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Chen Soleil D'est

15 rue du Theatre 75015 Paris,

tel: (33 1) 34 79 34 34

Despite the  loss of the restaurant's  chef Chen  Fung-ching last year, the meticulous cuisine served  from the stuffy dining room is  still considered the best  Chinese food in Paris. The first Chinese restaurant in France to earn  a  Michelin star, Chen Soleil D'est specialises in ultra-refined Chinese fare enhanced with Gallic flair.  In the spirit of French haute cuisine the menu changes with  the season, the dishes are created only from the freshest, choice ingredients and the meat and fish are sourced from the country's finest breeders. Hence, a justifiably famous Peking duck made from the fattened ducklings of Challans, five-spice pigeon from Mieral, and curried chicken from Bresse. Prices are steep and service has been known to be arrogant. Neither  has stopped the city's pickiest gastronomes from returning.

Tong Yen

1 bis rue Jean Mermoz 75008 Paris, tel: (33 1) 42 25 04 23

For more than 40 years the  ever-accommodating Therese Luong has greeted le tout Paris  in this institution off the Champs Elysees. Politicians,  actors and rock stars have  paid a visit to  taste what many claim to be  some of the best Chinese food  in the city.  Dishes are certainly genuine and more than decent, and backed up by appropriately solicitous service. Yet whether influenced by the faded menus  or the sad decor that screams  out for a lick of bright paint,  the classical cuisine seems  almost dated. Then again,  there's something to be said  for tradition. And the regulars  are never disappointed.

Delices de Szechuen

40 ave Duquesne 75007 Paris,

tel: (33 1) 43 06 22 55

Don't be deceived by the  mainly Caucasian customers  who frequent this popular restaurant in a staid residential neighbourhood near the Eiffel Tower. They know more than  you think. It serves respectably authentic, first-class fare from Sichuan, as well as favourites  from Beijing and Shanghai. The dishes,  although muted for French palates, are saturated with flavour. Cold and hot dishes, although  far from fiery, tingle with taste. The chef's speciality of beef with orange is faultless on every level: tender slices of meat and shavings of bitter orange peel coated in a rich patina of star anise-scented pepper sauce. Flambeed banana beignets conclude the meal with delicious eclat: rum-soaked,  warm bananas, crusted with a thin crackle of caramelised sugar, melt seductively in the mouth. Friendly, efficient service makes the experience all the more rare.

Chez Ngo

70 rue de Longchamp 75016 Paris, tel: (33 1) 47 04 53 20

Many consider this high-end Asian restaurant (it also serves Thai food) to be the best in town, and most dishes live up to the reputation. The dramatic decor  of  intricate wood carvings and wall frescos sets the stage for an imperial meal, particularly if you're seated in one of the many private but tiny salons enclosed by ornate wooden doors and panels. Here, seafood is king and the choice is generous. But don't overlook the restaurant's famous lacquered duck, its perfectly crispy skin a cult favourite among the cognoscenti. Unusually for a Chinese restaurant, the wine list  is as  epic as the interiors.

Le Pacifique

15 rue de Belleville 75019 Paris, tel: (33 1) 43 06 22 55

Having feasted on all that haute Chinese food, and having sat through the slow, formal service that such cuisine typically inspires in Paris, you'll probably be yearning for a simple meal of good old dim sum. This being Paris, you can get it sans crowds and queues.  This no-frills restaurant, set in the heart  of Belleville (the new Chinatown), offers a comprehensive selection of dim sum ordered off the  menu then delivered in quick succession, or all at once. From the fluffy steamed pork buns  to the plump prawn dumplings and the fragrant sticky rice steamed in lotus leaf, every dish  is reassuringly authentic. It's not the best dim sum you'll ever have, but in Paris, this is as good as it gets. And that's good enough.



Chinese in Paris