Paris is a big town. For someone used to the compact pleasures of Glasgow and in particular the one or two street blink and you’ll miss it bohemia of the West End, Paris can seem impossibly large. Our subway here on the Clyde is a circular affair, with one line and trains that go round and round the loop. Entering the Paris Metro at Gar De L’Est one descends down and down to a huge hall with many exits leading to subterranean platforms stretching to the scattered diaspora of outlying arrondisments then out the tunnels and on to the suburbs beyond the peripherique. Even as a frequent visitor – and even I suspect as a resident – the sheer size of the place means that there will always be further reaches to explore, always a new street, another park, a new (impossibly old) bistro. You could spend years and never really know a tenth of the town.

We visit a few times each year. Always, we stay in the same area. Usually, we stay in a different hotel each time, largely because when looking for cheap digs it doesn’t pay to be too hidebound. We’ll make a point of visiting certain bistros every visit but we’ll always add one or two extra places onto the list. In fact, by now we could in a three day trip, eat each lunch and dinner in an old favourite bistro without once repeating ourselves.

Deciding where to dine is one of the great pleasures of being in Paris. To start searching without any idea of what you’re looking for seems foolish so I recommend Heather Stimmler-Hall’s excellent site, http://www.secretsofparis.com/ where you’ll find a reliable dining guide. My habit is to head out on foot looking for one of the recommendations but to keep my eyes peeled for somewhere that just grabs me.

If you track down a copy, to my mind the best guide to take is The Authentic Bistros of Paris by Francois Thomaseau (who also contributes pictures). Each of his entries is a hidden gem. Chez Georges, a transport café behind Au Printemps with a super formica interior and unbelievably cheap food (it’s in Central Paris and a main is around 10E). Chez Antoinne, away out in the 16th and miles from the metro but in a café designed by Hector Guimard (who did the original Art Nouveau metro entrances http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Guimard) where Antionne himself dispenses cheese on toast with your kir. Cafe Florisse near the Butte, where the propriertresse is one of the most beautiful women you’ll see in your life and Le General Lafayette in the 9th, where you can eat oysters at 4 in the morning in a room full of the BoHo Paris Demi Monde. These are places that will stay in your memory forever and should you be lucky enough to return to the City of Light will become must stop destinations for dinner, lunch, supper and late night drinks. When you visit these places, be sure and let the owners know where you found them and show them the book because many of them don’t know it’s available in English and anyway, just as you would, they like to see the pictures of themselves that are next to their entries.

My favourite places? La Gavroche, a tiny bistro in the Drouot district. It has no website and there are several La Gavroches in Paris…you’ll need to find it yourself! Le Diable Au Thyme. Fabulous fabulous but BOOK! Chartier. Everyone should visit Chartier once in their life. The blue collar Maximes is a match décor and experience wise for any of the Flo Group brasseries. The menu is cheap cheap cheap, the waiters speak EVERY language at least a bit and write your bill on the tablecloth as you go along. If there’s only two of you, you’ll be sat at a fourtop and share bread, water and condiments (and often wine, conversation and wee bits of each others grub) with two strangers who will often be as bewildered as you are by the bustling, bursting at the seams, super sized eatery. http://www.restaurant-chartier.com/www/visit/filsdesans.php

Finally, if you can find it, near the Musee D'orsay at Gare D'Orsay there is a small Beaujolais bistro called Le Pochtron. The proprietor is a big jolly man who looks like a caricature of a French chef, large, rolly polly with bristling moustachios and chef's whites (including the tall hat). His wines come from his own vinyard and are absolutely delicious. Ask for a glass of his white beaujolais as an aperitif...even the Parisian next to you will not know about it!