€100 Paris FOOD CHALLENGE! Here’s What I Ate

Paris is a city where sometimes you could spend a fortune on dinner and somehow still need a snack afterward. But there are places where you can eat incredibly well without breaking the bank. So in this video, I am taking you around Paris for some of the best cheap eats I found in this city. We're talking about food worth crossing the city for at prices that leaves room for, well, another meal, which for me is an essential part of budgeting. And before getting to that, a big thank you and I want to shout out to the sponsor of this video. This video, HelloFresh. And inside every single HelloFresh box, you get these really simple to follow instructions. This will take me about 40 minutes. This is a beautiful looking steak. Rice with some sesame ginger crunch on the top, some pickled radish on the side. Oh, that's pretty good. I feel like this is coming handy with the steak. Oh no. This sesame ginger crunch on rice, fantastic. This sauce is full umami. Perfect, perfect steak. Tender, juicy, all that good stuff. Stir-fry peas and carrots and onions good. This is a really, really nicely balanced meal. Another awesome dish from HelloFresh. I'm really liking the balance from the pickled radish. Again, I've said this before. I've tried at this point dozens of HelloFresh recipes. I kid you not, not a single one I didn't like. I actually gifted this to friends. They thought it was so good, they sent me like a thank you video from their family. So if you haven't tried, like I've showed you, HelloFresh basically sends everything you need for dinner right to your door. You pick from over a hundred recipes every single week, and I love how you can pretty much customize anything. You can double the protein, you can switch out the protein for a different protein. You can build a meal based on what you actually like. I can tell you I'm often happily surprised by what I'm tasting. Like this pickled radish thing, I'm like, would this work? Can I really just pickle it for like 30 minutes? The answer is heck yeah. Also, I love the fact that they have so many global flavors now. There's Korean food, Moroccan food, Thai food, Chinese food, like fusion Chinese food. Like this recipe took about 40 minutes to prepare. There's also ones that take 30 minutes, 15 minutes. It basically tastes like restaurant food that you cooked in your own kitchen. So if you want to give it a try, this is the perfect time because right now HelloFresh has a special offer. If you click my link below, you'll get a First stop, I'm back at Chinatown. I'm telling you guys for breakfast, if you want something hot, hearty, and cheap, Hard to beat Asian breakfast. There you go. Ah seeing fried dough early in the morning is always a good sign. So right now it's about nine o'clock in the morning. This place I think opens at eight. This is a Cambodian noodle place. A Chinese Cambodian noodle place. All the noodles about eight to ten euros. They got rotisserie as well. Oh this is all available he said. Okay you get a fried dough for one euro. You get a fried rice for nine euros. Man I was only trying to get one dish. But everything looks so good and then he suggested some stuff. So now I'm eating like a full-on breakfast in this first stop. I got a lot of places to go to today. He suggested the coffee. Looks like a condensed milk coffee. So it's basically a Vietnamese coffee. Yeah I really gotta pace myself. I'm trying to keep everything I spend under 100 euros today. I'm off to a fast start with that. Okay this looks freaking phenomenal. This is what he recommended that I get. This is shacha niu rou, so beef in shacha sauce. Shacha is kind of like an Asian barbecue sauce. Comes with a side of sprouts and lemon wedge. Interesting. Wow, this thing looks like it's on fire. Oh no. Oh my gosh. This is a lot of chilies in here, man. I could tell this is the spicy kind too with all the seeds inside. First bite of the day on an empty stomach. This might be trouble. That's all I'm saying. By the way, this is a lot of noodles for 10 euros. Add some of my sprouts in there. This is the fried dough. He said dip this into the soup. That of course was the plan all along. Oh this is good. Does need a little acid. Squeeze some lemon juice inside. Look at the chunks of beef in here too. Welcome home to me. This is the kind of stuff I love. My soup is freaking amazing. That splash of lemon. What a difference to brighten everything up. Oh this is so delicious. Shacha. A little sweet and it's also like a umami nuke you know. You can choose which noodles you get. The thin ones with the wider ones. I like these wider noodles