Japan in Paris

Walk to the end of the rue Feydeau, take the rue Richelieu to your left, then the rue Quatre-Septembre to your right, all the way to the rue Choiseul. Take a left again and you will stumble upon a covered passage, the passage Choiseul. Admirably described by the author Louis-Ferdinand Céline, in his book Mort à Crédit, as a passage aligning bargain shops with clothing boutiques. But that has all changed today.

Don't miss the gastronomic pearls inside: the neighbours haggle over a table chez Momonoki (the fisherman), a mini Japanese restaurant on two floors. In a beautifully austere decor - glass, steel, stratified mirrors - two Japanese women cultivate the art of 'breaded chicken, shrimp and pork (tonkatsu), even black pork from the Gascogne region. Served with three sauces (hot, sweet, miso) and an assortment of vegetables, cold puree, miso soup and a bowl of rice... A real feast!

Parallel to the passage Choiseul, lies the heart of Parisian Nippon onthe rue Saint-Anne: Japanese grocers, bookshops and lunchrooms of allkinds (selling noodles, rice, soup and sushi) flood the area all theway up to the avenue de l'Opéra. Helas, the walk finishes in front ofthe metro Pyramides, mid-way from the Opéra and the Palais-Royal !