Rue Mouffetard, A Medieval Looking Food Street In Paris

Rue Mouffetard has long been one of my favourite foodie streets for several reasons.  Crammed with a jumble of eclectic food stalls, the ambience can easily whisk me back to medieval Paris.

Rue Mouffetard has stayed “dans son jus”.  A colourful French way of saying that it has remained unchanged or still basking in “it’s juice”.

Rich in history, and a feast for your eyes and nose, this bastion of temptation is in the lower middle part of the 5th arrondissement on the Left bank of the Seine.

The Romans who carved out this famous old pathway long ago must have been drunk either in planning or paving it or probably both!

The rough irregular cobblestones line a narrow path that zigzags up a slight incline from Saint Medard church to Place Contrescarpe.

Rue Mouffetard therefore rightly lives up to its title as the most crooked street in Paris!   It is also one of the most famous and popular foodie streets in Paris.

I can almost still hear the horses’ hooves clopping along those old stones, the creaking carriage wheels and merchants squawking their wares.

The screeching vendors hawking pyramids of fruits and vegetables are still there.   The mouth-watering smells of golden brown chickens roasting on a spit will engulf you leaving your stomach to grumble.

It is impossible to escape the most delicious sweet smells of brioches, croissants, tarts and fresh out of the oven pastries floating in the air.

You are going to be flooded with unmistakable aromas of crunchy crusted baguettes still too hot to touch, begging to be bought!

A warning! Don’t come to Rue Mouffetard hungry!  Just don’t do it! You will not make it up the street without being blasted left and right by so many salivating smells and visual treats.

Even if your self-discipline is as strong as steel and you had no intention buying anything, your taste buds will certainly drool uncontrollably.

You’ll be snared like a fluttering bird caught off guard in a net of impossible to resist temptations.  you’ll end up famished anyway.

It used to be “my” everyday market street for many years when I lived in the 5th across from Jardin des Plants not far away from this bustling bastion of temptation.

I still go back from time to time, for the fun of it, as I did recently to see what is new.

 

It remains for me a very nostalgic walk as my little dachshund and I trodded up and down Rue Mouffetard many a time.

The lower part of Rue Mouffetard is the pedestrian only food section and the upper part has more restaurants and bars.

You can either start at Place Contrascarp and walk down or go from Saint Medard Church and walk-up, depending on what you are looking for, restaurants or markets.

I am used to starting at Saint Medard church, that has a pleasant little garden alongside and view of the fountain.

Leaving Censier Daubenton metro I first headed to the old fountain which always is trickling a steady stream of water to wash my hands, just in case I might end up caving in to buy something to nibble on the street.

I was there to take some more photos, but I know the snares that await me all too well!

The adorable flower shop of the corner is still there as colourful as ever.  The ceramic store nearby as well.

As soon as I reached Rue Censier heading towards the fountain and Place Saint Medard, I got hit with the sweetest aromas of Carl Marletti’s pastry shop.

He is famous for his lemon tarts and other pastries but this one was unmistakably puff pastry which I often bake up myself.

 

 

 

 

 

Mavrommatis is definitely the most renown Greek food store that has excellent takeaway mezes, cheeses and Greek foods and wines. Highly recommended for everything Greek!

Saint Medard church once lay along the Bievre river, which emptied into the Seine.  It has long been covered up and now clean but still runs underneath the fountain, emptying out in the suburbs.

 

 

 

Some think Rue Mouffetard got its name from the past skunk-like stench of the Bievre that wes called “mouffettes”, caused by the medieval tanners and butchers who used the river to throw away skins, dyes and offal.

This old church has an unusual history that brought down the scath of King Louis XV.  In 1727, an overzealous Jansenist deacon buried there became famous for miraculous acts to those who came and threw themselves upon his grave.

It became a such a disturbing spectacle of seeing these devotees going into convulsions of ecstasy and self-flagellation that the King decried “By the decree of the King, God forbids any miracles to take place here”.

