WHAT THEY’RE EATING IN
Home to some of Paris’s most exciting restaurants, the 11th arrondissement packs some real culinary surprises
1 BMK FOLIE-BAMAKO
BA M AKO-STYLE FRIED CHICKEN
The second of BMK’s two Paris restaurants serves up a smorgasbord of pan-African cuisine, with Bamako-style fried chicken the must-try dish. Organic chicken breasts are marinated in a fiery chilli and ginger paste for 24 hours, coated in plantain flour, fried until golden and then served sliced, sprinkled with smoky paprika. Wash it down with bissap, a refreshing, ruby-red drink made with hibiscus flowers that’s ubiquitous across West Africa. bmkparis.com
2 DI-NAPOLI
MOLOKHIA
The queue from late morning to early morning outside Di-Napoli attests to the quality of its Tunisian cuisine. Malawi (stuffed flatbreads) and fricassé (savoury donuts) are delicious, but nothing beats the molokhia, a slow-cooked veal stew given a rich flavour and jade-green hue by the finely ground leaves of the jute mallow plant. Hunks of baguette soak up the sauce and the homemade citronnade is a zesty palate-cleanser. 17 Boulevard de Belleville
3 BOULANGERIE UTOPIE
BL ACK SESAME AND LIME TART
The vogue for Japanesestyle patisserie means the odd dollop of miso and dash of yuzu is now part of any self-respecting Parisian baker’s repertoire. Boulangerie Utopie’s black sesame and lime tart is surely the trend’s ultimate expression. A dome of black sesame mousse is draped in a black sesame sauce, atop a shortbread base, itself packed with black sesame seeds. It’s all topp
