Gastronomic stroll through Paris with critic

More than 2,000 addresses from palaces to the best burgers or eggs mayonnaise, 88 recipes including croque-monsieur or leek vinaigrette: "On va déguster Paris" (We're going to taste Paris), which will be out in bookshops on 16 November, is the fourth book since 2015 by the critic who appears on the successful TV show "Top Chef" and hosts "On va déguster" (We're going to taste) on France Inter. The three previous ones devoted to France and Italy have sold more than 500,000 copies. " It's a book about heritage and pop culture at the same time", which "also tackles the more ignored aspects" such as the terroir of the Paris region with its market gardeners, poultry farmers and cheese producers, long shunned and honoured at a time when people are striving to eat locally.

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Bouillons, street food and pastries delight tourists

"It was in Paris, just after the French Revolution It was in Paris, in the aftermath of the French Revolution, that the restaurant as we know it today was born, with an individual table, an à la carte choice and a bill. It developed in the 1790s. This Parisian invention then spread throughout the world," he says. Before, it was inns, tables d'hôtes where you ate in a not very glorious way."

And in 2022, are we eating well in Paris? "We are eating better and better. Parisian gastronomy went through an existential crisis in the early 2000s [...] At a certain point, Paris turned towards a form of gastronomic elitism and lost its soul, the bistro lost its substance. Then "Paris woke up, the street food which hardly existed at all, developed with quality products and approaches". There are queues in front of Les Bouillons, these Parisian institutions that have been reborn 100 years later, with their "sincere" home-made cuisine and a bill of around 20 euros - starter, main course and dessert. Another irresistible argument for "Brazilians, Americans or Chinese who come to visit Paris": the pastry shop, "a scene unequalled in the world", he lists

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The cheese naan, a Parisian invention

Paris can also be enjoyed at home with easy recipes. Some of them are unexpected, such as "cheese naan", a patty filled with cheese that is served in Indian restaurants and which was invented... in Paris. In the 1960s, a Parisian restaurant had the idea of topping bread that is cooked in the tandoor, a traditional Indian oven, with The Laughing Cow. Easy to reproduce at home in a pancake pan, "my daughters love it", says critic who, since the health crisis, has been posting easy-to-make recipes on social networks. "My know-how is not sanctioned by a diploma. These are only recipes that I know how to make for my friends and family: a minimum of time in the kitchen, a minimum of equipment, inexpensive products."

"I consider myself a recipe passer. In a restaurant, I find a recipe that hits the spot, I take it and try to pass it on" by simplifying it with the chef. The aim is to "relax" those who are going to carry it out: "they don't have to go round the town looking for Sichuan pepper or buy a huge professional robot". Slender despite the "excesses" he likes to allow himself in restaurants, critic advises walking in Paris. "Balzac said that walking is the gastronomy of the eye. I look at things, I pick things up, I eat Paris. I love Paris and I walk.