and he gives you a lot of noodles. This is freaking awesome. It hurts a little bit, but in such a good way. Oh, delicious. This flavor is insane. Really strong beefy flavor with that awesome umami from the shacha. The beef is tender too. If you come here and just get a 10 euro bowl of noodles and get one of these fried dough for one euro and dunk it in, this is a really filling breakfast. This combo is amazing. Fried dough, still a little crispy on the outside. This thing soaks up sauce so good. It's like a perfect sauce soup vessel. We didn't know. That's actually the whole point of the fried dough. It's to soak up soup. That's the whole point of it. We never eat this on its own. Too dry. Too oily. It's always paired with a soup. Yeah, if I lived in Paris, I'd have to live in Chinatown. By the way, how much beef there is? Ah, it's a happy breakfast. So on top of that, I also ordered a Chinese roast pork over rice. This is also, I think, around 10 euros. Slices of Chinese pork sitting over white rice. A little soy sauce. That's good. It's a good place. It's got everything I want. The owner is super nice. Same, just saying. So nice. He saw me eating the pork rice. He brought over some soup for me. Beef soup goes good with a rice plate. I think the combo to get here is the noodle I just got and the fried dough. You're gonna be so happy. Wow. Again, that owner is so nice. I feel like one of the nicest person I've ever run into at an Asian restaurant. Of course, can't come to Chinatown without getting a banh mi, and this is the place I was at the other day. There was a line out the door, so I didn't grab one here. Oh, the banh mis are so cheap. Look, the cheapest one is 3.50 euros for the special, where you get a big one for 4.70. That's a great deal. They also got fried dough for 1.20. Buns. This is great. Oh! Piping hot steamed bun. Here, Ashley, I'm gonna let this... Cool, that might be a little too hot. Here's my bami on fresh baguette. This makes such a difference in the sandwich, you know? The freshness of the bread. And you're not going to get a better baguette with your bami than in Paris. It's just not going to happen. Inside, got the special. So inside, carrots, cilantro, ham, some pate, jalapenos for some heat. Oh, man, my mouth is watering looking at this thing. like just something about this bread you know this is so different than the baguettes you get in america which is just absolutely phenomenal four euros like with every single bite kid you not getting goosebumps just everything about this the savory ham to the crunchy refreshing vegetables to that light crunch from the baguette I mean the baguette is so incredible because on the outside it's nice and toasty inside soft and chewy it's like the most perfect sleeping bag for all these amazing ingredients I think outside Vietnam, you're not going to find a better baguette than here. And honestly, even in Vietnam, bread's not going to be better than this. It's so phenomenal. I think my bun has cooled down. Beef bun. I'm assuming this is going to be juicy. Meat filling in the middle. The juice, of course, steeped to the sides of the buns. Pretty good. This is one of the softest buns you'll ever bite into. I mean, this is pretty much just fluffy air. Covering a juicy, juicy beef meatball with scallions and I think peas inside. I don't think I've ever had peas inside my bun before. That's actually pretty good with the peas. Yeah, I totally get why there's a line. Great place. One more cheap eats place in Chinatown before we leave. And this place has already become I think one of my favorite restaurants here in Paris. Let's go right down the block. This is it right here. This is one of the most authentic Chinese places I think I've ever been to in my life. Not just in Paris. And their breakfast stuff is great. This is an northern Chinese joint. Even their dinner and lunch looks great, but their breakfast is so good. You can get a pancake for a dollar. This is huge by the way. You can get a fried dough, the one I just have, for $1.20. Tea eggs, soy milk for $1.80. This is what we're going to get here at Tofu No. Tofu brains. Yeah. This morning, we're going to be Chinese zombies. And the only brain Chinese zombies like are tofu brains. Here we go. Where else are you going to find breakfast at four euros total? Three euros, one euro. Let me introduce you. This is tofu brinks. It's basically freshly made soaking tofu drenched in sauce. And the sauce is usually a combination of soy, different spices in here. There's seaweed, pickled vegetables, some wood ear. Look at that soft tofu. Healthy and delicious. A beautiful freshly made sesame