A friend with a sharp eye spotted Botanique even before it opened, when its pretty little two-story yellow-brick building with a long row of windows was being renovated. A couple of months after the opening, she invited me to dinner upstairs in the “gastronomic” dining room, where a tasting menu is served in the evening.
Until I ordered a steak that turned out to be the size of a 33-rpm record at the bistro Savy a few years ago, I never felt the need to ask for a doggy bag in a French restaurant. Servings … Read More
It’s difficult to believe that the Marais, today a bastion of elegance – as it was when its graceful hôtels particuliers were built in the 17th century – was for much of the 20th century a grimy, dilapidated, poverty-stricken quartier … Read More
“God, what a bore it is to have to dress up and go out when one would ever so much rather stay at home,” the Duchess de Guermantes says ingenuously in Marcel Proust’s novel A la Recherche du Temps Perdu … Read More
I really didn’t know what to expect from Café Pelican, a new restaurant in the 10th arrondissement, mainly because I knew nothing about it. It had been chosen by my food-blogger friend John Talbott, and I always trust his choices.
Émilie Brisavoine’s documentary Pauline s’Arrache (Oh La La Pauline!) initially reminded me of the kind of clip that might attract 30 views on YouTube, with the 15-year-old Pauline talking to the camera about the minutiae of a life that would … Read More
Wealth combined with good taste and an eye for the new often leads to the creation of a great art collection. That was the case with the Swiss couple Hedy Bühler and Arthur Hahnloser, who in the early 20th century … Read More
The best of what’s left of the French Crown Jewels – most of which were sold off by the Third Republic in the late 19th century to mark the end of empire – can be seen in the Louvre, but … Read More
When his pictures weren’t downright naughty, they were often breathlessly passionate, but apparently Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), the illustrator of the libertine era par excellence, didn’t practice what he painted. Falsely credited with passionate liaisons with famed courtesans, he was actually … Read More
Bruno Doucet has moved the Saint Honoré branch of his restaurant La Régalade across the street from its original location. The handsome space is larger, with exposed beams and stone walls, red banquettes and dark-wood furnishings.
