Travelling and exploring is one of the best things about being a human on planet earth, don’t you agree?

I’m lucky to have family in Europe and the UK. This winter I took my two teenage sons to visit them for three weeks. We spent most of our time staying at my brother’s in Paris so I thought I would share my GF finds with you in the city of patisseries, boulangeries and fromageries. Including, of course, a ranking of all the gluten free croissants I tried.

Last time I was in Europe it felt like there were very limited gluten free options but that has changed so much in the last ten years. As someone with Hashimoto’s who is strictly gluten free, I wanted to enjoy some French cuisine without compromising on my health. Unlike my last trip, it went really well! I don’t think I was accidentally gluten-ed once, I honoured my health while still enjoying plenty of French treats and came home feeling great, albeit jet lagged. I didn’t feel deprived at all (except for when they served me margarine instead of butter on the plane booo) and honestly relished the challenge of feeding myself great food, gluten free. Yes, I could have felt sorry for myself but I overcame that mindset trap many years ago. I value feeling amazing over temporary gluten-ous thrills and if you do some research – or read my blog – you can find plenty of incredible GF friendly options in Paris.

If you want to read about why I recommend a gluten free diet for Hashimoto’s check out this blog.

Communicate your needs clearly but politely

“Je ne peux pas manger de gluten, merci” with a big smile will suffice.

If you can’t manage the French pronunciation (I butcher it too) use Google translate. Type ‘I cannot eat gluten which is found in wheat flour, can you please help me with the menu’ into Google translate, take a screen shot and show it to your waiter with a please “sil vous plait” and a nice smile. If you eat out at a traditional Parisian bistro then there is a good chance your waiter will have limited English. The chances will increase in the more touristy areas but you’ll pay double (no exaggeration) and the food might not be as good either.

One night when I was out I confirmed that the beef cheeks were ‘sans gluten’ and asked what vegetables it was served with. The waiter responded that it was served with pasta, oops! So don’t assume that all waiters will know what is gluten containing. On our stopover in Istanbul I discovered that many restaurant managers and waiters didn’t know what foods contained gluten and it was only my knowledge of recipes that alerted me to the fact that those meals were definitely not gluten free. Some may assume that it is bread only that contains gluten.

If you have a screen shot as above or you do some research before booking then you’ll be absolutely fine in Paris.

Brasseries & Restaurants

I’ll be honest, I didn’t eat out much. It wasn’t in my budget. I had a kitchen so I made myself omelettes for breakfast and the kids and I packed fruit and vegetables and picked up a baguette, a GF croissant and some ham and cheese on our way out sightseeing for a picnic. At dinner I mostly cooked. When we did eat out though, it was a fantastic experience.

I’ll start with my highest recommendation, Bouillon which had two locations; Republique & Pigalle. Republique was more of a main meal dinner vibe and the Pigalle menu is more brunch and lunch vibes. Parisian brasseries like Bouillon aren’t fancy fine dining or delicately plated meals, they serve simple but classic French dishes. Expect lots of people, noise, sharing tables, fast service & incredible conviviality. The food is also really good value by Parisian and even Australia standards. Entrees, sides and desserts set you back 3-6 euro on average ($5-10) and main meals are between 9-13 euro ($15-$25). Most importantly! They had a full allergy menu so it was easy to see exactly what I could eat without any eye rolling waiters or floundering bad French on my behalf. These guys are used to tourists and very friendly, although there were plenty of French natives dining too. My recommendation is definitely the beef cheek stew (Ragout), snails (you gotta try them once and they were actually really tasty here), the ratatouille was seriously delicious, the fish, simple green salad and classic french desserts like floating island, chocolate mousse and creme brûlée which was the best I’ve ever tasted. They also had crepes but I’ll cover that below in a seperate subheading.

Boullion Chartier was a chance find when we got stuck in Paris for two extra nights due to an aviation strike (got to love the French and their strikes!). They have three locations, we only tried the Montparnasse restaurant. The food wasn’t quite as good as Bouillon but the original art nouveau interior from 1903 and conviviality had me on a high for two days. We actually went back we enjoyed the experience so much. The meals are even better value here, Entree, sides and dessert started at 2 euro ($3.50) and the steak and fries was only 10 euros. Try and get a nice steak in Australia for $17 these days! And the ratatouille made me itch to get home to attempt to recreate it in my own kitchen. The menu changes daily and it was trickier to communicate here as they don’t have an allergy menu and our waiters both had limited English. I had to be an annoying tourist to clarify which meals were gluten free but we got there in the end. I would definitely not recommend this place for celiacs as they were not as allergy savvy as Bouillon Republique. But if you are non-celiac gluten sensitive like most of us Hashimoto’s folks then this place is worth the awkward communication for the interior alone. Magic!

