Boring tagine in Morocco

It’s possible to get vegetarian food in Marrakech. Most restaurants will sell a vegetable tagine. However, I found them to be quite boring. Perhaps I needed to visit better restaurants.

Earth Cafe

You can imagine my delight when walking through the market and spotted some hand made signs for “Earth Cafe” a vegan restaurant. I had to find this place and enjoy a good meal, it did not disappoint.

The first thing you see as you step down into this cafe is the open kitchen, a beaming chef will greet you with pride as you enter her domain. As you pass the kitchen the restaurant opens vertically. What seems like a small space grows to several floors with an open space in the center.

The menu

I was surprised to see the menu lacked tagines and couscous. How very non-Moroccan! How very refreshing after dealing with some rather banal versions found in other places.

Instead you’ll find a creative assortment of dishes that span the North African and Mediterranean flavor spectrum. My meal had a variety of vegetables wrapped in filo dough, baked and placed on the plate with mango sauce. It was delicious and very filling.

Earth Cafe also features some yummy smoothies that will hit the spot on a warm African afternoon. The friendly hosts speak French and English. The waiter even walked with me through the souks to find a hammam.

You’ll owe it to yourself to visit Earth Cafe when visiting Marrakech. You’ll get great food, great service, and a jovial, peaceful environment. The flavors are so great that your meat eating friends will also enjoy the meal.

There’s a Marché des Producteurs de Pays scheduled for May 22 and 23 in the 12th arr. It’s conveniently located between metros Daumesnil and Dugommier.

Keep an eye out for socks and blankets from angora sheep, dandelion wine, sheep’s milk soap, regional cheese and cookies, and buy a hunk of bread from the 3 feet wide circles.

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This was the first certified organic restaurant in France. The food is also locally produced and dishes are seasonal. You’ll find a wide variety of dishes for vegetarians and vegans. It’s a bit pricey, so save this for one of those special dinners on your vacation.

Travel and Leisure magazine featured BIOart in an eco-travel article:

A new addition to the city’s booming 13th Arrondissement, BioArt **** (dinner for two $100) serves an all-organic menu—risotto topped with shaved truffles; a terrine of diver scallops—in a design-forward space overlooking the Seine.
Eco-Friendly Guide to Paris, London and Stockholm

I have not visited this restaurant yet, so I cannot give a review.

BIOart

1, quie Francoise-Mauriac (13°)

Metro: Bibliotech Francoise Mitterand

01 45 85 66 88/dd>

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Exki has a strong commitment to organic food. Here’s a snippet from their web site:

Nous sélectionnons pour vous les meilleurs ingrédients saisonniers.

Nous refusons l’usage de tout additif.

Certains de nos produits sont labellisés BIO. Par exemple le pain, confectionné et cuit artisanalement sur pierre, sans aucun “améliorant” artificiel. Pour garantir sa fraîcheur, nous terminons sa cuisson, chaque matin, dans nos restaurants.

Sont également BIO : le lait, le yaourt, les jets de légumes, des tartelettes, des biscuits, des confitures,…
Exki philosophie

I have not visited this restaurant yet, so I cannot give a review.

Exki

9, boulevard des Italiens (2°)

118, avenue de France (13°)

82, boulevard du Montparnasse (14°)

01 42 61 06 52

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Kosher food does not allow dairy and meat to be served or cooked together. That means this is a vegetarian pizza restaurant by default. You can even have it sans cheese for your vegan fix.

The lack of meat is not the only thing different about the Kosher Pizza Restaurant. The walls are covered with Orthodox Jewish posters and scripts instead of Venetian sunsets, the standard images of Michelangelo’s David have also been replaced with rabbi photos; which reminds me a bit of the Rabbi trading cards available from Archie McPhee in Seattle.

The Pizza

The pizza has a ridiculously thin crust. It is more like a cracker than the dough you’d see in a thick crusted pizza. Perhaps this is a nod to matzo.

The pizza options are mostly variations of onion, leek, egg, olives, and eggplant. It’s a bit surprising to see pizza names, like nicoise, and not see the traditional meat ingredient listed.

I was a bit worried when I sat down and watched a young couple eat three pizzas. I was unfortunately brought up with the concept of quantity over quality at pizza joints. Forget the California bite sized pizzas, bring on the buy 1 get 3 free delivery specials.

However, I was pleasantly surprised at how filling the provincial pizza was. It’s a cracker thin crust with sauce, a sprinkling of cheese, and topped with ratatouille. The cheese is so minimal that I’m sure vegans would love this pizza without the cheese. The toppings blended nicely with the sauce.