The Italian shop selling fresh pasta, sausages and anything Italian to eat is still going strong. I was delighted to catch a reflection of Saint Medard hovering over the pasta!

A sign in the window of Les Saveurs de Auvergne indicated the shop had recently closed due to the retirement of  Madame Francoise who finally retired after working there 5o years!

I remember her well, dressed always in her blue apron with her rosy plump cheeks and reddish parched hands.  She deftly captained her counters alone rarely cracking a smile and often looked weary and depressed.  Retirement well-merited Madame!

Sundays and Saturdays mornings are when the crowds descend.  If you don’t mind them, I find it the best time to revel in the bustling energy of the markets most resemblant of medieval times of old.

Sundays around noon a  large gaggle of merry devotees gather in front of Saint Medard Church to sing and dance to old French songs.  I often would join in and it always made my shopping more fun to do.

Last Sunday I went back again in hopes of catching the scene, but since it was “vacances scolaire”(school holidays) and rainy, they weren’t there.

All food streets have cheese stores, but Mouffetard has three of them, all in close proximity of each other.

The two most famous are Androuet and Beillevaire, both excellent!

 

 

 

 

On Sundays, expect lines when Parisians most often buy several varieties to grace their Sunday table.

All butcher shops have roasting chickens slowing turning to a golden crisp throwing off the most enticing smells with pools of browned potatoes swimming in the fat and juices ready to be scooped up too.

On bitter cold days, I often linger in front of them just for warmth.

They are delicious, but I much prefer to roast my own as to ensure they won’t be a tad overdone.

There is a shop just for fruit tarts, where you can sit to enjoy a slice or more to take out.

 

 

The scent of apple tarte tatin waffling out the door smelled wonderful, but again I prefer to make my own as I did two Sundays ago.

Recent harvest walnuts,  bright orange potimarrons, apples galore, figs and mushrooms are the stars of the autumn markets these days.

I caught glimpse of a pile some sugar-dusted Gances, (the Nicoise name) rarely seen in shops except in Italy, Provence and the French Alps, especially around lent and Carnival.

These are orange water flavoured dough fried to a crunchy golden brown sprinkled with powdered sugar.  They have different names and different favours depending on the region but are all basically the same.

Well, I was snared! Surely two wouldn’t break my calorie limit, after all the stairs I climb and kilometres I walk!

They are so crisp and flaky, you have to hold your napkin underneath to catch the falling crumbs to not waste nary a morsel of sweetness!

I gingerly nibbled on one as I walked towards upper Mouffetard savouring my little bag of treats.

Narrow Rue Pot de Fer is a  narrow restaurant-lined street, if you are looking for something more geared to touristy cuteness.

I wish the city would renovate the now-defunct fountain whose present looks defies it being classified a historical monument!

George Orwell lived on rue Pot de Fer for a while and described the misery he saw in the whole area around 1920 in his book Down And Out In Paris And Londen.

I was glad to see a newly opened restaurant called Flocon which shows promise of being one of only two restaurants worth eating in the area.

Place Contrescarp is best appreciated at night where it remains a rite of passage for Parisians students who congregate here nightly to drink into the wee hours, now also popular with an abundance of tourists.

Just around the corner on Rue Blainville is the excellent restaurant  La Truffiere where you can feast on the superb fair in a picturesque old setting.

Having reached Contrescarp, you have now climbed up the southern flank of Mont Saint Genevieve.

Below to the east is Rue Monge and if you continue north onto Rue Descartes, you run into Mont Saint Etienne church where the relics of Saint Genevieve are kept.

This was the locale of ancient Abbey Saint Genevieve, one of the most powerful of all abbeys in Paris.

To the east is the Pantheon and Rue Soufflot leading to the Luxembourg Gardens.

The whole area to the Seine was once the centre of Gallo Roman Lutece and remains for me my favourite quartier in all of Paris, so I never get tired of going there often to stroll around.

Don’t leave Paris without treating yourself to fabulous Rue Mouffetard and the surrounding streets if you want to dip into parts of her Gallo Roman and medieval past!