Paris Chic by Devanshi Mody
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Hotel Bradford Elysees
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Terraces Tendances
La Cour Jardin is the absolute MUST of the Parisian summer. The most glamorous address in town is an enchantment of vine-covered walls abounding with ravishingly red flowers overlooking a courtyard where gurgling fountains, orange trees and ornate vases make you feel that you’re in some grand Italian villa.
And yet this is the heart of the chicest part of Paris. In the shade of the trade mark Plaza Athené red parasols, serenaded by adorable little birds flitting delicately around or eating off your table, luxuriate over lunches that might well last four hours. Come evening, the candle-lit courtyard becomes Paris’s most romantic. The fabulously presented food is as delicious as the surrounds. Order lobster and you have a garden on your plate.
The visual seduction is followed by a gastronomic onslaught as sublimely subtle flavours and textures titillate the palate. The piece de resistance has to be the cherry desert that arrives in a most extraordinary glass alembic elegantly perched atop an arty metallic stand, the ensemble specially created just to carry this summer speciality. Glamour and gastronomy merge in this lieu de magie.
Le Plaza Athené is, après tout, the ultimate pleasure palace of jet setters, the beautiful people and Arabian princes who lavish 30,000 euros/night to retain suites – yes, as the Parisians say, “If Le Plaza Athené doesn’t impress you, nothing will!”
For something more intimate but no less chic, try Le Crillon’s new Picnic Chic et Choc to be enjoyed in their charming little terrace. This most inspired of luxury lunches commences with gorgeous, gorgeous mozzarella foccacia is served with olive oil and tomato coulis. Then, an enormous picnic basket arrives and if you opt for the Pic Nic Chic out come wondrous delectables, including extravaganza such as Salmon en Bellevue, fois gras sandwiches, truffle-garnished eggs, gold-paper wrapped game.
And if you prefer the Picnic Choc, you’re swept away by exotica like super stylish sushi. It’s criminal to ravage such exquisitely presented creations. But it’s heretical not to devour. Even the chic set cannot but succumb to the delicate temptations...
Brand new Nabulione with a terrace spectacularly overlooking Les Invalides is the latest craze. Staff that look like super models, an ex-tennis champion who looks like James Bond, super sexy décor and simple but simply superb cuisine explain why everyone from Paris’s most la-di-da ladies to Paris’s glam young things who adore this swank address. This is summer’s trendiest table.
The hip set hits Saud de Loup which has a terrace with unrivalled location in the Tuillerie gardens including views of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. If it’s chilly, the tres design black and white interiors offer the same view and modern, adventurous cuisine. Try the polenta and ask for oil of Argan. The dried flower crème brûlé is a must.
Café Armani, arguably Paris’s most famous Italian restaurant, swarms with the fashion people. Never mind if the food doesn’t flatter the most designer palates because the ambiance lures those with the fattest designer wallets. Their new terrace is where to relish their hand-made sinfully decadent chocolate ice cream. Mmm...
The newly-refurbed Bistro de la Muette attracts the utra elegant gens du quartier. Bearing in mind this is the 16eme arrondissement, expect a most chi-chi clientele who come for set menus miraculously comprising aperitif, wine and three generous courses made with the freshest produce but offered for an unfathomably meagre 36. To top this, you’re pampered with world’s the most delightful service. If they are full, head to their sister restaurant Bistro St Ferdinand.
For a gastronomic terrace, Michelin-starred Le Laurent it is. Perhaps Paris’s only venue combining the charms of al fresco seating and the culinary creativity of gourmet food lieue de magie is amongst Paris’s most eminently romantic. The lush interiors might even lure you inside where you’re wrapped in a swirl of elegance. You’d be very foolish not to drop by on your Parisian escapades this summer. Succumb to subtle preparations as chic as the setting. Be sure to dress up. You’ll find the classiest of guests in the finest summer wear savouring light strawberry deserts, a speciality.
Les Tous Derniers
Paris is inundated with a spate of glam new gastronomic openings. Try them all you must. If you get too big for your bikini and you will, then ditch the bikini and the Tropezienne shenanigans and taste the Parisian summer!
L’Agapé’s staff walked out from three-Michelin-starred chef Alain Passard’s celebrated L’Arpège and boast enviable pedigree. At this trendy talk-of-the-town gastronomic restaurant, Laurent Lapier ensures that only the very best fournisseurs are supplying his wines, meats and even chocolate.
The 26-year-old chef who has worked under some of the biggest names in French gastronomy is a revelation. Intuitive, immediate and imaginative, without seeking to over intellectualise cooking as is the current trend, this self-assured and exciting chef with lots of attitude establishes his own identity. His sumptuous fennel and orange soup is a signature speciality and the asparagus and morel emulsion a dream. The meats are elaborately treated and splendidly prepared. Michelin is sure to offer the chef a star on a platter before long.