pancake. Giant youtiao, toasting on the outside, soft inside, and this is only a dollar. So what you do, you take this pancake, put it inside your tofu brains, and let it soak up all that amazing, amazing soup. And if you want, and I recommend it, add some hot oil in here. Amazing. This is something else Chinese people eat almost every single day for breakfast. It's healthy, it's delicious, it's filling. Tofu is soft. Then you got the nice crunch from the ear and the pickled veggies. They're so amazing. Four euros. You will be full after this. Like this is still something that hasn't really spread to the west, but I've always said this ever since I came to America. There are really good ways to make tofu absolutely delicious, you know, instead of just like putting on a salad or something. And this is definitely one of those ways. So instead of eating a tofu salad, come try some tofu brains. This next place I'm going to is down this little residential street and there was already a line out the door and this place literally just opened like five minutes ago. Check this out. It's a chicken shop. The whole chicken for $7.50. Half a chicken for $4. One leg quarter for $2.50. Five leg quarters for $10. Chicken breast for $3.50. I'm getting a chicken breast. There's sausages for a dollar. One drumstick is only a dollar. Potatoes $2.50. This place is so cheap man. So cheap, it looks so good. All right, this is so exciting. My chicken, some hot sauce for the chicken. Got some rice because, oh, it's chicken rice. Oh, this is gonna be good. This is not just gonna be good. I think it's gonna be phenomenal. This might be the cheap eats find of the century for me. This chicken is piping hot, by the way, and smells so freaking amazing. Check. this out. I got a quarter section and I got a drumstick. Look at this. Look at the spices on this thing. You can already tell how juicy the chicken is. This chicken is absolutely glistening. Look at this. This bone just popped out. Oh my gosh. That skin is toasty. Oh, they put so much good spices on this thing. I'm gonna have to use a fork because the bone is gone from this drumstick. Skin. They roasted this skin beautifully. That is a toasty skin inside, oh look at that. That is pure juicy meat right there. It's unbelievable. That's freaking 10 out of 10. The spices they put on the skin of this chicken is absolutely mesmerizing. It's savory, flavorful, it's vibrant. The meat of course scrumptious and juicy in the chicken world. I kid you not, it doesn't get better than this. Okay, let's try to drizzle on some hot sauce, shall we? The hot sauce a little sweet, a little spicy. I think what's so great about this chicken, the thin layer of toasty skin. The skin is actually toasty. So you get that slight little smoky crunch before biting into all that juicy meat. Now let's try the drumstick. Yeah, this thing is seasoned so well. I feel like this place you're not going to get a dry bite and you're definitely not getting a bland bite. Look at that thing glistening. Unbelievable amounts of juice. Again with that toasty skin. Insane. Next, check out the chicken rice. I thought this was just going to be regular rice. Upon closer inspection, this is pure chicken rice. I bet you this is cooked either in the chicken drippings or chicken broth. Long grain rice. Every single grain is soaked in that chicken juice with pieces of chicken inside. I wish you could smell this. Oh my gosh, that's too much flavor. It's almost too much of a good thing. The flavor is perfect, the texture is perfect. You know what I would do next time I eat here, and there will definitely be a next time, I'll take the drumstick, put the meat in here, eat it with the rice. I could have just got this and maybe one, and if you're feeling extra hungry, two drumsticks, five euros. I don't think you're gonna find a better food deal than that. I just got to Paris, but I really don't think you're gonna find a better food deal than that. what an amazing find. must try place. and with that i'm definitely good for breakfast. that was a pretty good substantial breakfast. i'll see you for a late lunch. this next place i'm going to is an absolute institution. so in a city like paris where you know you think most things are going to be pretty expensive. And they usually are. This is a place where you think it's going to cost a lot but it's actually one of the cheapest places to eat in the city. So these local restaurants are called bouillons and they've been around for over 170 years. Look at the line out the door. It's lunchtime and this is one of the most famous ones in the city. And this all started back in the 1850s by a