Bonjour ça va ?
The grand depart de Paris has officially begun when Parisians flee the capital in masses for the month of August. I personally quite enjoy Paris at this time of year—it’s nowhere near as hot as it is in July and the streets are swept with an easy sense of calm.
On a side note, I’ve had two articles related to Paris published recently: a personal essay on the sacred delights of French boulangeries, and a deep dive into the Association du sauveguard de l’Oeuf Mayo (the Egg Mayonnaise Protection Society). It’s a peculiar French organisation whose sole aim is to promote the revival of the bistro classic oeuf mayo through an annual competition. Please have a read!
I mentioned a few newsletters ago that I’d pushed myself to the verge of an existential crisis by questioning the notion of time. This research culminated with Oliver Burkeman’s grounding read Four Thousand Weeks which I highly recommend for those of you who are bogged down with the feeling that there is never enough time to accomplish everything you want to (because the truth is, there’s not—you’ve only got approximately 4,000 weeks on this earth).
Paris Time
But during my late-night Reddit dives into the subject, I was (thankfully) side-tracked by the discovery that the French (unsurprisingly) have a very singular relationship with time. Aside from the fact that they all seem to take the month of August off, they also long resisted confirming to universal systems of time.
Following the 1884 International Meridian Convention, it was agreed that the world would be divided into 24 different time zones with the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England as the reference for zero-degree longitude. The French had nominated themselves to be the international keepers of time, but only Brazil and Santo Domingo voted in support of Paris being the centre of the horological world.
With their egos bruised, the French snubbed GMT and in 1891 they established their own peculiar timekeeping system known as Paris Time. One of the particularities of their timekeeping was that all clocks in major rail stations had to be set 5 minutes late so that passengers wouldn’t miss their train.
It wasn’t until 1911 that they realised it was probably easier for everyone if they got on board with universal time. However, they still resisted using the word Greenwich: they simply adjusted their clocks by 9 minutes 21 seconds to synchronize with GMT and called it Paris Mean Time. During World War I, the French finally cracked and officially adopted GMT as it was hard to coordinate with other countries on war efforts.
But the French don’t forget (nor forgive, really) and in 1999 a group of time enthusiasts decided that the turn of the millennium was the perfect moment to reinstate Paris Time. The mission began with immortalizing the Paris meridian, which runs from Dunkirk to the Pyrenees, by planting thousands of trees along the line. Then on July 14, 2000, all 3 million habitants who live along the Paris meridian hosted a banquet that ran from end to end. Nothing quite came of these efforts, aside from a Guinness World Record for the longest banquet in the world, and thankfully the French remain on GMT.
One last fun French time fact that’s useful for pub trivia is that France covers more times zones (12) than any other country in the world (including the US and Russia), if you include its overseas territories. Anyway, this is the kind of dinner party chat that I geek out on, so I hope that I’ve at least left you with a handy conversation ice-breaker.
Regarding time, it is worth noting that France operates on 24-hour time. You will not be meeting for dinner at 8pm but rather 20h.
If you find yourself in Paris in August, you’ll find yourself with a lot of time on your hands because a lot, sadly, is closed. So I thought I’d leave you with a comprehensive list of which (of the best) restaurants and bars are open this August, and the closing/reopening dates of others.
Restaurants that are open all of August
Le Mary Celeste: a Marais classic, open for lunch and dinner. You can’t go wrong here.
Red House: an American-style dive bar so it’s not your most authentic Parisian experience, but they have negroni on tap all summer long.
Le Collier de la Reine + La Cave du Collier : I featured Le Collier in my recommandations for Gourmet Traveller. Non-stop fun in the Marais.
Chambre Noire: one of the first natural wine bars in Paris and they mean natural. Only zero-sulphite wines here.
Candeleria: sister restaurant/bar of Le Mary Celeste. Best Mexican in Paris and the frozen margs are the perfect summer thirst quencher. Note that it’s a sort of speakeasy. You’ll have to pass through the back door of the shop-front taqueria to enter the actual restaurant.
Le Verre Volé: a Canal Saint Martin classic.
Café Les Deux Gares: perhaps the most talked about new bistro in Paris. I personally haven’t been but all of Instagram seems to have dined here so I’d like to think that means its good.
Early June is open for MOST of August (3-21): they have pop-up chefs so check their Instagram to see who is cooking.
Le Progrès – does it even need an introduction? My favourite bar-tabac in Paris is open all summer long for all your people-watching needs.
… And the rest… that are sometimes open…
Cave Septime: closed 15 August, reopens 23 August
Clamato: closed 15 August, reopens 24 August
Septime: closed 6 August, reopens 17
Les Enfants du marché: closed 8 August, reopens 23 August
Brutos: Closed 8 August, reopens 25 August
Bar Principal: Closed 14 August, reopens 28 August
Restaurant AT: Closed 6 August, reopens 25 August
Chateaubriand + Le Dauphin: Closed 1 August, reopens 24 August
Le Barav: Closed 6 August, reopens 25 August
The Cambridge: Reopens 19 August
Le Servan: Closed 1 August, reopens 23 August
Bistrot Paul Bert: Closed, reopens 24 August
Folderol: Closed 8 August, reopening last week of August
Ellsworth: Closed, reopens 17 August
For any other restaurants/cafés, do not assume they are open! Always call in advance or check their website/Instagram. Most shops and all museums stay open for August.
Well, I’ll be following the masses and heading off to Italy this weekend for the month of August. Perhaps I should do a Milano/Italian Riveria special edition.
Un caffè per favore…
A la prochaine !
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