Bon Appetit magazine has ranked the best cookbook stores in the world, and it’s no surprise that Paris’s fantastic Librairie Gourmande is among them.

“Food and wine books, old and new” is the motto of this two-level gold mine of cookbooks and other cuisine-related reading. Most of the material is in French, although there are small sections of English-, Italian-, Japanese- and Spanish-language publications. But there’s literally no French book related to cooking, baking or fine dining published in the last 100 years that isn’t available at the shop or by special order if it doesn’t happen to be in stock.

Simply ask a staff member for help navigating the massive retail space; all speak fluent English and have an encyclopedic knowledge of the shop’s inventory.

Librairie Gourmande
90 Rue Montmartre
Metro: Etienne Marcel/Sentier
Tel: 01 43 54 37 27
Hours: Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Closed Sunday