Bonjour ça va ?
I am writing this from the sticky hollows of my shuttered apartment—summer has arrived in Paris and I sense a canicule in the not-so-distant future. As an Australian from the sunny shores of Sydney, you’d think I’d weather such extreme heat sans problème but there are few things as insufferable as summer in Paris.
I blame it on the narrow, cobbled streets that just swell with heat at the slightest spike in temperature and the lack of any oceanly body of water nearby to provide relief. Air conditioning is also a rare commodity in this city—pas de question that the French would dare disfigure their manicured Haussmanian façades with window-box cooling units à la New York. So grave is the Parisian summer heatwave that each year there is an end-of-summer recap of how many lives were lost to the heat.
Summer also marks the beginning of terrasse season: with few viable acquatic activites available (I could write an entire newsletter on Paris pool etiquette, or lack thereof), the mode populaire to escape the heat is by taking shade on a café terrasse and replenishing liquids lost with a glass of Chablis. What’s so special about this summer is that the makeshift outdoor dining spaces leftover from Deconfinement Season 1 seem to be here for good.
For those of you returning to Paris for the first time since the pandemic began (international travel!), you may be slightly shocked by the change in landscape. Long dead is the idea that outdoor dining in Paris must be limited to preciously measured outward-facing rows: now, most street space is taken up by inventive diner-friendly edifices that, more often than not, spill on to the roads. Some restauranteurs have invested in architects to model cabana-esque monuments while most have opted for a no-frills approach, cordoning off their clients from passing traffic with a simple rope.
These parking-spot-turned-outdoor-dining spaces were intended as a temporary concession by the Mairie de Paris to allow restaurants to reopen during the pandemic. However, I recently read that there is a commission underway to decide whether they will become a permanent fixture of the Parisian landscape.
And how convenient that as of today we no longer have to wear face masks outdoors! And no more curfew as of Sunday!
In celebration of our newfound liberté, I thought I’d share with you my current picks of the Paris restaurant scene. I vowed this deconfinement to venture off-the-beaten-track (read: go somewhere other than Le Progrès and Au Passage) and to spread my support for restaurant owners who’ve suffered nothing short of a year from hell.
Du vin svp (wine bars etc.)
Le Denicheur (75002): The owner of Le Denicheur, Etienne, was the savior (or the downfall) for many during the first confinement with his wine delivery service. But his one-man-show wine bar (he both cooks the food and serves the wine) in the 2nd arrondissement tops my list of Parisian drinking holes—not just for its precise and affordable wine list, but also for its outlandish décor. Each time I visit, I question who was the Parisian council member who allowed for such a historic building to be mosaicked—both inside and out, floor-to-ceiling—in a colour palette that could have only be drawn from the depths of an intense psychedelic trip. (Note: it was not Etienne who outfitted the bar, it’s been this way for decades.)
There’s not much in the way of a formal terrasse—tables are poked daringly along the outside strip of pavement—but the experience is worth risking your life for, if only to be sitting on the Rue Tiquetonne, perhaps the most quintessential of cobblestoned Parisian backstreets.
Deviant (75010): Deviant wins the award for the most luxurious terrasse space in Paris. The spacious pagoda is fully covered from summer storms and adorned with sweetly perfumed flowers to ensure diners are socially distanced. So estately is the terrasse that a homeless man took up residence here during the last confinement, lining his pad with AstroTurf and installing a full-sized bed and television.
The wine list is dotted with hard-to-find gems and the tapas plates are nothing short of a work of art—but it does come at a price. And in my heavily biased opinion, they have one of the best sommeliers in town.
The Cambridge (75003): Why would you go to Paris to eat sausage rolls and party pies at an English-style pub? Because The Cambridge has one of the best by-the-glass wine lists in town. And sometimes the English joviality that livens this bar provides a much welcomed break from the notoriously austere Parisian service. They also boast a very well-protected terrasse so that you can enjoy your glass of Achilles Crémant d’Alsace without fear of being run over.
Folderol (75011): Remember Le Rigamarole? Shortly after receiving their first Michelin star, owners Robert and Jess decided to close up shop and reinvent themselves as ice-cream connoisseurs (it may also have something to do with the arrival of their first child and COVID…). Ice-cream and natural wine may seem like an odd combo, but the artisanal glaces and wines are paired with the same precision that made Le Rigmarole the star it was. Watch out Berthillon…
J’ai faim ! (I need something more substantial than wine)
Parcelles (75003): Parcelles is the hottest table in Paris right now so be sure to reserve in advance (many restaurants are reservation-only nowadays so that they can monitor numbers). Imagine enjoying traditional French cuisine in the gilded dining room of a fallen aristocrat but with hot young waiters treating you to bottomless glasses of natural wine instead of beady butlers who are conservative on the pour. If anything, Parcelles fills the gap for high-end dining in Le Marais, an area where, until now, restaurants served a lot of trend but not a lot of taste.
Chez Marius (75010): With red checkered table cloths, walls plastered with framed portraits of icons from a bygone era, and a wine list that’s chalked across the remaining wall space, Chez Marius is everything I could ask for in a French bistro. A vrai dire, I didn’t love every dish but as the menu is very reasonable priced, you can afford to be adventurous here. Be sure to defer to the sommelier’s choice: I initially gagged at his unorthodox recommendations but they turned out to be the perfect pairing to our meal. The restaurant is also just a stone’s throw from the Gare du Nord making it the perfect departure meal before boarding the Eurostar.
Le Maquis (75018): My Live-In Sommelier crowned Le Maquis’ manager Michele as one of the best in the business and I’d have to agree. Eating at Le Maquis is like enjoying a homely family meal—if one of your relatives was both a top chef and a sommelier. Adventure here for lunch rather than dinner as it’s situated in a charming pocket of real estate behind the grimy Sacre Coeur that’s worth exploring. Unique boutiques sit alongside novel natural wine bars, but take a wrong turn and you may end up on a strip mall of halal butchers.
It should go without saying that drinking to excess during a heatwave is never a smart idea—especially when the next day you’re doomed to nurse your hangover in a hot-boxed Parisian apartment.
The first American tourists have touched down in Paris so I hope it’s no long before I can see more of you back here #tousenterrasse !