Barbra Austin

No matter what your religious beliefs or disbeliefs may be, I think the best time of year to visit Paris chocolate shops is around Easter.

I have been to Le Bal two of the last three three of the last four Sundays, for several reasons. First, there is the coffee, about which much has been written already. Then there are the scones.

The day after dinner at Q-Tea, my dining partner sent me a heavily-researched dossier of Chinese addresses in Paris (this friend happens to be an academic), mostly culled from this blog, but also from the lengthy list of I’ve-always-wanted-to-try-that places he keeps in his head, one of which, L’Orient d’Or, was praised by the mystery blogger and also, recently, by Alexander Lobrano. Done.

If you’re at all interested in the Parisian dining landscape, chances are high that you read Mark Bittman’s recent piece for the New York Times, Four Paris Restaurants Worth a Metro Ride. His assumption — and it’s mostly fair — is that most tourists don’t make it to the 10th, 18th, 19th, and 20th arrondissements.

But, as someone who lives in the 10th, it’s actually the restaurants in the center of town — never mind the bistro wonderland of the 15th– that require a commute. One that surely merits a ticket is Les Bistronomes.

Q-Tea, an itty-bitty Chinese table in the ninth, has been on my list since the stellar reviews started rolling in early this year, but I only got around to trying it last weekend.

It’s a closet of a space, decorated in polka dots (q cute!) and colors my eleven year-old self would have very much liked to have had in her bedroom. The prices are low (10-13€ for mains), and the husband and wife team who preside over this little lavender domain are utterly kind. In other words, the place has its charms. Unfortunately, the food is not one of them.