The area of Paris that you can easily walk around the canal in the 19th neighborhood – close to Stalingrad and Jaures is often not mentioned in lots of the city guides or things to do in the city. Traditionally a cheaper area of Paris more north, but today rich with culture and places to eat and drink – some of my best picks I share here below.?
This morning, I was in search of sunshine when I decided to go out for a walk along the canal – on a saturday morning (Paris has been it?s wettest and cloudy in years!) – along Quai de Seine, which then became Quai de L?oise.. because I was walking for so long. I decided to just stop at this rather new place that I wrote about last year (Les Bancs publics), I sat beside an older french man with a wide yet rounded stomach – much like the ones you?d call a beer belly – but were in paris so I?l call it a wine belly.
When I sat i ordered a cafe allonge – and a croissant. I say this shamefully as I?m trying to not eat too much gluten ( testing out this whole new gluten free thing, which someday I?ll probably look back on as a fad!), but i?ll forgive myself as it was a rather delicious damn croissant. So anyways when I sat down I began thinking you know this is not the typical part of Paris you see.
It?s not as charming as some of the stuff you see on Pinterest. There is this whole communal working class vibe – you?ll see people going for runs but you also see people pulling their trolleys from the market, and you see a lot of the jewish families heading to synagogue, you see a lot of the black africans walking around in their very colorful traditional clothing – and I just think its so beautiful and it?s a part of paris that we don’t? know a lot about – so i decided why not give you guys my little take on this part of town.
There are some new additions recently – I?m not an expert on this area but I feel that i know enough to share – and one of the first places I?d like to share is a coffee shop that?s called Kaffebar 19. It?s super cute, duplex, ambiance is very warm ?with lots of plants, the music is always good, they have coffee roasted from Coutume, they have gluten free cookies, and everything is really healthy and reasonably priced, which is hard to find in Paris because Paris is super expensive. Also you can take your laptop as they have wifi.
Another one of my places is where I?m sitting right now – Le Banc Public – ?typical french cuisine – 15 to 20 euros per plate – becomes a mix of local and tourist, the servers are friendly.
Park de la Villette is a massive park home to many things like concert venues (Zenith, Trabendo, Cabaret Sauvage) and museums (city of Science and Industry, sometime street food festivals because seriously it?s that big! Sometimes in the summertime they have free yoga – it?s a place where you can take the kids and have them run around and because there?s lots of space it?s also great to picnic.
Another one is Bar Ourcq is a tiny little bar where pretty much find the same people – mixture of french and expats and the vibe is super chilled – they usually have a DJ – they beer is really cheap and you can have the beer to go – you can also rent a folding chair to just sit along the canal. There is always free finger food.
Bellerive is one of my other favorites to have a meal – they have very good burger, chicken salad, a very young hipster kind of crowd and one of the best locations to just sit and watch paris by this side of the city.
There is also the MK2 Cinema – 2 both facing each other with a free shuttle boat to take you from one side to the next. ?It?s a 50 % French FIlms (VF) and 50% English films (VO). They are small cinema rooms but the location itself has lots of restaurants (Corso and bar around if you want to grab a bite before – or even stop into their bookshop. You just get off the metro Jaures and it?s right here.
Another place I like in the 19th along the Canal is La Rotonde Stalingrad – cool meeting place in the summertime lots of pop-ups and activities to meet outside with friends. A good place to go and also walk over the Point Ephemere which is in the 10th Arrondissement.
For the meat lovers Au Boeuf Couronne is the best place to have dinner in a traditional french restaurant.
For craft beer lovers Paname Brewing Co has a wide selection and a massive outdoor seating that?s quite popular in the warmer days. (just across from the Le Pavillion de Canaux – vintage mismatched decor you can enjoy a beer from a bathtub).
104/ Centquatre Cultural center is also home to a few galleries, restaurant, is a great place to see art, buy pizza from a van, and coffee table books from the Le Merle Moquer.
Map of the 19th – Along the Canal.
