Where to eat and drink in Paris this summer

A large wooden bar, stools, suspended lighting and a menu which promises to offer you ‘the four corners of Asia on a plate’ that being Japanese katsu chicken, Korean bibimbaps, Vietnamese boa buns and Thai pad thais. A mix of cuisine that a few people may find a little disconcerting, but that doesn’t really matter because we’ve come to Goku for one only excellent reason: the burger, voted as the best in France at the most recent French burger awards. 

With its low-lighting and gloomy front windows, Monsieur Antoine, on a sidestreet off Avenue Parmentier, is hardly eye-catching. But once inside, you can't help but feel welcomed by the rock soundtrack and the sound of the cocktail shaker at work. 

On Rue Montmartre, at 1pm, streaming queues of workers emerge to get their take away bobuns, salads or burgers… But one shop tucked next to Saint-Eustache church remains a well kept secret: Comptoir de la Gastronomie. It's an institution which has been feeding Parisians for over a century. 

The large white buffet sits in front of you, with both groups of friends and lovers eagerly looking around at who's come to dine tonight. You’re welcomed into the charming dining room, which is more like somebody’s home, and kind of is as the owners live just below. It's as if you’ve come for supper at a countryside retreat, rather than in the middle of Belleville. 

Whilst the vegan movement is picking up steam, the meat lovers certainly haven’t said their last words just yet. Having said that, the two owners of Bien Elevé in the 9th don’t like to be referred to as just meat-loving carnivores. They define their cuisine as French-produced meat; such as Black Angus from Chateâuneuf in the north of France, a farm whose ethos is solely focused on the well-being of its livestock.