Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville - Paris - page 374

HISTORIC INTERIORS
Depending where you eat, Parisian dining can be more about feasting on a breathtak-
ing vintage interior than food.
Bofinger Scoff choucroute(sauerkraut), seafood dishes and other brasserie fare
between art nouveau brass, glass and mirrors in Paris' oldest brasserie dating to
1864. Ask for a table downstairs beneath the coupole(stained-glass dome).
Le Dôme du Marais ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; 01 42 74 54 17; www.ledomedumarais.fr ; 53bis rue
des Francs Bourgeois, 4e; 2-/3-course lunch menu €25/29, mains €21-33; noon-1am ; Rambuteau)
Classic French dishes in a sublime, pre-Revolution building and former auction room
with a glassed-in courtyard and knock-out, octagonal-shaped dining room. At brunch,
help yourself to as much as you can eat for €30.
Chez Jenny ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; 01 44 54 39 00; www.chezjenny.com ; 39 bd du Temple, 3e;
lunch menu €19.80, mains €20-30; noon-midnight Sun-Thu, to 1am Fri & Sat; République) Feast on
huge Alsatian choucroute garnie(sauerkraut with smoked or salted pork, frankfurters
and potatoes), baeckeoffe(Alsatian meat and veg stew) and stunning marquetry of
Alsatian scenes by Charles Spindler on the 1st floor at this cavernous brasserie from
1932.
DRINKING & NIGHTLIFE
Le Marais is a spot par excellence when it comes to a good night out, the
lively scene embracing everything from gay-friendly and gay-only to bour-
geois arty cafes, eclectic bars and raucous pubs. Rue Oberkampf and parallel
rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud are hubs of the Ménilmontant bar crawl, a scene that
is edging out steadily through cosmopolitan Belleville.