My brother also took us out to Les Deux Magot for brunch, famous for it’s bohemian past with the likes of Picasso and Hemingway as frequent patrons. It’s also known for the best Parisian le chocolat chaud (hot chocolate). The waiters were very professional and knew the menu back to front. On the brunch menu you can get a sensational omelette or eggs gluten free but they didn’t have any GF bread alternatives. There is an allergen information PDF on their website and English is well spoken in this popular tourist location. These days it’s more bougie than bohemian but it is an amazing experience and worth it for the hot chocolate alone.

A great way to find good local restaurants is by asking your tour guide. We did free walking tours (tip based) with Walkative and Guru Walk, not only were they some of the highlights of our trip as they helped us to contextualise where we were historically, but the guides are a great source of local information. Not to mention a fab budget travel option because regular walking tours in Paris can set you back $300-600 per family. Our tour guide in Paris even had a spreadsheet of restaurant recommendations and was helpful with GF options too.

I found that generally speaking (ask your own questions and do you research) that the duck confit, steak & fries, beef cheek stew/bourguignon and fish were usually the best gluten free options at the classic Parisian brasseries.

Ice Cream

Gelato is just as popular in France as it is in Australia and I must confess I only tried Italian gelato in Paris. It did not disappoint.

Amorino is an Italian Gelato chain with dozens of stores across Paris. All of their gelato is 100% gluten free – even the tiramisu! They scoop their ice cream into flowers with individual petals and you can choose as many flavours as you want. I loved the cream and black cherry and the mango sorbet was also sensational, you could tell it was made with perfectly ripe mangoes. This is really good quality gelato with no artificial colours or additives.

Grom only has a small handful of locations across Paris and their products are also 100% gluten free, including ALL their cones! They are very transparent about their ingredients and their natural approach. No flavours, additives or colours, their gelato is made with ingredients like milk, egg, sugar, chocolate, fruit etc. And it is good! Their vanilla bean gelato with black cherries, chocolate chips & roasted hazelnuts was amazing. As was the hazelnut gelato with candied orange and chocolate flakes. This was definitely my favourite spot to cool down.

I’ll be longing for Grom for many years to come.

Patisseries

You’re spoilt for choice in Paris with gluten free patisseries. Thanks to one chain in particular, Copains, which has over a dozen stores, you can walk 10 minutes in most directions on the right bank and you’ll be near a Copains, particularly in the centre. Their food is delicious albeit pricey. A sweet pastry and a ham and cheese baguette will set you back 12-20 euros ($20-$34 aud). It’s worth it while you’re on holiday though and it will keep the food FOMO at bay. I particularly enjoyed the ‘New York roll’ which is circular layers of croissant pastry with a creme filling, partially dipped in chocolate. It was more like a traditional croissant texture than their croissants in my opinion. The blueberry eclair, pesto mozzarella sandwich and smoked salmon bagel were all outstanding for gluten free fare. I wish I had had more time to explore their whole menu.

Croissants have always been my favourite and it’s been many years since I’ve had a satisfactory one. In terms of croissants, here is the promised ranking.

Croissants in order of buttery, flaky goodness:

1. La Manufacture du Sans Gluten 8.80 euro (This converts to over $15 aud gasp!)
Location: 18th arrondissement, 2 Rue Androuet near Sacre Couer in Montmartre.
This was as close as it gets to the real deal. The price was worth it for the experience. I ate this as I walked about Montmartre. I only went there once because it was an hour walk from the Marais where we were staying. This place is a must! In hindsight I wish I had bought their chocolate croissant too but I was taken aback by the price. Takeaway only.

2. Copains 2.80 euro
Location: 4th arrondissement, 9 Rue des Blancs Manteaux in the Marais, the Medieval, hipster part of Paris where the best shopping is found and tourists are sparse.
You can also find Copains in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 15th, 16th, 17th & 20th arrondissement and soon to open in other European locations according to the lovely staff. I enjoyed their croissant but it was more doughy and less flaky than the one from La Manufacture du Sans Gluten. I found their bagels and focaccias delicious lunches for on the go but their tarts and sweet pastries were their best products in terms of mimicking products made with wheat flour. Copains is takeaway only like a true patisserie. They also serve coffee and sell bread.