153 Grenelle effuses quiet elegance but gets noisy when full of the fashionable people with the finest palates- everyone from the heads of Gault Millaut, the prestigious gastronomic guide, to youngsters with a taste for refined cuisine who promise to return regularly, notwithstanding the prices. The larger-than-life, formerly two-Michelin-starred chef Jean Jacques sustains an ambiance of bonhomie whilst the bons vivants savour his fabulous cuisine. Everything from the simplest tomato salad through the most unctuous asparagus soup to lush potato puree is exceptional.
This is no-nonsense, hard-core French cuisine at its best. The caramel ice cream is the most divine you’ll ever have. But try the vanilla cream you must! Don’t forget to leave room for the little madeleines served with coffee. They melt in your mouth. But the fat won’t. However, judging from the slender wastes of the classy clientele it seems that the good things in life won’t make you fat.
Three Michelin-starred chef Christian Le Squer’s nifty new Etc is creating waves for its slick and sophisticated décor with interesting lighting and for dramatically modernising bistro cuisine and giving it a fabulous gastro twist. Try the mozzarella salad- it isn’t the usual enormous lump of cheese you’d expect. Here, the cheese is mind-bogglingly light and you feel almost like you’re eating air. Also interesting is the cushion-like, hollow-centred gnocchi. Great for the swish set who live on love and fresh air. Unless you insist on the meat specialities.
La Chinoiserie is Paris’s best kept secret. This classy enclave occupies centre-stage at the lobby of the Hyatt Madeleine, yet somehow manages to preserve the quietude and intimacy of a private club. More fascinatingly still, the sumptuous Oriental décor whisks you away on an exotic voyage but from the glass roof above you have quintessential Parisian architecture bearing down, watching you relish the young chef’s adventurous preparations.
It’s obvious that the chef has worked under the best (including star chef Robuchon) when you savour his artichoke starter or the most ravishing ravioli EVER. One massive, sublimely textured ravioli arrives concealing perfectly cooked asparagus within. Try the Esphahan for desert. Check out also the hotel’s suave and just-opened Café M. They do the chicest Bruch Litéraires by day and cool cocktails by night.
Face Lift
Eternal youth is the essential in the city of love and Three Michelin-starred Le Pré Catalan’s revamping has imparted va-va-voom into what was formerly one of the most conservative of Parisian gastronomic abodes. The eclectic new décor where old-fashioned chandeliers hang beside cutting edge installations has generated much hype.
Oof-so-chic Parisians in pearls and diamonds adorn the premises, coming as much to see the glamorous new ambiance as for the chef’s preparations, a fiesta of ethereal emulsions, rarefied accompaniments, innovative alliances et al. They have some rare cheeses and beautiful wines too But don’t miss the fabulous apple desert which looks more like it belonged in an art gallery than on a plate. Given its stunning appeal, you understand why Eve found the apple irresistible.
Philip Starch-styled Dali’s melange of quaint and quirky décor lends itself to chic aperitifs.
Savoy-Faire
Love is in the air and summer is the season of weddings. Where do you think young Parisians go when they want to propose and be accepted? Chez Guy Savoy. They say the way to man’s heart is through his stomach. This seems true of women true. Especially as every time you think 3-Michelin-starred gentleman chef Guy Savoy cannot possibly outdo himself, he seduces you anew with his beautiful cuisine, beautifully presented.
The recently-launched summer menu is an extravagance that distinguished Parisians make a point to afford on a regular basis. But what a refreshing change to see romantic young and very chic couples coming for the signature truffle speciality with buttered brioche, wonderful wines and breads to match each course and the chariot de mignardise, the ultimate decadence. But the chicest Parisians will settle for nothing else!
Le Petit Bijou
If you liked Breakfast at Tiffany, you’d adore Supper chez Céladon, the cosy Michelin-starred restaurant of the Hotel Westminster situated in the 24-carat quartier des diamantiers. If you can’t have 24 carats for supper, settle for 24 carrots. But much better to opt for young chef Christophe Moisand’s subtle and creative cuisine served amidst porcelain Celadon vases. Try the adventurous Tomato Noir desert containing tomato confite, almonds and Modena vinegar. Sounds disgusting but it works for the chicest palates!
The hotel’s bar Duke’s, with its elegantly warm English Gentleman’s club décor and comfy leather arm chairs does late lunches and is just the place to recuperate after an insane day’s shopping in Paris’s most chic, haut-joaillieur-studded Place Vendome. The food is wonderful and the lemmon tart a must. Make sure you don’t get too fat for that Boucheron diamond necklace though...
If you do, Bond Barman Colin at the Ritz’s new and tres chic summer garden terrace will console you over crazy concoctions and mad Martinis- shaken not stirred...
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