butcher named Duvall who had a pretty simple idea. He decided he was going to sell workers a bowl of beef broth with a little bit of meat for almost nothing. And this concept absolutely took off. And by the 1900s, there were hundreds of these all over Paris. They look kind of fancy, super quick service, and working class prices. But then for some reason, over the 20th century, a lot of them disappeared. But then several years ago, people started bringing them back. Okay, this place is so cool. Again, like you walk in, white tablecloth. It looks like a place that you'll be spending like 20 euros a plate for your food. And look at this, all the starters around from 2 euros to 5. Main dishes go from around nine to steak and fries are only 12 bucks. Dessert. Oh, this all looks so good. I might have to get like two appetizers and two entrees or something. There's a truffle dish for 320. So the most classic dish is probably egg with eggs with mayonnaise. So I'll definitely try that. One of the entrees has to be beef bourguignon. Ah, so many good looking dishes. Dessert. Oh, this is a classic here. Cream puff with ice cream. And you can get coffee for one euro. Wow, they're absolutely... Out of the bourguignon already. That's definitely the most popular dish here. I guess it's confit duck for me. So they do bring over a little bowl of noodle. Man, this might be a pretty substantial meal. My appetizers are here. This is the tarama. This is like cod roe with summer truffles, apparently. Mm, that was delicious. There's so much truffle flavor in this. This is so rich and creamy and smoky, man. I never had this before. This is shockingly good. Oh I will highly recommend that. I have real good truffle flavors too. Like super earthy and rich and deep. It tastes like real truffles in here. Not some like cheap truffle oil. Three bucks. I mean three euros but yeah four dollars. That's delicious. Let's try those eggs and mayonnaise. So looks like an egg white on the bottom. Oh oh check this out. Oh so it's basically just eggs and mayonnaise. It's just eggs with a glob of mayonnaise on top. But it's great. Kind of like a deconstructed deviled egg. Those are good quality mayonnaise. That's way better tasting than Hellmann's. It's definitely the most zesty mayonnaise I've ever had. That's good. Nothing compared to this dish though. This is like a 10. Amazing. And it tastes like this cod roe is kind of whipped with, I think maybe potato or something. It was savory, rich. The flavor is so deep. So much umami. With that wonderful earthy flavor from the truffle. This is so amazing. Probably one of the best things I had in Paris so far. That's so good on toast. Luckily they give you a basket of bread so spread it on top of that. And this egg dish like it's a simple egg. I feel like the yolk is perfect. The mayonnaise creamy is zesty. It tastes like something that they made here you know. Yeah it's one of those seemingly simple things that just tastes completely different than what you expect. My duck just got here, duck confit with potatoes on the side, oh man, that's some nice toasty skin on the duck. This definitely looks like some tender juicy duck everybody. So duck confit is basically just duck cooked in its own fat. Oh, the skin is so good. It's so fatty and nice. The meat, I think tiny on the dry side. Overall, I think the duck is pretty tender. The skin, of course, is the tastiest part. That's the juiciest part. But yeah, meat in general is pretty tender. Definitely a super rich dish. It does pair really well with the potatoes. I think my beef would have been a lot better. And I freaking love that dish. I can't believe they sold that out. This place is open till like 10 p.m. or something. Maybe they're cooking up a new batch. But yeah, duck confit's not bad. Pretty good. I mean, really good considering it's only like 12 bucks. But I'll be honest I am dealing with a little bit of food regret. I think what I should have got was the caramelized pork. You know duck confit classic french dish. I initially ordered the pork and then the server mentioned duck confit and I jumped on it. Should have got a pork. I see the pork right now that looks awesome. A little bit of food regret. I mean I will get another dish right now I kid you not. But I waited at least 40 minutes for this dish so not gonna sit here and wait for another dish. But if you're coming here come early for the beef. If they're out of the beef Go for the pork. Yeah, there's that pork dish again. That pork looks awesome. We'll go somewhere else and find the beef. Okay, my dessert is here. This is the profiterole. This is a super classic French dessert. It's