Emily In France Exclusive 🇫🇷 8 Restaurants Open All Day Long in Paris

From the desk of an expat.

To say that Parisians are pretty wedded to their mealtimes is perhaps a bit of an understatement. You could set your watch to café terraces filling at 12:30 for lunch, and I’ve even noticed (with no small amount of amusement) that train passengers will wait until some chime – inaudible, perhaps, to anyone not born in the hexagone – to pull out their packed lunches in unison. It’s so ingrained in the local culture that once my French roommate looked at me, horrified, as I chomped down at an apple on 3pm.

“Did you miss lunch?” she asked, her voice awash with worry.

“No…” I said. All at once, her concern was supplanted with a derisory air.

“Well, then, you're going to spoil your dinner.”

The French may be allergic to eating between 2:30 and 7, but for visitors to Paris, this adherence to the hours of lunch and dinner can prove a bit trying. After all, if you've just emerged from the Eiffel Tower, delirious and starving at 3pm, you’ll have few choices aside from the picked-over remains of boulangerie sandwiches. And if you're traveling with kids accustomed to having their dinner at 5:30, forget about it – most restaurants won't even open until 7 or 7:30. Which is why it’s a good idea to have a few back pocket recommendations of restaurants that are open all day long.

Service continu is a mainstay of certain categories of restaurant in Paris: the brasserie, the bouillon, the café. Depending on which you choose, you’ll end up with a variety of price points and qualities, not to mention options. This guide includes some of my all-time favorites, as well as good options near a few well-trod tourist landmarks.

Le Mansart

Just below the wedding cake of Sacré Coeur basilica, neo-café Le Mansart has become an all-day local fave. At lunchtime, it’s home to one of the city's most reasonable prix fixes, at just 12 euro for two courses or 15 for three. I loved the smoky haddock brandade, though everyone else seemed to be digging into steak-frites. My fellow patrons and I were nevertheless unanimous in our love of the only dessert on offer – a diminutive chou in a variety of flavors. Come evening, the menu evolves into a list of French-style tapas, many of which are just smaller portions of things on the lunchtime menu. And this may well be the cheapest place to find Valentina Passalacqua’s natural wines in the city.

1, rue Mansart, 75009
Open daily from 9am to 2am

Bistro des Lettres

In the heart of the Latin Quarter, Bistro des Lettres has added a touch of refinement to nostalgic French comfort food with an all-day menu marrying innovation and authenticity. Appetizers depart pleasantly from tradition, with offerings like leek-vinaigrette paired with briny nori or salmon croquette with an herbaceous dill sauce. Mains skew more classic: blanquette de veau, duck confit, or whole roast guinea hen. The dining room's pale stone walls and vintage tableware adds loads of charm to this contemporary play on a bistro.

52, boulevard Saint-Germain, 75005
Open daily from 11:45am to 10:30pm

Dong Huong

Paris is home to an abundance of Vietnamese restaurants, but my long-standing favorite is Dong Huong, a pho-focused spot just steps from métro Belleville. (It’s a favorite I share with Paul Boudier, chef and co-owner of Le Maquis, a factoid I learned while reporting this piece on where chefs eat on their night off for Fodor’s.) I’ve never ordered anything other than the P5 (soup with raw beef and meatballs) and the Dau Do Banh Lot (an ultra-rich, ultra-sweet drink with red beans, tapioca, jelly, and coconut milk), but that’s all a girl really needs, especially when it hasn't stopped raining in a week.

14, rue Louis Bonnet, 75011
Open Wednesday to Monday from 12pm to 10:30pm

Bouillon Pigalle

Bouillons are known for their all-day service and criminally reasonable prices, and if you feel you must eat at one of the historic bouillons, like Chartier or Pharamond, going between mealtimes is the best way to ensure you don't queue for an hour. (If you're going to Chartier, get escargots and pot au feu. If you're going to Pharamond, get tripe à la mode de Caen, mashed potatoes, and frisée salad.) But for my money, the best bouillon in the city is one of the youngest additions to this time-tested category: Bouillon Pigalle. From the egg-mayo to the profiterole, the tête de veau to the escargots, nothing here has missed the mark yet. And I must give a special nod to the vegetarian options, which stand out in a world of woefully unsatisfactory and overcooked pasta.

22, boulevard de Clichy, 75018
Open daily from 12pm to 12am

Read on for my favorite place near the Eiffel Tower and a gem within spitting distance of Notre Dame!