They’re one of the greatest assets of the Paris scene: the small restaurants and bistros, run by serious-minded chefs, that are devoted to French regional cuisine. I’ve just completed a gastronomic tour of seven of the best of them, and if you’re planning a trip to the French capital over the coming months, I strongly recommend that you try at least a couple on the following list.

Don’t imagine that this is some pie-in-the-Parisian-sky notion for the super-rich, either. Perhaps the most wonderful thing about these establishments is that you can get a set-menu lunch in most of them for less than £20 a head. Real French gastronomy in the capital city at an affordable price: that’s what I call la vie en rose.

THE NORTH

Graindorge Let’s not beat about the bush: if you try only one restaurant on this list, make it Graindorge, squirrelled away down a side street at the back of the Arc de Triomphe.

The chef, Bernard Broux, hails from Lille, and is single-handedly rescuing the culinary reputation of a region often called “L’Enfer du Nord” (“The hell of the North”). Broux cooks with genius, combining often unglamorous ingredients to striking effect. Tomatoes stuffed “ à la ostendaise”, with mussels and shrimps, was typical, with none of that earthy aftertaste you sometimes get with mussels — only fresh, clear flavours and a hint of the sea. The guinea fowl that followed was even better, its skin crisp, its jus a powerful concentration of the bird’s flavour, enriched with Belgian gueuze beer. Outstanding.

15 Rue de l’Arc de Triomphe, 17ãme arrondissement; 00 33-1 47 54 00 28; three-course lunch menu £18.60

THE LOZERE

Maison de la Lozãre Never heard of the Lozãre? Well, you’ve certainly heard of roquefort. It’s made with ewes’ milk from the limestone plateaux of this remote southern département, and at the Maison de la Lozãre, it’s used in big, thick, buttery slices in the trademark salad. Just the cheese, a few crisp green leaves and an oil and vinegar dressing — it’s simple and superb.

It’s a great introduction to Patrick Bioulac’s unpretentious style. He lets his ingredients do most of the work, as well he might — the restaurant is run by the region’s tourist office, with the intention of showing off Lozãre produce.

The real show-stopper is his traditionally raised lamb.

It’s served properly pink (not bloody) and is miraculously tender. How does he do it? “Cook it quickly and let it stand,” he told me. A 6½lb leg gets just 40 minutes in the oven, then rests for a further 40 before it is served.

Not surprisingly, given the quality and the low prices, the place was full when I arrived, on a Wednesday night — and full of French people, too, celebrating birthdays and catching up with friends. We might have been in some family-run restaurant in a small town in the Massif Central. Two blocks away was one of the busiest tourist traps in Paris, Rue St-André des Arts — yet inside, there wasn’t another foreigner in sight.

4 Rue Hautefeuille, 6ãme; 01 43 54 26 64, www.lozere-a-paris. com; three-course lunch menu £14.50

GASCONY

Au Trou Gascon How about this for local flavour? The air-dried ham they serve at Au Trou Gascon is produced in the village — Cagnotte — where its owner, Alain Dutournier, grew up. It comes from a traditional breed, the cul noir, and its creamy texture and soft flavours are a great way to ease yourself into a gastronomic tour of the region.

Dutournier now cooks at the Carré des Feuillants, in the centre of Paris, but he made his reputation here, in the untouristy 12th arrondissement. He has kept the restaurant going as a showcase for classic Gascon cuisine, featuring the best produce from the rivers, forests and farms of his home, the Sud Adour.

The menu mixes seasonal specials with old favourites. My cassoulet was too salty, but everything else was beautifully done: escalopes of foie gras, goose, figs roasted with stem ginger and, best of all, a plate of ceps — some cooked, some raw — served with parmesan and a squeeze of iridescent green parsley sauce. When it was all over, they showed me the wine cellar, stuffed from floor to ceiling with bottles and hung with more of that cul noir ham. I think I’d like to be buried there.

40 Rue Taine, 12ãme; 01 43 44 34 26; three-course lunch menu £24

THE BASQUE COUNTRY

Le Troquet Christian Etchebest’s bistro is your fantasy local Parisian restaurant — on a humdrum side street, simple interior, no airs and graces, but miraculous food. If it doesn’t make a Francophile of you, you shouldn’t be in Paris in the first place.

