Last Updated on 16th March 2023 by Sophie Nadeau
Running through the first and second arrondissements, rue Montorgueil is a lively market street filled with bustling cafés, local grocery stores, and is where you can really get a feel for how the locals live. Here’s how to visit rue Montorgueil, as well as travel tips, and what to know before you go.
I have a particular fondness for rue Montorgueil as I actually used to live just a couple of streets over in the second arrondissement and my closest metro station was Sentier! As such, I used to walk down rue Montorgueil on a near daily basis, enjoying the many shops and frequenting the local boulangeries to get my daily French baguette.
Contents
Rue Montorgueil: a street with a village feel
Largely pedestrianised, rue Montorgueil is well-known all across the city for being one of the best foodie destination streets. In France, it’s common to frequent a number of different stores in order to do your grocery shopping.
This incudes going to a specialist cheese shop, vegetable shop, and butchers to get the freshest essentials. Rue Montorgueil has several each of Italian delis, ice cream shops, fromageries (cheese shops) and much, much more.
One particular aspect that really helps to give rue Montorgueil a village feel is the presence of iron-wrought shop signs above many of the establishments along the road. This includes little iron depictions of the greengrocers above the fruit and vegetable shop, as well as the more classic brand name signs.
Cafés on rue Montorgueil
Truth be told one of the greatest ways to enjoy rue Montorgueil is by sitting on one of the many café terraces spilling onto the street. There’s no one particular place you should head to for a meal, as most serve up pretty decent typically French fare.
Just head to a café you like the look of, order the drink/ food you like, sit, and watch the world go by. Here are a few of my personal recommendations:
L’Escargot: While snails aren’t nearly as typically served in French restaurants as movie clichés would have you think (my husband and his family only eat ‘escargots’ at Christmas), there is one café you can visit if you’d like to sample the French food for yourself.
Café Montorgueil (55 Rue Montorgueil): Make sure you order the truffle fries and a glass of rosé. The portion of fries is served covered in a creamy parmesan and truffle sauce and is easily enough for two people to share. Order the fries together with a glass of white wine or rosé for the perfect apéro or late afternoon snack.
Café du Centre (57 Rue Montorgueil): Yet another brasserie which is in the same vein as Café Montorgueil, and is indeed right next door, is Café du Centre. This restaurant boasts a number of terrace tables where you can sit, eat, and watch the world go by.
Au Rocher de Cancal (78 Rue Montorgueil): The iconic pastel blue façade of this restaurant has been welcoming customers for well over 2 centuries, since its foundation in 1804 by Alexis Balaine. From the outset, the restaurant sought to offer clients the opportunity to eat oysters.
In the decades that followed, Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Théophile Gautier and Eugène Sue all frequented the restaurant. Today, Au Rocher de Cancale still serves up traditional French fare in a building which is listed as a heritage site.
Highlights of rue Montorgueil
Stohrer (51 Rue Montorgueil): Illustrious, beautiful, and something of an institution when it comes to Paris bakeries, Stohrer is the oldest still-in-operation boulangerie in the entirety of the capital, having been in business since 1730 when it was founded by Louis XV’s pastry chef. Of all the bakeries in Paris, Stohrer may well be the most famous.
The scent of freshly baked pastries is ever wafting out of a certain doorway along Rue Montorgueil, one of the best semi-pedestrianised shopping streets Paris has to offer (No. 51 to be precise).
While the pastry shop itself is home to all manner of finely sliced sandwiches, intricately created desserts, and local specialities (the window display is almost always filled with traiteur (take out) goods), nearby you’ll find several cheese shops, fish vendors, and vegetable sellers.
Eglise Saint Eustache: Constructed in the 1st arrondissement between 1532 and 1632, this church is easily one of the most underrated in the French capital. The church is free to visit and is easily one of the best ecclesiastical buildings in Paris.
A beautiful blend of Gothic architecture, Renaissance architecture, and French Gothic architecture, one top highlight is a Rubens painting, Pilgrims at Emmanus.
Rue du Nil: Though not technically on rue Montorgueil, this street is worth checking out nonetheless. In the past decade or two, Marchand has opened other food-inspired shops along the street and other businesses have clamoured to open their own food shop offerings on the increasingly popular street.
Visit today and you’ll find everything from a greengrocers selling the freshest of seasonal produce to an artisanal bakery, and even a store selling fresh fish and seafood.
Passage du Grand Cerf: Though technically not on rue Montorgueil (and instead located around 200) metres away, one of the most beautiful covered passages of Paris is the Passage du Grand Cerf.
Located in the 2nd arrondissement of the city, the passage connects Rue Saint-Denis with Rue Dussoubs and is so named for the wooden ‘cerf’ (stag’s head) hanging in the alley. Other animals adorning the shopfronts include a crab, an elephant, and a dragonfly, so look out for them on your visit!
How to visit rue Montorgueil
The easiest way to get to rue Montorgueil is to get the métro to Châtelet-les-Halles (line 4) or to Sentier (line 3). These stations lie at either end of rue Montorgueil and from each of them it’s just a few hundred metres walk to reach the street.
The best time of the week to visit is during weekdays as it can get really busy at the weekends, particularly in the southern half of the street, closest to Châtelet and the river Seine.
Enjoyed reading about the best of rue Montorgueil? Pin this article now, read it again later:
Sophie Nadeau loves dogs, books, travel, pizza, and history. A fan of all things France related, she runs solosophie.com when she’s not chasing after the next sunset shot or consuming something sweet. She currently splits her time between Paris and London. Subscribe to Sophie’s YouTube Channel.