Librairie Gourmande

As prime destination for food lovers, sometimes it’s easy to forget that eating in Paris doesn’t just involve endless delicious meals out and the occasional browse of a market stall or favourite gourmet food store to stock up on French products with pretty labels. In fact, home cooking is alive and well here (unless you believe all the rumours about everyone relying on frozen food brand Picard Surgélé) – you can take a class or a tour, or make like Rachel Khoo and open a restaurant in your own kitchen.

A useful resource for cooks, then, and a fine one, is the Librairie Gourmande on the picturesque Rue Montmartre. Amateurs and pros will revel in the two floors of titles (in French, English and more), plus a healthy range of posters, cards, aprons, toques and other cooking-themed gifts and paraphernalia. Here, you can pick up the latest tome by a famous chef (‘Save with Jamie’, perhaps, or René Redzepi’s ‘A Work in Progress’), or lose yourself browsing the astonishing range of vintage and modern titles on all aspects of food, cooking and wine. From Elizabeth David to Nigella Lawson via Julia Child and Fergus Henderson, and from food-themed comic books a world atlas of wine, there’s no doubting the passion and knowledge of these booksellers. A pleasure.