A couple new favorites in Toulouse

Since I did my posts about favorite things around Toulouse (1 and 2), I've discovered a couple more nifty places.

So, in no particular order:

1. Mademoiselle Nuage, 11 rue Peyrolières
http://www.les-fantaisies-de-leonie.fr/
This little shop sells lots of cute jewelry, decorative items, and few accessories like head bands and hair pins. It's all pretty girly, but I really liked the collection and I was sold when the woman who owns the shop was in the back sewing when I walked in. A lot of the items have a Japanese influence, and she uses Japanese fabric to make checkbook covers. She also uses Liberty fabric for a number of different items, which wins points with the sewer in me.

2. Slow Concept, 10 rue St Ursule
http://www.slowconcept.fr/
This shop carries upcycled items: new things made out of pieces or parts of something set to be trashed/destroyed. The last time I was there I saw some cute bottle openers made with old wooden foosball figurines, great lamps made out of reclaimed metal and old classroom maps for the shade, and shopping bags made out of woven plastic tarp. The prices are a bit upcycled as well, but the products are all really nice; the stock is not at all charity shop, but rather objects made by artisans from existing materials.

3. Cyclofood 6 Rue des Salenques
This tiny restaurant is right next the university and clearly serves the student and staff lunch time crowd, but I've been really happy with what I've tried so far. One of my colleagues chatted with the owner, and apparently the story is that the owner is French and he traveled/backpacked around the world (or maybe just Asia) and came to love Vietnamese food, so decided to open a little restaurant in Toulouse. For 5€ you can get a delicious and well filled half baguette Vietnamese inspired sandwich. I think the menu is 8.50€ and includes a drink and a dessert. He also does noddle dishes, and there's always a "surprise dish of the day".

4. Shin-ya Ramen 98 Grande Rue Saint-Michel
This technically was my husband's big discovery, and he's gone so much he's practically friends with the owners. This tiny little ramen restaurant opened last spring, and is run by a Franco-Japanese couple. The menu is really small (basically ramen, yakisoba, or curry, but curry is only available Wednesdays and Saturdays) but they make everything themselves, including the noodles (and it's not unusual for them to post on their Facebook the number of portions left for the day). Ramen is of course dirt cheap in Japan, but the prices are more than reasonable at 8€ for a bowl. We usually spend about 35€ for 2 beers, 2 ramen/yakisoba, a side of gyoza and 2 desserts. We try to arrive early since they only have one long counter with about 10 seats, and as they don't take reservations you just have to wait outside till some seats become available. They will make dishes to go, but the ramen is not one of them (too soupy for a to-go container).