Rebecca Plotnick
Le Fooding
Restaurant reviews on the Le Fooding website and in the printed guide essentially decide where food-loving Parisians eat during the year. Focusing on new talent and restaurant trends, the guide is descriptive, humorous, and well-informed.
Fooding 2015, a smartphone application available in English and French, allows users to search an immense database of restaurants, cafés, and hotels, and read insightful reviews from the website. Search by category (sushi, pizza, vegetarian, wine bar, etc.) or by average price. You can access a map to locate restaurants in your area or near a metro station, and bookmark your favorites.
An amusing features lets you shake your smartphone to discover a restaurant by chance, and the news section provides in-the-know tips on hotspots and restaurant openings.
The helpful, easy-to-use application is available on the iTunes app store and Google Play for $3.99. The only con is the constant sponsor ads.
Jean-François Gornet
The New Food Lover’s Guide to Paris
For disciples of Patricia Well’s The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris (now in its fifth edition!), there is now an at-your-fingertips app version. Regularly updated and containing information on over 500 addresses, the app lets you discover the best of Parisian restaurants, cafés, wine bars, and bakeries. A bonus? This app also includes cheese shops, wine cellars, specialty food stores, and even kitchen and tableware boutiques, perfect for picking up some of that beautiful French cookware as a nice souvenir from your Paris trip.
The app includes detailed and attentive descriptions and reads like a novel. Helpful features include a map, search bar, glossary, and Patricia’s top picks. You’ll feel like a friend is giving you a guided tour of the City of Light.
Download on the iTunes app store for $4.99.
Emma Stencil
LaFourchette (The Fork)
Parisians everywhere swear by this appli, which partners with restaurants, allowing you to book a table and access special deals, often as much as 30% or 40% off the menu at decent restaurants. The app includes suggestions for lunch and dinner, and tells you which restaurants are popular and which currently feature the best deals. A loyalty program allows you to accumulate points for further reductions through LaFourchette.
While this is not the best app to discover new trends and talent, if you’re looking for simple and good French food, LaFourchette is a great way to save some money. Under the description of each restaurant are listed the average prices for a glass of wine, a coffee, a main dish, etc, insuring that you don’t end up somewhere that’s not in your price range. The app is available in English, but some content, such as reviews and detailed descriptions, are not translated.
Available for free download on the iTunes app store and Google Play.
Rebecca Plotnick, La Cuisine Paris
Bim
A recently launched stylish app aimed at a younger crowd, Bim is an entertaining way to discover restaurants, bars, clubs, concept stores, spas, hotels, and museums. You can search different categories by location and price, and Bim will present you with one location at a time. You can then swipe right if you’re not interested or swipe left to add to your favorites, just like on the dating app Tinder. While the Bim database is still rather small, new locations are added on a regular basis.
The app has a beautiful interface and design, includes nice photographs, and provides information on venue hours and location. While you can’t search by name or type of cuisine, Bim lets you discover new restaurants and cafés at random. There are no written descriptions, apart from a few tag words, so like with the Tinder app, the only way to get a feel for the restaurant is to swipe right and take a chance.
Available for free download on the iTunes app store. Android app coming soon.
Bim
Paris Pastry with David Lebovitz
Famed food writer and traveling gourmand David Lebovitz has launched his own smartphone application, featuring the most drool-worthy photos of delicious Parisian cakes, tarts, chocolates, and confections. The app lets you search a database of about 400 bakeries, pastry shops, ice cream boutiques, and candy stores to find the perfect treat, like a melt-in-your-mouth, cream-filled éclair, for example.
Also included is a descriptive guide to French pastries for newbies, as well as maps, store information, and (if you’re feeling overwhelmed like me) a list of the top 25 unmissable patisseries in Paris.
Download even if you’re not in Paris to induce delicious chocolately dreams. The fill version is available on the iTunes app store for $3.99 and LITE version of David Lebovitz’s Top 25 available for free. Android app in the works.
Paris Pastry
Related Links
- Emma also checks out the best food trucks around Paris, for a mid-day burger or ice cream on the go.
- Hopping across the pond for the day? Download the app Dojo to discover the best restaurants, popups, boutiques, and bars in London. Word has it they might be even be coming to Paris.
- If you like breakfast in bed, try out this awesome service in Paris. Sunday delivers a delicious spread of croissants, baguettes, and confitures to your apartment every Sunday morning.
Written by Emma Stencil for the HiP Paris Blog. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, London, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris.
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