A Moveable Feast: Top 10 literary eats in Paris

Cafe La Rotonde

 As the centre of Bohemian Paris shifted from Montmartre to Montparnasse at the start of the 20th Century, artists like Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall began to frequent La Rotonde where they brushed shoulders with Russian revolutionaries and later with Alice Prin, the singer and artists' model known as 'Kiki' or the Queen of Montparnasse. During the interwar period, the Surrealists took over along with American expat authors and members of the Lost Generation including Authur Miller, F. Scott. Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, as well as George Gershwin. 

​Restaurant - Le Polidor

You may recognise this hole-in-the-wall from Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. In the film, it's here that Owen Wilson's character first meets Ernest Hemingway. Located in the Latin Quarter, this historic restaurant was one of the author's many haunts as it was popular with the intellectual set of his day. Over the years, everyone from Victor Hugo to James Joyce has dined at Le Polidor and it's fair to say that the cuisine hasn't changed much in that time (nor have the facilities - the toilet is 'Turkish style', which basically means a hole in the floor with foot prints to stand in).

​​La Closerie des Lilas    

One of several Montparnasse cafés favoured by artists and intellectuals at the turn of the century - Paul Verlaine and Emile Zola and Charles Baudelaire were regulars. After World War I, La Closerie became a regular hangout for American expat authors. Here Hemingway worked on The Sun Also Rises and read Fitzgerald's manuscript of The Great Gatsby. 

​Les Deux Magots ​

One of the most famous of Paris' literary cafés and a popular tourist attraction, Les Deux Magots was supposedly Hemingway's favourite and it's here that he has Jake Barnes first meet Lady Brett in The Sun Also Rises. French existentialists, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, made it their headquarters as did several expat writers.

​CAFÉ DE LA PAIX

Located just opposite the beautiful Garnier Opera House, this legendary establishment has always attracted an elite clientele, including Emile Zola, Guy de Maupassant and Oscar Wilde. The Café de la Paix also provided the setting for Canadian poet, Robert Service's poem The Absinthe Drinkers. 

​BRASSERIE LIPP

Another of Hemingway's regular spots and one referenced in A Moveable Feast, Brasserie Lipp is a Parisian institution. Celebrated for its literary patrons, which once included Guillaume Apollinaire and Paul Verlaine,  but also for its beautiful Art Deco interiors and historic facade. 

​LA COUPOLE

If you really want a taste of Lost Generation Paris, look no further than this historic Art Deco 'temple'. Located in Montparnasse, La Coupole, which claims to be the most famous French brasserie, offers diners the chance to step back into the Roaring Twenties with its stunning interiors and 'Cubist-inspired' mosaics. Hemingway was a patron (of course) as were Henry Miller and James Joyce. 

​BRASSERIE WEPLER

Situated at the foot of Montmartre in the vibrant Place de Clichy, the Wepler is legendary for its seafood as well as its famous guests. The brasserie boasts a rich history dating back more than 100 years and was a cultural centre for the area's writers and artists, including Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec and Apollinaire. More recently, Arthur Miller was a regular. 

​Le Dôme

One of the first so-called literary cafés in Paris, this place was once so popular with expat writers, like Sinclair Lewis and William Faulkner, its famous patrons were dubbed 'les dômiers'. Now a high-end seafood restaurant, Le Dôme has come a long way from its humble origins as a gathering place for starving artists , but it still maintains some original charms with old-fashioned interiors and a cosy atmosphere. 

Café de Flore

In direct competition with the neighbouring Deux Magots, the Café de Flore boasts some equally impressive literary credentials and perhaps a more trendy status today. The café still plays a role in the Parisian literary scene - since 1994 it's awarded the eponymous Prix de Flore literary prize awarded young French language author. ​