Kosher Pizza is obviously closed on sabbath and Jewish holidays. It’s a bit more expensive than its falafel neighbors, but you’ll appreciate the unique experience.

The restaurant sits at the top of rue Mouffetard, one of my favorite spots in the city. It’s cheerful interior and ample servings make this a great option in the Left Bank.

As happens too often, I came across this restaurant after already eating a nice meal. So I cannot give a personal review. However, I looked at what people were eating and it looked great.

Les Cinq Saveurs d’Anada

72, rue du Cardinal Lemoine (5°)

Metro: Cardinal Lemoine, Place Monge

01 43 29 58 54

Wheelchair Friendly: The restaurant has a small step to enter but is otherwise wheelchair friendly. I don’t know if the restroom is downstairs or not.

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Lebanese cuisine is filled with vegetarian options and Beirut Down Town’s Assiette Vegetarienne features 7 items for the reasonable price of 11.50 euros. It includes hummus, tabouli, labneh, 2 feuilletes (turnovers) of spinach and cheese, falafel, stuffed grape leaves, and pita bread. It’s a nice variety of dishes for dinner. They also offer a variety of vegetarian sandwiches and plates.

I was looking for something different and this seemed like the perfect place for dinner.

I have to say that I was underwhelmed by the food. It didn’t taste as fresh as I would have liked. I felt like some of the items were pre-packaged or made for the previous day’s lunch time rush (I visited it on a Saturday evening).

However, I have to give them benefit of doubt. The asbestos removal construction across the street had made the nearby restaurants seem like ghost towns. I was the only one in Beirut Down Town.

Student Dining

Beirut Down Town is next to the University of Paris and probably does great business during the week when students are hungry. The portions are large, there’s a nice variety of dishes, and the location is convenient.

I don’t know if I would go back again, but I would suggest it for people in the area looking for something other than another cheese sandwich.

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Taisho Ken – Miso Soup Bar

In the center is a small Japanese miso soup restaurant that I’ve been finding myself eating at more and more. It’s a simple place with an open kitchen, large pots of boiling miso broth, and a friendly, bustling atmosphere. This is a simple place that may remind you more of a roadside diner than a French bistro.

Miso soup normally brings to mind a small bowl of broth with a few small chunks of tofu floating amongst green herbs. I was greatly surprised when I ordered the vegetarian soup bowl and was presented with a Texas sized spoon and a big bowl of broth with fresh vegetables and noodles. This is a meal by itself, you won’t need any rice or dumplings.

Paris is a great place to have a big lunch with friends and a simple dinner of soup or salad. I’ve added this place to my list of regular stops. It’s especially nice on a cold rainy night when the windows fog up and you are surrounded by the smell of the broth.

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I had heard about some good restaurants north of Gare du Nord but never found this mysterious Hindu Eden. While flying from San Francisco to Paris on Air France I came across an article that described this small neighborhood of saris, sweets, and restaurants. I took the magazine home with me and read the article several times. Finally I had a weekend to do some Paris exploring and jumped on the metro a couple weeks ago to La Chapelle (metro 6).

Rue Cail

Rue Cail seems to be the heart of the community. You’ll find a great assortment of vegetarian restaurants, sweet shops, grocery stores, jewelry shops, and places to find Saris, shirts, and more. My first visit was also punctuated by an impromptu protest rally for an event in India.

There are two restaurants that get the most attention. Krishna Bhavan and Dishny. Both straddle the street with dual identities, formal and casual restaurants. Krishna Bhavan is 100% vegetarian and this makes me very happy. I love being able to order anything off the menu.

Krishna Bhavan

I visited the casual version of Krishna Bhavan. It reminded me of the neighborhood taco shops of San Diego or similar simple restaurants of any city and culture. They serve dosas, rice dishes, samosas, as well as a hearty fixed price menu.

I ordered the basic menu at 13 euros. This includes a drink, entree, dinner, and dessert. For the drink you get your choice of a lassi (mango, salt, sweet, or banana). Entrees include vegetable, tomato, or broccoli soup, potato, onion, eggplant, or banana dumpling, or a green salad. The dinner is either vegetable curry with your choice of rice (coconut, lemon, or yogurt), Biryani, Capatti, Barotha, or Poori. Finally for dessert you have the house cake, gulab jamoun (soft ball in a honey liquid), or laddu (a sweet ball with cardamom). It’s a big meal for a small price.

