Arab/African Paris

Metro Château Rouge is the heart of the African neighborhood, but all of the Goutte d'Or area slightly north or Barbès-Rochechouart is very interesting, as it is mostly definitely different from what most people see in Paris. The big ultra-cheap clothing store Tati on the corner of Barbès-Rochechouart is perhaps the most famous destination in France for residents of North and West Africa, who buy everything they can lay their hands on there. Rue Myrha, rue Doudeauville, rue Poulet and rue Léon are among the streets to check out in the Goutte d'Or/Château Rouge area -- you will find a multitude of African music shops, plus dozens of fabric shops proposing "wax" (tie-dye) items. The Marché Dejean right at metro Château Rouge, as well as the market overflow area on rue Poulet is probably as close to an African street market as you can get. It pulls in Africans from the entire Paris metropolitan area to get items that they can't find elsewhere. At least half of the shops are specialized in fish of all sorts, so there is quite an aroma.

All of this is a world away from the Institut du Monde Arabe or the Musée du Quai Branly, which present an ultrachic view of the culture of that part of the world.

There are several clusters of "ethnic neighbourhoods". First is the whole Goutte d'or, metro barbes rochechouart (lines 2 and 4) which is full of bustle & shops. Also s the area that spreads around strasbourg st denis (lines 4, 8, 9) and chateau d'eau (alosi line 4). This later is not the same as chateu rouge which is mentioned above. Menilmontant area (line 2) is also good.

You could also pass by Belleville or take a trip to Saint-Denis and its great food and world market that take place on the sunday in the downtown.

metro stations
African: Château Rouge, Marcadet-Poissonniers, Simplon, Château d'Eau
Chinese, Indochinese: Porte de Choisy, Tolbiac, Olympiades, Belleville, Pyrénées, Marx Dormoy, Arts-et-Métiers
North African: Barbès-Rochechouart, Marcadet-Poissonniers, Oberkampf, Belleville, Menilmontant, Porte de Montreuil
Indian, Srilankan, Pakistani: Château d'Eau, La Chapelle, Marx Dormoy, Gare de l'Est
Turkish, Kurdish: Strasbourg-Saint Denis, Château d'Eau, Gare de l'Est
Iranian: Charles Michels
Armenian: Ecole Vétérinaire
West Indian: Porte de la Chapelle, Simplon
Japanese: Pyramides
Lebanese: George V, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Alma Marceau

There are more.

For Indian, I would say Gare du Nord rather than Gare de l'Est.

• Maghrebinian food market Place d'Aligre (daily) near Viaduct des Arts, 11arr.(?)
  - La grande Mosquee with tearoom/restaurant/hammam close to the Institut du Monde Arabe might not be funky, still is a pleasant place to go

Just returned from the African mega concert at Bastille (which will continue for at least 3 more hours). It was a true pleasure to see tens of thousands of 'southern' people enjoying themselves. Paris rarely gives them something to phone home about, but tonight was a major exception.