The blackboard menu changes every three weeks, and is sprinkled with the flavours of Etchebest’s homeland. My basket of charcuterie came from a friend of his in the town of Hasparren. There was salt cod, too, once the bedrock of the Basque economy.

But Etchebest insists his regionalism is “a tendency, not a speciality”, and you can be single-minded in your pursuit of its flavours — or not.

For me, the standout dish was more universal — a shoulder of beef, “ longuement braisé” in red wine, with whole-grain mustard, capers and tomatoes. It had been cooked for so long, the wine had made it almost sweet.

21 Rue François Bonvin, 15ãme; 01 45 66 89 00; three-course lunch menu £19.30

BRITTANY

Chez Michel Thierry Breton is another chef whose regionalism is lightly worn: especially now, when mushrooms and game are in season. In fact, scanning the menu on a hectic Friday night, all cuts of boar, grouse and partridge, I got the impression that this is where his passion lies.

Then came my filet de chevreuil, and I was sure of it. Perfectly pink, properly rested and tender as a fillet of beef, it was a wonderful piece of venison, the best expression of the chef’s talent. Not very Breton, true, but you can satisfy those cravings with a bottle of cider: Le Pãre Jules, a soft, smooth, gentle pétillant brew from StDésir de Lisieux, will do the job nicely.

10 Rue de Belzunce, 10ãme; 01 44 53 06 20; three-course lunch menu £20

PROVENCE

La Bastide Odéon I almost left as soon as I arrived. The place seemed full of Americans, the décor straight out of 1993. But then I saw the chef, Gilles Ajuelos, in an open kitchen, pausing to inspect a plate of food. One glance at his intense concentration persuaded me to stay.

Bingo. The flavours of Provence have become a bit of a cliché over the years, but Ajuelos has thrown away the straitjacket of drizzled oil, too many herbs and olives with everything, and is busy reinventing the genre. His treatment of tuna was superb — served with a purée of yellow tomatoes, flavoured with a hint of chilli, fennel, fresh saffron stamens and lemon: sweet, sour and piquant all in one moment.

7 Rue Corneille, 6ãme; 01 43 26 03 65, www.bastide-odeon.com ; three-course lunch menu £17.30

LYONS

Aux Lyonnais This is now part of the Alain Ducasse empire, and boy, does it show. Ducasse is a giant of the Parisian restaurant scene — his signature restaurant at the Plaza Athénée hotel has three Michelin stars — and the talent and organisation you need to scale such heights was much in evidence here.

It’s impossible to get a table for dinner. I went for lunch instead — and a good job I did, too, because I needed half a day to digest it. Lyons is widely regarded as the mother lode of French cuisine, not merely for the quality of its ingredients, but for the ingenuity with which they are used, and the meal was a tour de force of stuffed, potted, fluffed and foamed food.

Maybe that makes it sound fussy and modern. It isn’t: this is a beautiful, old-fashioned bistro, opened in 1890 and recently restored. The menu complements it perfectly. It’s also ruinously rich. Highlights included the pot de la cuisiniãre lyonnaise (potted suckling pig and foie gras) and oeuf cocotte aux trompettes de la mort et écrevisses, which balanced the flavours of egg, crayfish and horn of plenty mushrooms with a light and certain touch. Around me, the local business community tucked in with relish. How on earth do they manage an afternoon’s work in the wake of this?

32 Rue St-Marc, 2ãme; 01 42 96 65 04, www.alain-ducasse.com ; no set menu, main courses from £14

Sean Newsom was a guest of Eurostar and the InterContinental Paris Le Grand

Getting there: Eurostar (0870 518 6186, www.eurostar.com ) has returns from London Waterloo to Paris from £59. There are flights to Paris from 20 airports in the UK and Ireland, with airlines including Air France (0870 142 4343, www.airfrance.co.uk ), British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com ) and Aer Lingus (0818 365000, www.aerlingus.com ). Where to stay: central is best. You can walk to most of the restaurants from the InterContinental Paris Le Grand (00 33-1 40 07 30 30, www. paris.intercontinental.com; doubles from £212). Cheaper, but in the same convenient area, is the Hôtel Madeleine Opéra (01 47 42 26 26, www.hotel-madeleine-opera.com ; doubles from £53). The Hôtel du Petit Moulin (01 42 74 10 10, www.paris-hotel-petitmoulin.com ; doubles from £124) is also an excellent base — not so close to the restaurants, but in the heart of a characterful quartier.

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