on this visit was to curate the optimal experience in five days – exploring neighborhoods, learning and sampling the best foods. We developed the perfect strategy for this.

Accommodations. We opted for an apartment on Airbnb, as opposed to a hotel, so that we could make breakfast in the mornings and host cocktail hour in the evenings. Location was a tough decision but we let the apartment search drive this. The best neighborhood, or arrondissement, to stay in depends on your priorities. We chose the 19th arrondissement, close enough to the metro and neighboring districts, yet far enough to secure a fabulous apartment for the right price. As soon as we arrived, we picked up a few bottles of wine, cheese and snacks for the week. This is a great way to prioritize your meals and avoid overspending on food and drink.

Exploring. Thanks to all the amazing travel bloggers out there, we found many resources for self-guided walking tours of the city. Our favorite was SoloSophie for walking tours of Montmartre and Marais. The beauty of this approach is flexibility in that it can serve as a loose guide to curate your own tour. We really enjoyed learning about the architecture and history of these neighborhoods through exploring on our own.

Dining. This is the category about which I’m most particular. Choosing where to dine in Paris requires extensive research from only reputable sources. The task is to discern the high quality restaurants from abundant tourist traps. So, rule number one is do not use TripAdvisor. Nothing against TripAdvisor. It’s great for hotels and attractions. But if you’re really into quality dining, it is a non discriminatory resource. This would be the only area where I favor discrimination. Culture Trip, Eater and The Infatuation are a few of my trusted resources but there are many. And, of course, following Anthony Bourdain’s seven rules would never fail you either.

There were some obvious stars on my shortlist of restaurants and patisseries worth highlighting. 

We had an exceptional classic French meal at Bistrot Paul Bert. This restaurant is a great example of why not to use TripAdvisor. My friend cited many bad reviews of the restaurant – mainly for the service but also some for the food, proclaiming that it was overrated. I rejected the reviews and insisted on going based on the recommendations of several food critics, including Bourdain. In fairness, a few did say to expect some Parisian attitude but we encountered none. Our waiter was vibrant and friendly. The sole meuniere, fresh caught the day before, was the best fish I ever had. It had a light golden, buttery crust and was cooked to perfection. Paired with a gorgeous Santenay from Burgundy, this was our best meal in Paris.

Our favorite breakfast was the savory Breton crepes at Breizh Cafe. Choose from their extensive menu of classics and specials. You can’t go wrong if there’s egg, comte cheese and jambon in it. The rest is complementary.

The best pastry I enjoyed was the millefeuille at Maison Gerard Mulot in Saint Germain de-Pres. I stumbled upon this place in search for a good pain au chocolat. Turns out the pain au chocolat was not the best but the millefeuille was the star of the show. Millefeuille is a simple looking pastry that’s incredibly complex to execute. Each buttery layer was gently caramelized. The velvety filling provided a lovely contrast in sweetness and texture against the crispy layers of pastry. It was decadent.

Though this was my third time visiting, I’ve decided it’s impossible to experience Paris in just a few visits. As Ernest Hemingway once said, “Paris is so very beautiful that it satisfies something in you that is always hungry in America.” And that’s why I’ll be back next year!