South Asia | Vegetarian Experiences in Paris

I’ve been looking for good Indian restaurants since arriving in Paris. I’ve found some decent ones, but none has triggered a desire to return. I’ve been looking for the spirit and joviality I’ve experienced in Bangalore as well as the Indian neighborhoods of San Diego and the Bay Area.

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