3. Noglu 2.60 euro
Locations: 6th arrondissement, 69 rue de Grenelle not far from Musee d’Orsay.
You can also find Noglu in the 11th & 15th arrondissements. Noglu croissants resemble Australian GF croissants; doughy, almost brioche texture without the flaky layers or buttery hit. The chocolate Swiss bread was the same, great flavours though and the texture lent itself more to this kind of sweet pastry than a croissant. Their quiche lorraine was incredible and I also enjoyed their croque monsieur although I had to takeaway as the cafe was full (both times I couldn’t get a table) and by the time I ate it, it was quite soggy. They have a full gluten free menu including burgers and also sell bread.

Crepes

I’ve got good news. If you go to a proper crepe stand or restaurant they’ll always have gluten free crepes available. In Brittany the savoury crepes (galette) are made with buckwheat flour, water and a little bit of salt. We stopped for a lunch set (formule) at a crepe restaurant which is basically a good value two or three course lunch. This place was offering salad, a savoury crepe and a sweet crepe for 14 euros. They will often come with a glass of wine too. The galette savoury crepe was gluten free and when asked nicely, the kitchen was more than happy to use the buckwheat batter for my sweet crepe too. Galette is not only a classic French meal but it’s also seriously yummy with egg, sometimes ham and Gruyere, Comte or Emmental melted cheese. The more touristy spots may only do the wheat sweet crepes so check by asking for galette or if you’re at a stand look to see if they have a pale batter (wheat & sweet) and a brown batter (buckwheat & savoury). Galette are such a perfect gluten free fall back in Paris, they are everywhere, exceedingly French, tasty & filling.

Supermarkets

I hate to tell you this but compared to the French supermarkets, Australians are being shortchanged with the quality of our food when we go shopping at the major supermarkets. In France you can expect the quality of an expensive inner city Melbourne deli with the budget no name brands at the supermarket.

Not only are they much better with reducing single use plastics and BPA but the food tastes soooo much better. Deli meats are real meat and more often than not, preservative free. Meat, fish and even packaged products taste better and had fewer or no additives. There was less vegetable oils, added sugar and additives in the items I picked up. Things like pesto are made with olive oil rather than vegetable oils and proper pine nuts, not sunflower seeds or potato granules (yuck). I was like a kid in a candy shop reading all the labels. The smoked salmon was so flavoursome with a firmer texture and don’t get me started on the cheese! I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to enjoy Australian cheddar ever again.

Ham makes for an interesting comparison. Pigs have high welfare and are not treated with antibiotics according to packaging, this is definitely not the case in Australia unless you find free range and/or organic pork which will be very expensive. They use salt and vegetable broth to flavour and preserve the ham so it is preservative free! And this is just the cheap supermarket ham. It’s better quality than Christmas ham off the bone which is about as good as it gets in Australia unless you’re buying from a small free range farmer.

Any decently sized supermarket will have a gluten free section and options when it comes to the basics like crackers, biscuits, pasta, bread in a similar vein to what you would find at Coles and Woolies. Even in the small convenience stores you’ll find buckwheat crisp bread and rice cakes.

Fruit & veggies can be a bit sad in the city centre at times but I noticed that there was a lot more variety in shapes and sizes than at home. Blemishes seem to be more readily accepted too. There is far less imported produce and products overall too.

Grocery shopping in France is a delight for health conscious foodies. If you are self catering then you won’t have any trouble eating healthy and gluten free food. Google translate will be your close ally when reading packets and labels.

In closing…

I’m feeling more in love with good food and the proverb, quality over quantity, than ever before after spending 12 days in Paris. In other cultures people are approaching food manufacturing, hospitality and meals very differently to us Australians. Not that it is all bad here. It’s just refreshing to remember that food culture varies so widely and is an important part of identity.

I must say, the rude French stereotype no longer stands in my view. I warned the kids that as tourists we were likely to piss the locals off and to make sure they stuck to the right of the paths, watch out for bikes and say sil vous plait with a smile as often as possible. This trip was the longest I’ve spent in Paris (12 days in total) and I found 9/10 locals to be friendly, encouraging – even when I butchered their language – and helpful.

Thank you to my two boys who followed me – without grumbling once – all over Paris trying to find the perfect gluten free croissant.

Bon Appétit!