basically a small, light pastry puff, and it's filled with typically some sort of vanilla cream or ice cream even. This is absolutely freaking beautiful with chocolate sauce on the outside and on the bottom. We can open this up. Oh, yeah. I think it's a vanilla ice cream on the inside. Oh my gosh. I can already tell there's gonna be pure decadence. Look at that. Ginormous ice cream stuffed puff covered in chocolate sauce and nuts. Mmm. This is amazing. Forget the duck confit. I should just swim right to this. The cream puff is light and airy. The ice cream is ice cream-y. This is pure elegance meets decadence. You know in America we have the ice cream cake. Trust me when I tell you ice cream puff way better. That is so good. I'm very happy with this and I think this deserves only about four euros something like that. Amazing. I would 100% come back to it. I mean the price is just too good you know. I think the lesson I learned though if you're gonna come to a place like this come early like as soon as they open or maybe come after the lunch rush. But this is such an amazing place. The cheapest place you're gonna find maybe in all Paris for the most classic French food. I mean they got everything. The escargot, French onion soup. Again here they just call it onion soup. Also people here are so nice. What a great great place. Wow it's about three o'clock. Still a pretty long line outside. That was very good. Still feeling a little peckish so I'll go find a falafel or something. Oh they got a store next door where you can get their sauces and frozen foods. So everything I just had was like 25 euros. Two appetizers, one dessert, one entree. 25 euros. Amazing. This looks like an awesome awesome place to grab some falafel. Well this is cheaper than most other places. 6.80. Amazing. We're going to get a shawarma for 7.40. Even more amazing. By the way, I think I'm still well under 100 euros. Like maybe 70, 60 something. That's about it. Oh, yeah. That's a good looking falafel wrap. Good looking, good smelling falafel wrap. This is good. Falafel is good. Tahini sauce is amazing. The wrap is good. This is freaking phenomenal. Oh my gosh, so good. Perfect balance of vegetables. Tahini sauce is amazing. 6 euros or 6.80 euros. one more place I have to go. I think it's like 10 minute bike ride from here. I'll go after I finish my falafel. this next place, incredible value for money. just walked past this noodle shop. bowl noodles for like eight euros. around 10 for uh the ones with meat. I think noodles remain some of the best deals here in Paris. but this place I'm going to, oh I think this is the best value burger place in the city. The shawarma place over there. I just walked past the shawarma place. Yeah, here we go. Check this out! 3.60 for a burger. Look at that. Super cheap burgers. Yeah, thanks. I'll eat here, please. Thank you. Wow, this place is amazing. So he's like, do you want fries? I'm like, no, I'm okay I don't need fries and he's like, well, it's 1.60. Yeah, I'll take some fries This is a pretty good looking burger for three euros, right? And fries for like a buck sixty. Kidding or not This is like good half a pound burger. Pretty good sized patty. The bun is huge and fluffy and soft They give you a ton of fries by the way. Freshly cooked fries That's good too. This might be the best burger deal like in Europe. Mmm, it's a good burger. Like the bun is great. It's so soft. It's actually a really meaty, really beefy patty with onions, ketchup, mustard. Mmm, this whole thing is five euros. So it's a hundred percent cheaper than McDonald's. This is 100% better tasting than McDonald's. This might be the best deal of the day. I think in terms of food quantity to money ratio, this is like over a pound of food right here for five euros. And right now it's probably like 3, 3.30. It's not lunchtime anymore. This place is still pretty packed. I bet dinner, lunchtime, this place is lining out the door like I would. This is such good value for great food. I think I'm good. I really... I kinda gotta go home now. My phone's almost out of batteries, and if it dies, I might not be able to find my way home. I always love it when I can find amazing food for more amazing prices. $3 Chinese breakfast, the bami, that was super cheap. And then, best burger deal in Europe, opened by Asians. Come on, we don't always have to open a noodle shop or a dumpling shop, open a burger shop. Yeah, goes to show, just because you're in Paris does not mean you can't find some cheap good eats. As always, I'll place a link to this down below for you guys. Thank you all so much for watching. Until we eat again, see you later.