Photo from Fete de Ganesh in the quartier, every September

"Little Jaffna", around metros Gare du Nord, La Chapelle, and Louis Blanc, looks a bit down at heel but you'll find shops selling handmade saris (Saree Palace, 182 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis), cheap and cheerful supermarkets, jewellery shops, Indian music stores, travel agencies (with good deals on flights to India at c 500 euros), and restaurants offering authentic Indian and Sri-Lankan cuisine. France's first Hindu Temple, Sri Manicka Vinayakar, 72 Rue Philippe de Girard, it is open daily to visitors and welcomes all guests. It also organises the magnificent Ganesh Festival in September each year.

Other streets to check out are rue Cail and rue Perdonnet.
Not many of the people I advised to invest in Max Dormy and Chateau Rouge took me up on it. Okay, it's was for the fearless, long-term investor but speculators are supposed to have balls. If you want to be a pioneer you have to be brave. I noticed a while back the Mairie was building lots of artist live/work units on rue Philippe de Girard (following regeneration at rue des Gardes in La Goutte d'Or) then lo and behold, swank hotels follow suit. Maybe now that Kube has opened they'll believe me. The area still looks a bit down at heel but it's a great place to go if you're after vegetarian food. Home to a community of Sri-Lankan Tamils who fled their country in the 1980's, escaping a violent civil conflict with the island's ethnic majority, the Cinghalese. The French Prefecture opened up a period of nearly systematic asylum in the 80's but it decreased later due to European measures designed against an influx in immigration.