The vegan and vegetarian guide to Paris

Paris is not the easiest city to navigate as a vegetarian or vegan. Traditional French cuisine often contains meat, cheese, cream or eggs, or all of the above and many French restaurants do not offer any vegetarian (let alone vegan) main courses but there are often vegan friendly side dishes like green beans, potatoes and salads. The bread in France is ridiculously good (of course), so if you’re struggling to find somewhere to eat, a baguette from one of the zillions of boulangeries might be enough to tide you over! With all of this being said, there are some really great veg friendly restaurants and grocery stores in Paris, so keep reading to find out our favourite places to eat and shop.

Eating out

Our favourites

Hank Vegan Burger – Hank’s has got to be our favourite and most frequently visited vegan restaurant in Paris. It’s a cosy little restaurant and the burgers are super delicious, the prices are reasonable (€11 for a burger, fries or cole slaw and a drink) and the staff are very friendly (and they speak English which is handy if your French is a little rusty).

Vegebowl – Vegebowl is another favourite of ours, this restaurant offers 100% vegetarian and 90% vegan asian cuisine (a mix of Chinese, Thai and Malaysian). They make their own meat substitutes and their dishes are full of flavour. A main meal costs around €10.

Tien Hiang – Very similar to Vegebowl and just as delicious, Tien Hiang offers vegetarian (and 90%) vegan asian fusion cuisine including an impressive array of meat substitutes. Again a main meal costs around €10. We’re split 50/50 over whether Tien Hiang or Vegebowl is superior but you won’t be disappointed with either.

L’as du Falafell – Purportedly the best falafel in Europe, L’as du Falafel was endorsed by Lenny Kravitz (I may as well as stop writing here and now as I’m sure you need no further convincing) a fact that is proudly displayed all over the restaurant and featured in the New York Times. It isn’t vegetarian or vegan but they have lots of veg friendly options including their famous falafel sandwich that in our opinion really does live up to the hype!

Honourable mentions 

East Side Burgers – Tasty vegetarian hotdogs, burgers and fries that can be made vegan on request.

VG – A selection of delish vegan and vegetarian burgers with fries.

Grocery shopping

Shopping for vegan groceries in France can be a little challenging if you don’t speak French. Even things you might assume are vegan aren’t always in France, for example some store bought hummus’ contain cheese (weird), so definitely hit up google translate if you’re unsure.

Un Monde Vegan– The ultimate place to shop for vegan groceries in Paris is Un Monde Vegan. The store is pretty small but it contains a large selection of vegan meat, cheese, chocolate and so many other things. We go here to buy cheese and bulk lots of textured soy protein and seitan flour. They also have a great selection of gluten free products and other health foods that can be difficult to find elsewhere e.g. brown rice syrup, flaxseed etc. They have an online store and they ship all over France as far as I know. Definitely the go to place for all your vegan grocery needs!

Tang Frères – a chain of Asian supermarkets mostly located in the 13th arrondissement. Asian ingredients are pretty hard to come by in the large chain supermarkets around Paris and Tang Frères has a large and affordable selection of tofu, tempeh, Asian vegetables, rice, sauces etc.

Naturalia – a health food chain with locations all over Paris, Naturalia is another great place to find ingredients that are a difficult to locate in regular supermarkets. They have a good selection of organic food and quite a few vegan and vegetarian options like veggie patè, plus a top notch cereal selection and organic health and beauty products.

There are new vegan and vegetarian restaurants and stores popping up in Paris all the time so we’ll keep updating this guide as we try them out!

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