Ooh La Local
Cultural tips from discerning Parisian creatives.
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The French capital’s cultural life was already on the upswing. Mix in a major global event, and it’s now ready to go toe to toe with any city in the world.
To get the inside scoop on this great city Vivian Song and Lucy Alexander asked four Parisian bonafides to share their treasured haunts with Robb Report readers.
From chefs and creative directors to designers and artists who call the French capital home.
Mathieu Lehanneur
The award-winning interdisciplinary designer penned this year’s Olympic torch—a modernist take on the Eiffel Tower and its reflection off the Seine—and cauldron.
PARISIAN BONA FIDE
He was raised in Paris’s suburbs but has lived in the city since 1994, when he enrolled at France’s state university of industrial design, ENSCI–Les Ateliers.
THE PLACE NONE OF YOUR FRIENDS HAVE HEARD ABOUT
“Musée de Minéralogie is in one of the most high-level engineering schools in Paris, called École des Mines. It’s a small museum, very old, nobody ever goes there—because, actually, it’s in the school—but it’s open to the public. Even if you are not fascinated by stones, it’s incredible. It’s an amazing range of colours. It’s not art, it’s not science, it’s not design—it’s just weird things. And it’s super-secret, because it’s not so glamorous on paper.”
THE AUTHENTIC LUNCH SPOT
“I would go to Chez Georges, a very small restaurant [on rue du Mail in the 2nd arrondissement]. Amazing, super-traditional French food but with super-good ambience, not ‘designer’ at all. As a designer, I’d never go to a ‘design’ place, you know? I hate that in a way.”
THE LOCALS-ONLY GARDEN
“When people come to Paris, they go to Tuileries Garden, or they go to Jardin du Luxembourg, a super-bourgeois garden with beautiful ladies and young kids well-dressed. But Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, in a bit less chic neighbourhood, is a more interesting, bigger, natural garden. It’s not well organised—it’s more like a part of a forest. In most cases, people who come to Paris stay in the centre of Paris because it’s more convenient. But this one is in the 19th arrondissement, in the north of Paris, so it’s quite easy to reach. It merits an afternoon.”
Eva Jospin
The internationally exhibited artist crafts forest scenes from cardboard, wood, brass and other materials. Her gigantic, embroidered installation Chambre de soie will be on display during the Games at Versailles Orangerie.
PARISIAN BONA FIDE
Jospin, born and raised in the City of Light, is a self-described “terrible Parisian woman”. The daughter of former French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, she and her Italian partner live with her three children in the city.
FOR A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE CITY’S HISTORY
“Musée des Plans-Reliefs is inside Les Invalides, which is all about war and the military. But it’s an incredible place, started by Louis XIV. It has huge models of when the city had fortifications. Some of those models are, like, 100 square feet [around 9 m²], with all the details, and so it’s like a mini world.”
FOR A DOSE OF BLUE-CHIP INSPIRATION
“Musée Fragonard d’Alfort is one of the most impressive museums, even though it’s not exactly inside Paris. It’s at the national school for veterinarians. [It inspired] this very famous English artist who cut cows in two, Damien Hirst. It’s very strange and spooky, but very interesting.”
THE ARRONDISSEMENT TO GET LOST IN
“One of my favourite neighbourhoods in Paris is the 5th, because it’s not changing. It’s totally forgotten by the rest of the city. It’s a little bit too expensive, so it’s not a place where people speculate on real estate. And so it’s just exactly like it was, not moving at all. You don’t have a lot of shops, you don’t have a lot of boutiques for soap and socks, you know, so I like that.”
Charaf Tajer
Founder and creative director of Casablanca, a sportswear line known for its colourful silk shirts, and for teaming up with the likes of Audemars Piguet and Globe-Trotter.
PARISIAN BONA FIDES
Though his parents met in Morocco and his studio is in London, Tajer was born and raised in Paris’s 10th arrondissement. “I think by going to other places, I understood why [this city] is so special.”
FOR SOUVENIRS THAT WON’T COLLECT DUST
“It’s cool to go and buy shirts and ties and slippers at Charvet. It’s right around the corner from the Ritz. It’s quite a fantastic, gentleman’s place.”
THE BEST COUSCOUS IN TOWN
“There is a restaurant on rue de Bretagne called Chez Omar. They’ve been doing the couscous for 40 years. Everybody in the ’90s used to go there—the biggest designers, [Christian] Lacroix, Naomi Campbell. It’s a very cool place. And you can still see Omar there.”
FOR A TASTE OF JAPAN (WHEN YOU’RE DONE WITH ALL THE BUTTER)
“I’m a big Japan fan, and there are two Japanese restaurants that I go to. One is called Sanukiya [on rue d’Argenteuil]. The other is Kunitoraya; they have a few locations. One [Charbon Kunitoraya, on rue Villédo] is more like a 10-course tasting menu, and the other [Udon Bistro, on rue de Richelieu] is more like udon and all of that.”
Hélène Darroze
The celebrated fourth-generation chef has a total of six Michelin stars and six restaurants to her name.
PARISIAN BONA FIDE
Two of Darroze’s restaurants, Jòia and Marsan par Hélène Darroze, are in Paris. She lives in the fashionable 6th arrondissement with her two teenage daughters.
WHEN SHE WANTS TO LET ANOTHER ACCOMPLISHED CHEF DO THE WORK
“I love to go to Les Enfants du Marché. It’s in a market where you have producers and some restaurants, and this one, particularly, is very good. You eat outside, sometimes with your coat. Café des Ministères is very traditional food, and this is a chef [Jean Sévègnes] who used to work a lot with me. It’s about dishes like vol-au-vents, stuffed cabbage, oeufs mimosa [deviled eggs]—the classic dishes of the French cuisine but so, so good that you cannot find a table anymore. In summer it’s very nice. That’s when they also do tomates farcies [stuffed tomatoes]. It reminds me of my grandmother’s. It’s just incredible.”
WHEN SHE’S CRAVING ASIAN FARE
“I love Japanese food. One restaurant is Yen in the 6th arrondissement. My daughters were born in Vietnam, so we love Vietnamese food. Ha Noi 1988, this one is really good.”
BE SURE TO SAVE ROOM FOR
“I also advise going to one bakery for sure. There is one at the moment, Mamiche, which is just incredible. There’s a long queue in front, but you have to do it, because they are doing such beautiful bread and pastries. For example, a stuffed chouquette—it’s very Parisian. It’s like a little choux, stuffed with vanilla Chantilly, and it’s just crazy, but all their patisseries are very crazy.”
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