The vegetable soup (dal) is very nice. It’s a light flavored lentil soup. The vegetable curry w/rice was more like rice with curried vegetables. The rice is the star of the plate with the eggplant and potatoes as supporting actors. As with other authentic dishes, you need to be a bit careful eating the rice. It had some hard seeds that could cause pain if bit into them unexpectedly. But don’t let that stop you from enjoying it. The rice is very light; almost floating on the fork. Mine was mixed with coconut, onions, and spices. Finally, when you think you couldn’t eat another bite it is time for dessert.

Chai

One of my fondest memories of visiting Bangalore was this small opening into the kitchen of the Yahoo! offices. From this little passage came cups of the strongest, sweetest chai tea you can imagine. Forget what you now of chai from Starbucks. Chai should fill you body with warmth.

Need I bother mentioning my excitement when I looked into the small hole of the kitchen and saw the cooks making what looked like chai. It’s awesome! This is worth the visit alone.

Shops

This is an area to enjoy during the day. There are several grocery stores to purchase indian spices, teas, and ingredients. I also found my beloved instant meals that you can find at any Indian grocery store. These packets are filled with good, spicy curries that you simply heat and eat.

You’ll also find a variety of Hindu god and goddess sculptures, henna tattoos, jewelry, music, videos, saris, and other clothing. I found one shop that specialized in arts and crafts from around the world. The back of the store has a huge selection of jackets, pants, and shirts from Tibet and South Asia. The styles are fairly western but with the strong colors and unique lines of the region.

Indian Sweets

Indian sweets are hard to describe to someone that hasn’t experienced them before. They are brightly colored, geometric, soft, sweet, and full of spices. They are very different from the sweets you’d find elsewhere in Paris. They are typically softer and less sweet than you’d expect. Frankly most Americans that I know are not big fans of the Indian sweets. That said, they are better than any I’ve tried in California.

A little bit of nostalgia, comfort, and spice in Paris

I can’t believe it took me so long to discover this corner of Paris. Rue Cail brings back my fondest memories of eating with colleagues in Bangalore, shopping for spices with Jim, teaching my mother about curry and naan, and the joy of food cooked without a fear of spice. If you like Indian food you’ll love the rue Cail area. If you love Indian food and culture you will have found one of the finest places to visit in Paris.

Krishna Bhavan

24 Rue Cail (10°)

01 42 05 78 43

Metro: La Chapelle

Indian Restaurant

Wheelchair Access: bathrooms are in basement. Entrance is accessible.

• Overall: 5/5
• Location: 4/5
• Taste: 5/5
• Service: 5/5
• Vegetarian Friendly: 5/5
• Vegan Friendly: 5/5
• M.E.F. Friendly: 3/5

Dishny Restaurant

25 Rue Cail (10°)

Metro: La Chapelle

Indian Restaurant

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The cafe has matured over the years. The massage chairs have been replaced with more dining tables and an increased attention towards dining instead of dozing. However you can still get your fortune told and enjoy a no stress dinner.

Chef Dean to the Rescue

I’ve mentioned my favorite chef in Paris, Jacques. What I may not have mentioned enough was his partner and sous chef Dean. The two of them created a menu that kept the No Stress Cafe from becoming a one line joke, “hey did you hear about the cafe with back rubs near Pigalle…”. Jacques has moved on to other restaurants and Dean is now the chef of the No Stress Cafe.

I can tell you from experience that Dean is a masterful chef. He has an international approach from his Asian heritage and years of cooking in Paris. His menu at No Stress is a fusion of Mediterranean, French, and Asian recipes.

Vegetarian Options

The standard menu features several vegetarian and vegan options.

• Lasagna Vegetarienne
• Salad La Vegetarienne
• Salad La Chevre Chaud
• Wok Vegetarienne

However, you can also request the Tapas menu to be vegetarian. This is what I had the other night and it was excellent! Dean gave me a bit extra but you can expect an assortment of tempura, pickled vegetables, lasagna, and other seasonal vegetables.

Dean also makes a killer bowl of vegetarian french onion soup. He uses white wine instead of stock and it blows away the french onion soup at Potager du Marais. It’s not on the menu, but he’ll make it the soup of the day if you make your reservation a few days in advance. Tell them Ted sent you.

Eating at No Stress cafe reminded me of sharing a dinner at chez Jacques and Dean. Ample portions of food from around the globe served family style with great affection.

No Stress Cafe

24 rue Clauzel (9°)

01 48 78 00 27

Metro: Pigalle, St. Georges

Cafe

• Overall: 4.5/5
• Location: 3/5
• Taste: 5/5
• Service: 5/5
• Vegetarian Friendly: 5/5
• Vegan Friendly: 4/5
• M.E.F. Friendly: 5/5

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