That's it! Mobile restaurant trucks have landed in Paris. Street food, with the quality of a restaurant and the speed of fast food.
An Inexpensive Midi Solution
New to Paris, mobile trucks cook and serve gourmet food by the minute. This is a good plan, especially for us students. This avoids fast food or lunchtime sandwiches.
It was Kristin Frederick, who launched the first "food truck" in Paris. She was trained at the Ferrandi school, and worked at Apicius, a starred restaurant. Suffice to say that his Hamburgers will change you from the big mac!
8€ for a homemade hamburger, with French or Swiss cheese, French toast, finely caramelized onions, it's delicious! Count 10€ with fries . For a good meal, it's not that much in Paris, is it?
However, it's a bit expensive compared to a kebab or a home-cooked lunch. Afterwards with the restaurant trucks, we have a quality that we do not find in any kebab. Without it becoming a habit, eating in one of these trucks can be a small occasional pleasure.
I ate once in one of these trucks. It's really good, but there's still a wait. I waited 30 minutes. However, when you're outside with friends, time goes by faster, despite the hunger that was starting to stab my stomach... That said, I didn't regret it!
A Phenomenon that is Democratizing
Kristin Frederick launched her business at the very beginning of 2012. Since then, other trucks have been springing up like mushrooms in the capital. And it's not just burgers (even if that's the main recipe), you can eat something else. Cooks sometimes even try to make rabbit or salmon.
Already the streets of New York or Los Angeles are lined with these trucks. We hope that these wandering restaurants will soon be everywhere in Paris! Competition could also drive prices down.
Where To Find These Trucks?
For the moment, they are not everywhere. But to catch one, you have much better luck in the big squares (Place de la Madeleine, Porte Maillot, or at the National Library).
You can easily find their routes on the internet. The California canteen in particular is also very famous. This is the second truck that has launched in Paris. You can go to their site, and see the route of the truck.
In summary, it's still a good plan because the quality is really there. To be done from time to time only, because if you are looking to save as much as possible, preparing your lunch at home remains the best solution.
Food Trucks are more like an alternative to restaurants, which are not always delicious and really more expensive.
So you think it's worth it compared to other lunch solutions? Do not hesitate to leave comments for me if you have tested it and what you think!
Preparing lunch at home and bringing it back to work rarely costs more than €3. If we take 200 lunch breaks a year, that's €600. It is the cheapest.
If you treat yourself to a restaurant, say once a month, it costs you around €15 on average (in Paris). So 180€ per year. The 8€ Food Truck alternative saves 7€. Once a month instead of a restaurant, it's only 96€, so 84€ savings.
In fact, it's not expensive compared to a restaurant, and given the declining quality of these, you won't regret your homemade burger!
