Robert Vifian, above right, eating pho (pictured below) with his father

Sunday lunch at Lao Lane Xang recently was full of surprises. They included the sheer range of Vietnamese and Laotian dishes on the menu; the fact that our first courses arrived in less time than it had taken to find a parking space in the crowded streets; the size of the Asian supermarkets we had passed en route; the street vendors selling home-made desserts; and the sight of everyone carrying bags bulging with food.

But then Paris’s Chinatown – a vast area located mainly in the 13th arrondissement that is bordered by two long avenues, d’Ivry and de Choisy – is a surprising place, as I found when I visited with someone whose own restaurant career has mirrored the growth of this area.

Robert Vifian arrived in Paris with his family in 1968, after Saigon had been attacked by the communists as part of the Tet Offensive. His parents decided that, with four mouths to feed and a son to educate, they would open a restaurant. The result was Tan Dinh which, under Vifian’s guidance, combines Vietnamese food with a stunning French wine list. Vifian’s father, a dapper 86-year-old, is still very much in evidence every night.

As we emerged from one of the area’s numerous underground car parks, Vifian explained that, in the early 1970s, Chinatown did not yet exist. To find the good Chinese food that he and his family craved, they had often had to travel to London. Pointing across to two buildings on Avenue de Choisy, one of which is now a McDonald’s, he said: “That was where Chinatown emerged. That was where the first store sold Asian food and there was a Vietnamese restaurant next door.”

At that time, a series of tower blocks had been built to accommodate the city’s growing population, with provision for shops and cafés at ground level and huge underground car parks for tenants and delivery vehicles. But the French were not too keen to move in.

This development coincided, however, not just with an influx of “boat people” from Vietnam but with the arrival of refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. They moved in to what was then an inexpensive area and found the infrastructure was in place for their wholesale businesses, supermarkets, cafés and restaurants.

We began our tour by visiting its two biggest Asian supermarkets, Tang Frères and Paris Store. Outside them, Vietnamese women sold home-made desserts from small tables. We strolled across the walkways between the towers that had housed the original, most authentic Vietnamese restaurants. But changes have taken place. Several restaurants have become cafés, Vifian explained, to accommodate the demand from students at the nearby Denis Diderot University. He added that restaurants here tend to change name and management quite frequently – once the tax authorities turn their attention to them after an initial two years’ trading.

We approached New Hoa Khoan and Tricotin, two restaurants on Avenue de Choisy of which Vifian had spoken highly. It was then that he said he intended to take advantage of my presence to do something that he invariably does in Asia but rarely has time for in Paris: eat two different courses at two different restaurants.

We began with a bowl of pho, the Vietnamese dish of noodles and soup, at a small restaurant of the same name, which Vifian’s father had rated highly. Pho is typical of the area, with its tables close together, tanks of fish along the walls and smiling waitresses behind the bar.

The dishes were vast. We enjoyed cooked and raw beef, noodles and small meatballs with plates of herbs and sliced onions soaked in vinegar on the side. Vifian thought that one of the beef stocks was just slightly fatty. Between mouthfuls, he explained how different chefs had won a following for their version of pho through subtle adjustments of the spices. As I paid the bill – €25 (£23) for two, including a couple of beers – he awarded the dish 16 out of 20.

Afterwards, we walked around the corner, past a couple of restaurants where, according to Vifian, the welcome was not quite as good as the food, to Dong Tam. Vifian wanted me to taste their crêpe Vietnamienne. This was a crescent-shaped crêpe made of corn and rice flour, with egg or saffron added for colour, and stuffed with bean sprouts, prawns or sliced pork. There were lettuce leaves on the side for wrapping various salad ingredients in, and traditional sauces, accentuated by sugar, lemon and vinegar, for dipping. The bill came to the same as at Pho. Vifian rated it, precisely, at 18.5 out of 20.

As we left, Vifian passed on one other piece of local advice. Taped to the car-park barrier was a sign indicating a wedding reception at one of the restaurants. “Always avoid restaurants when they are hosting a wedding,” he explained. “They are so hectic they can’t look after their other customers.” And with that useful proviso, I would heartily recommend Paris’s Chinatown.

nicholas.lander@ft.com
More columns at www.ft.com/lander

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Details

Tan Dinh 60 rue de Verneuil, 7th. Tel: +33 1 45 44 04 84
Pho 13 rue Philibert Lucot, 13th. Tel: +33 1 45 85 97 36
Dong Tam 12 bis rue Caillaux, 13th. Tel: +33 1 45 84 87 18