Bouillon Chartier Grands Boulevards

Frédéric and Camille Chartier opened this rue du Faubourg Montmartre dining room in 1896 to feed the new industrial city — fast, cheap, French — and the formula and the room are both still here. The Art Nouveau interior is a registered historic monument; the menu still runs around fifteen euros for a main; the waiters still write the bill on the paper tablecloth. Listed in every serious history of Paris dining (Le Monde's century-of-restaurants series, the Sortir guide), this is the cult institution that survived. Skip the modern bouillon imitators; for the original Belle Époque template, Faubourg Montmartre is the address.