Food/Tech/Photo in Paris (24Aug08)

I did up this page coz I was looking for cheap and good food. I also needed reliable tech and photo equipment shops. These shops are the ones I found to be the most reliable.

Food
Juji-Ya – 46 rue Sainte-Anne (Metro: Opera)
Authentic bento + Japanese mini-supermarket, recommended by Japanese friend. Shop is operated by Japanese folks, not Vietnamese nor Chinese.

Creperie de Josselin – 67, rue de Montparnasse
Possibly the best crepe restaurant in Paris. They make crepes like how your grandmother would do it, no finesse and no presentation. But full of wholesome goodness. Family business and always crowded. The waiters are awesome, so happy and cherry, very un-French like. Specialty is the buckwheat crepe with egg, onion and bacon. Funny thing is that there’s a Indian guy in the kitchen doing the crepe. PS: we found out why it’s so good, secret ingredient is TONNES of butter. We saw it with our own eyes when the auntie was cooking.

Pho Banh Cuon 14, 129, avenue de Choisy
Probably one of the best Vietnamese pho place in the city. Pho is a flat white rice noodle. The pho is served in a bowl with soup and fresh beef. And it’s not expensive. The place is super crowded most days.

Laduree – Champ Elysee
If you want to know what real macaroons are supposed taste like, check this place out. They were the suppliers for confectionery shown in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Also, the rose ice-cream tastes like frozen bandung. Other macaroons at Angelina’s are so-so compared to Laduree. Last we heard they opened a lot more shops in Europe, there’s even one in London.

Flunch
Flunch is a cafeteria styled restaurant that serves cheap food. Quality of cooking might not be fantastic but for a basic meal you pay approx 6euros for one meat and all-you-can-pile side dishes (eg, mash potato, broccoli, rice, fries). As long at the stuff doesn’t fall out of your plate, it’s ok.

McDonalds
Really? McDonalds? Yeah, the chain here in Paris uses fresher beef vs the stuff we have in Singapore. Chicken nuggets is fresher. The Royal Cheese is recommend. The salads are really fresh too.

Tech/Photo
http://www.rue-montgallet.com/
Great portal for comparing tech/photo equipment prices, comes with user survey.

http://www.digit-photo.com/
Site for ordering digital photography stuff from Internet in Europe.
Plus points:
1. Prices are cheap for Europe, some stuff are the same price and/or cheaper than Spore, even with 19.6% VAT.
2. They don’t deduct your cash until the item is ready to ship. This means that if the item is out of stock, your money stays with you until the stock arrives. Order can be cancelled before stock arrives.
3. For big items, they will call you to confirm address before they ship.

http://www.prophot.com/ – 2 rue ThimonnierSite and real brick/mortar shop.
Plus points:
1. Specialist shop catering to the professional. They are selling Phase One digital backs too.
2. It stocks many different types of Hahnemuhle paper.
3. Met 1 friendly staff who was knowledgeable and spoke a bit of English. I ended up going more to Objectif Bastille coz almost everybody in Objectif was more customer oriented and the shop was nearer to the Bastille train station.
4. The other Prophot shops in the area sell photo accessories, film, developers, archival photo frames, etc.
5. The one that sells the frames has really nice staff, 2 young adults and they speak a bit of English. The pro-looking Nielsen frames are a bit more expensive than BHV but they are able to do special orders for matting.

Objectif Bastille – 11 rue Jules César – Mondays to Fridays, 10am to 6.30pm
1. The shop stocks Moab paper plus loads of pro camera and video stuff. Also carries Profoto, Think Tank, Gitzo and Manfrotto. Loads of 2nd hand DSLRs lenses, etc.
2. They have Hahnemuhle paper too, but looks like a smaller range than ProPhot. Mostly Epson stuff, it’s the only shop that stocks Epson Single Matt in A2 size. Even the official Epson shop near Bastille doesn’t have this paper. Also stocks A2 Epson Traditonal Paper (Exhibition Fibre), Prophot didn’t have that.
3. Met 2 to 3 friendly staff. One of them offered free advice on soft-proofing. Mostly French speaking but very knowledgeable and extremely helpful.
4. The staff gave me a discount from the web price when I bought at the shop.