Today I went on a small tour of Little India with Poonam Chawla, an expat from India (she also lived in the US for a few years). She has spent the past few years in Paris reviewing all of the Indian restaurants, so when you want to know where to go, contact her for a special foodie tour. She also offers cooking classes and makes her own mango chutney.
After a visit to the Temple de Ganesh, we walked down to the main streets of Little India where she pointed out the best places to eat, Indian pastry shops, a beauty salon that specializes in Ayurvedique treatments and threading depilation (at amazingly low rates), a travel agency with round-trip flights to Bombay for €460 or Bangkok for €530, and her favorite Cash & Carry shop on the Rue Cail.
I love these places because they not only have all of the necessary ingredients for making a decent curry (which I learned back when I was a British in-law), but they also have a huge selection of British products like PG Tips and McVitie’s digestifs, and random American products like Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo and Baby Oil, and Kraft Cheddar Cheese in a can (!?). And they don’t charge exorbitant fees like some expat food stores which won’t be named here (but you know who you are, charging €12.50 for a tiny bottle of vanilla extract, shame!)
Anyway, I digress. If you’re interested in discovering these places with an expert, contact Poonam. Her tours are just €25/person (two people minimum) for a two-hour tour, and €50 per person for the cooking classes. And if you can’t read her website (in French only) just give her a call: 01 45 05 34 71 (she speaks perfect English, of course).
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