Aux Amis du Beaujolais

Aux Amis du Beaujolais is a great place to have traditional French lunch or dinner near the Champs Elysées. Ranging from tartare to grilled beef, andouillete and duck, meals are authentic and taste great. Coffee is fine and of course you can taste a selection of good bordeaux and beaujolais whine. Prices, in the 12 - 18 euros range, are quite affordable given the neighbourhood.

Aux Amis du Beaujolais has been a family business since 1921.

Reservations: +33 (0)1 45 63 92 21
Web site: http://aux-amis-du-beaujolais.com/

Le Bistro de Pekin

Le Bistro de Pekin a a good and reasonably priced Chinese restaurants on rue de Ponthieu, near the Champs Elysées in Paris.

They have a wide range of classic Chinese dished which can either be ordered a la carte or in combos. The combos are appetisers + main dish + desert and start at about 12 Euro. The place is also nicely decorated.

If you’re near the Champs Elysées and feel like having Chinese, I highly recommend this one.

Full address: 38 rue de Ponthieu, 75008, Paris,
Phone number: 01 42 56 14 20

Amalfi

Amalfi is an excellent pizza / pasta restaurant located at 142 bd Berhier in the 17^th arrondissement in Paris. It’s managed by Rosario and Pepe, genuine Italians from the Amalfi coast, near Naples. Sometimes, Mario is coming over from Italy to give them a hand. Entering this restaurant it’s like being beamed over to Naples: an authentic Italian experience.

The only problem with Rosario’s place is that once you had a pizza there, you’re not going to like it anywhere else any more. The quality is great and prices are cheap.

The menu is quite complete: you can choose among a range of traditional pizza, pasta, meat dishes and salads. My favourite dishes are the pizza quatro stagione, penne all’amatriciana, the amalfi sallad and the lasagna.

Rosario also has a nice reserve of fine Italian wines at affordable prices. And their limoncello goes well with the coffee.

Well, you must have guessed, I totally recommend the Amalfi restaurant. I’m going there for lunch for more than 5 years on a regular basis and I’ve never been disappointed.

For reservations call +33 (0)1 42 12 01 49. Enjoy!

Charlie Birdy

I just had lunch at Charlie Birdy, in Paris, and I was highly disappointed. It’s located at 148 Rue la Boetie, very close to the Champs Elysées.

My colleagues and I went there because we felt like having a burger and we wanted to try this place we never went to. Well, the burgers are average at best. Maybe slightly better then McDonald’s, but lets just say that if I would have had the same thing at the fast food, I wouldn’t have left saying “oh my, look how much McDonald’s has improved….”. Charlie also has salads and a few other dishes which I didn’t try and since it’s very unlikely I’ll ever return, I’ll probably never will. I think I can live with that.

To make the long story short, Charlie Birdie is what people in Paris call a tourist trap: it’s close to a tourism hotspot, the food is average at best and it’s expensive.

I paid 18 Euro for a burger and a coffee. At 12 Euro, given the location, it would have been reasonable money for the quality you get. But at 18 it’s a rip-off. If you’re on Champs Elyssées and feel like having a burger I recommend to go on Rue la Boetie but walk 20 meters past Charlie Birdy and stop at the DogStar where you’ll get better quality for less money. Oh, and Charlie asks 8 Euro for a pint of Beamish and more than 3 Euro for a cup of coffee. A rip-off.