La Villette Paris – All our local tips

Like Japanese restaurants in Paris, which are divided into those for locals or tourists (generally run by non-Japanese people and serving mostly sushi) and the ones frequented by Japanese, with better quality and range of food, there are plenty of Indian restaurants in Paris, but not all can boast real Indians in their clientele.

Located in the heart of the Indian and Sri Lankan area in Paris (the triangle formed by Rue Cail, Rue Louis Blanc and Rue Perdonnet, near metro station La Chapelle), Krishna Bhavan is a strictly vegetarian Indian restaurant, with one of the greatest quality/price ratio in Paris.

Unlike most Indian restaurants in Paris, where you’ll eat dishes from Northern India or Pakistan, the specialities of Krishna Bhavan are from South India and Sri Lanka, and are of Tamil tradition. For example, the “dosa”, a kind of long “crêpe” filled with different vegetables, or the “thali”, a big meal with several dishes and sauces. As in the Krishna spirituality, alcohol is not served, which will make the bill even cheaper, wine or beer is substituted by “lassi” or milk-shakes (or simply tap water).

The restaurant itself is small, but the atmosphere is convivial, and it’s not rare here to chat with the close neighbouring tables. It’s also possible to buy food to take away in the Krishna Bhavan tearoom, on the other side of the street.

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Krishna Bhavan | Restaurants (Indian) | Full thali € 8.00
24 rue Cail | La Villette | +33142057843
11:00 – 23:00 daily

I’m not a huge fan of aircraft. In fact, I don’t like flying at all and avoid it when I can, and yet there is something strangely magnetic about the Le Bourget airport to the north of Paris. It is clearly the architecture that attracts me, the long curving white walls of the old terminal building, and the giant concrete hangars that transport me back to a time of propellers and air balloons.

Le Bourget is still a working airport today and indeed is one of the busiest in Europe for executive jets, but it is more well-known today as the home of the Musée de l’air et de l’espace. An obligatory visit if you are interested in aircraft, or just if you appreciate fantastic art deco and modernist architecture.

Whilst obviously not in the centre of Paris it is only a short train and bus journey from the city. Don’t forget to take your leather flying jacket and goggles!

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Le Bourget | Art & culture | Free
Le Bourget | La Villette
Tue – Sun 10:00 – 18:00

It’s incredible how sometimes the large and ugly stands next to the small and cosy. But yet this is the case in Place des Fêtes’s area, near Buttes Chaumont park: right behind the five huge blocks of concrete which host many of the last remaining working class families of Paris, about 20 villas (here, villa = alley, lane) concentrated around Rue de Mouzaïa, constitute one of the most charming residential area within Paris’s boundaries.

Also know as “Carrières d’Amérique” – plaster produced from old gypsum quarries ( = carrières) was exported to the USA and is believed to have been used in the White House construction… – this area has a deep working class background. Back in the 19th century, this area was part of the East suburban industrial neighbourhoods, and this sloping site (unstable because of quarry exploitation) could only host fragile two-floored constructions.

More than a century later though, it surely is one of the most picturesque and intimate areas of intra muros Paris, which will ravish not only flower enthusiasts but also cat lovers: cats are indeed the real sovereigns of the villas, and as a poetic homage to their feline fellows, some of their owners have put funny signs on their door (most of them in Villa Sadi Carnot) such as “chat gentil” (= friendly cat), “chat lunatique” (= quirky cat) or “attenti ai gatti” (Italian for “beware of the cats”). A delicate warning, isn’t it?

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Les Villas de la Mouzaïa | Relaxing
Rue de Mouzaïa | La Villette
24 hours daily