This food "dictionary-plus" has more than 3,500 entries, elegant illustrations on every page, and lots of restaurant selections -- it is the indispensable guide to dining out in Paris.
Andy Herbach is the author of the popular Eating & Drinking series of menu translators and restaurant guides, as well as the Made Easy travel guides covering major cities and regions across Europe and the U.S. A frequent traveler and food enthusiast, he also writes the Wining & Dining guides. Andy is a lawyer and lives in Palm Springs, California.
Very handy food and restaurant guide for Paris. The places we tried that were recommended in this book were excellent choices. The food dictionary is very thorough and made for the perfect pocket resource during our trip throughout France. Small enough to carry and use discreetly. The various shops, eating, and drinking venues are listed alphabetically and the index by arrondisement in the back only lists restaurants so made it a little difficult to use for identifying on-the-spot locations when out and about. Still, a great guide. Will hang onto this for future trips.
I had hoped to bring this book with me to Paris, but its size is awkward. For one thing, much of it is wasted, IMO, on restaurant recommendations. This takes up a huge chunk of the book. Maybe they could have a website with that information instead of taking up valuable space in my bag? The shape of the book is unhelpful as well - being too tall and wide - thicker would have been better for a small day bag. However, it does seem to contain just about everything they might come up on a menu, so I’m making flash cards from that part of the book so that I can hopefully just look at the daily menus and have an idea what’s on offer by memorizing the flash cards.
One of the most practical travel companions I've purchased -- the book is partially restaurant guide/critique, but its true value is in an extension dictionary of ingredient, preparation, and menu translations, as well as clear explanations of the distinctions between each type of French eatery and store. Small enough to carry into a restaurant.