What to Eat in Le Marais Paris: 10 Foods, From Falafel to Comté
The short answer. Start with falafel in pita on the Rue des Rosiers, then something from the Eastern European Jewish bakeries around it. Add a croissant, a croque-monsieur, French cheese such as Comté, macarons and chocolate, a cream puff, one bistro main like boeuf bourguignon, and a lunch at the Marché des Enfants Rouges, the oldest covered food market in Paris.
Two kitchens share these streets: the Jewish one around the Rue des Rosiers and the French one the food walks serve. If you would rather have a guide choose the counters, compare the food walks with the other Le Marais tours.
The short list
| Food | Where in the quarter | Served on | In a fare, or your own bill |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Falafel in pita | Rue des Rosiers | Secret Food Tours; Do Eat Better | Fare, or €15-25 on the Jewish history walk |
| 2. Yiddish bakery | Rue des Rosiers | Not named on a fare | Your own bill |
| 3. Pastrami bagel or pita | Rue des Écouffes | Not on a fare | Your own bill |
| 4. Croissant | Bakeries | Secret Food Tours; Eating Europe | In the fare |
| 5. Croque-monsieur | Made to order | Secret Food Tours | In the fare |
| 6. Comté and cheese | Cheese shops | Most food walks | In the fare |
| 7. Macarons and chocolate | Pastry shops | Most food walks | In the fare |
| 8. Cream puff or merveilleux | Bakeries | Eating Europe; Intrepid | In the fare |
| 9. A seated main | A sit-down stop | Eating Europe, LivTours, Do Eat Better | In the fare |
| 10. Market lunch | Rue de Bretagne | The two-hour tastings walk | Your bill, or a tasting |
Every food fare is compared on Le Marais food tours.
The Jewish quarter: falafel, bakeries and delis
The streets around the Rue des Rosiers are the Pletzl, Yiddish for "small square". Eastern European Jews settled here from the 1880s, and Jews from North Africa followed in the 1960s and 1970s, which is why falafel sits beside Yiddish baking. The history is on the Jewish quarter; here is the food.
1. Falafel in pita on the Rue des Rosiers
The main counters sit a few doors apart:
- King Falafel Palace, 26 rue des Rosiers.
- L'As du Fallafel, 34 rue des Rosiers.
- Chez Hanna, 52 rue des Rosiers.
- Mi-Va-Mi, 23 rue des Rosiers, which adds pitas and shawarma.
If you want your falafel in a fare, Secret Food Tours serves a handmade one, and so does Do Eat Better's small-group walk. The four-hour Jewish history walk stops at L'As du Fallafel for lunch, but that lunch is yours to pay, at about €15 to €25.
2. Something from a Yiddish bakery
Two bakeries opened side by side in 1946. Joseph Korcarz, at 29 rue des Rosiers, made the first kosher bread after the war. Sacha Finkelsztajn's grandparents opened the yellow shop at no. 27 the same year. Round the corner, Florence Kahn's blue shop at 24 rue des Écouffes has a 1932 Art Deco front listed as a historic monument. Its cakes and sandwiches follow Yiddish traditions. Joseph Murciano, from Jerusalem, founded the bakery at 16 rue des Rosiers in 1973.
3. A pastrami bagel or a Tel Aviv pita
The Rue des Écouffes carries two newer ideas. Schwartz's Deli, at no. 16, recreates New York's Lower East Side and makes pastrami bagels its speciality. Miznon, at no. 22, is Eyal Shani's Tel Aviv street food: pitas and olive-oil cabbage. Neither is on a fare, so you pay for these yourself.
The French classics the food walks pour and plate
4. A croissant, still warm
The tastings walk from Saint-Paul opens with a croissant or a pain au chocolat straight from the oven. You meet at Saint-Paul metro by the merry-go-round, and the walk runs about three hours for $104. Eating Europe serves a savoury one.
5. A croque-monsieur made to order
The same walk makes you a croque-monsieur to order, with red and white wine. For your party alone, the private version costs $274 a person.
6. Comté and the French cheese board
Comté is a cooked, pressed cheese made only from raw cow's milk, and the milk comes only from Montbéliarde or Simmental française cows. It cannot be sold until it has ripened for at least 120 days, so ask for it by name. On the Eating Europe walk, your cheeses are aged in a 17th-century cellar, and most other food walks serve cheese too.
7. Macarons and chocolate
You get a macaron and high-end chocolates on Secret Food Tours, and chocolate with macarons on Original Food Tours and LivTours.
8. A cream puff, or a merveilleux
Eating Europe serves a French cream puff. Even a history walk can feed you one sweet: Intrepid's two-hour walk, one of the Le Marais walking tours, includes a merveilleux from a local bakery, for $60.
Want the classics in one morning?
The tastings walk from Saint-Paul serves the croissant, the croque-monsieur, the cheese and the macaron in one fare of $104, with wine.
A sit-down main: bourguignon, onion soup or a full meal
9. Boeuf bourguignon or French onion soup
A seated course turns the walk into your lunch, so book it for late morning. Eating Europe serves boeuf bourguignon or choucroute garnie with wine, with a sit-down stop on the Place des Vosges, for $158. LivTours' private walk, one of the private Le Marais tours, serves French onion soup at $222 a person.
For a whole meal, the full-meal walk from the Ile Saint-Louis meets at Place Louis Aragon and serves a full French meal with wine, for $104.
Lunch at the Marché des Enfants Rouges
10. A market lunch at the counters
The Marché des Enfants Rouges, at 39 rue de Bretagne, was founded in 1615. It is the oldest covered food market in Paris; its story is with the other things to do in the quarter. Its stalls cook French, Lebanese, Italian, Moroccan, Japanese and African food, so your group can split up.
The Original Food Tours walk from the Rue de Bretagne meets next door, for $152; cancel three days ahead, not 24 hours. The two-hour walk with small tastings, at $37, tastes inside the market.
Eat on your own, or book a food walk?
Split the ten in two and the answer is usually clear:
- On your own: the falafel, the Yiddish bakeries, the delis and the market lunch. You pay only for what you eat.
- On a walk: the croissant, the croque-monsieur, the cheese board, the macarons and a seated main. A guide picks the counters, and one fare covers the lot.
If you eat vegetarian or gluten-free, read food tours and dietary needs before you book, because the rules differ by operator. And if you are torn between eating and history, a tasting walk or a history walk weighs the two for one morning.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the falafel on the Rue des Rosiers?
Is the Marché des Enfants Rouges open on Sunday?
Which Le Marais food walks serve a full meal?
Do Le Marais food tours include wine?
Can vegetarians eat on a Le Marais food walk?
Walks that put the cheese, the main and the wine in the fare
Paris Le Marais Food and Wine Tour with Eating Europe
Three hours from the Rue Saint-Antoine, with a sit-down stop in the royal square and boeuf bourguignon or choucroute with wine. Nine people at most, and under-fours come free.
From $158 per person
Check Availability
Paris Le Marais District Original Food and Wine Tasting Tour
Three and a half hours from the covered market on the Rue de Bretagne down to the Rue de Rivoli, with cheese, chocolate and wine. Cancel at least three days ahead for a refund.
From $152 per person
Check Availability
Private Parisian Food Tour in Charming Neighborhood Le Marais
Three hours for your group alone, from a bakery door by the metro: pastries, chocolates and macarons, cheese and wine, and a bowl of French onion soup.
From $222 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: Walk it off with the quarter street by street, south to north. Every fare sits side by side on Le Marais Paris Tours.