In France all the restaurants and cafes will drop their prices starting July 1, 2009. This is because the VAT (Value Added Tax) is dropping from 19,6 % to 5,5%. Good ol' President Sarkozy passed this April 28, 2009. This will cost the French government 2.5 billion euros. On the plus side, 40,000 people will get jobs. Whatever, after a couple months prices will go back to normal if you want the brutal truth.
If you want good suggestions for cafe's while in Paris I highly suggest Cafe De Flore. Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, the existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Alber Camus often wrote, had coffee or drinks at Cafe De Flore. It is at the corner of the Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Rue St. Benoit.
Le Café de Flore
174, boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006
+33 1 45 44 35 09
Another great spot is Cafe Marly. I once ate there once in the afternoon on my birthday and John Galliano sat at the table right next to me for hours during Paris fashion week.
Cafe Marly
Cour Napoléon; 93, rue de Rivoli; 1st Arrondisement.
Tel: 49 26 06 60
Métro stop: Palais-Royal Musée du Louvre.
