Great Vietnamese labyrinthine restaurant, with huge, filling plates for under €10. My girlfriend has been eating here since she was in the womb.

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After a long day exploring Paris, a huge plate of noodles is basically the dream. Le Chef Thai is small and cosy, although I think they have a downstairs too which we didn’t see. It’s really relaxed inside and filled with plants so there was a nice calming energy. The guy that served us was super-friendly and we all had an excellent feed for a reasonable price. Happy days.

Jardin du Palis-Royal - 1780  Secret place. Between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde, a wonderful french-style garden. In the 1780’s, Philippe IV of Orleans (later named “Philippe Egalité” ) acquired the whole place. Extravagant and overly indebted, he decided to build shops around his gardens and rent them out. Convinced by the idea of having a theatre, the Duke thus decided to build the “Comédie française”.

I go to the flea market in St Ouen to look for old cameras and expired film. But it’s also a great place to see all the different walks of life from Paris’ extreme social scene. At the top of the ladder you’ve got the aristo-bourgeois crowd acquiring Louis XV furniture at the indoor antiques markets; the thirty-something bobo set paying way over the odds for mid-century designer chairs and formica tables; the banlieusards from the Neuf Trois getting kitted out with the latest sneakers and hoodies along the rue des Rosières; then at the very bottom you’ve got people trying to scratch a living selling second hand food at the Carré des biffes at Porte Montmartre. It’s an eye opener for sure.