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.