April: All but cherry blossom
On the tail end of Easter, Paris is gearing up for spring, for summer, for the Olympic Games, for anything that isn't dreary rain and grey skies that make everything feel like it's on standby.
This month’s felt particularly long and yet here we are, already in April. I’m looking forward to finally holding a copy of Jane Bertch’s The French Ingredient, about how she founded her super-successful cooking school in Paris, and Carrie Solomon’s beautiful book of French bohemian recipes. A legendary place to dance is rising from the ashes on the outskirts of Paris, young photographers are at a festival, and I’ve shared old and new spots I’ve loved eating at. Two guest writer friends share their insider knowledge: Kate’s got an Olympic Games cheatsheet for us and Flo’s back with the lowdown on proper sushi in Paris. Happy April! Roxy x
4 things on my radar this April
Get to know the new generation of European photographers during Circulation(s) at Le 104, a hybrid arts venue with a good bistro, bookshop, second-hand shop and an arts incubator. There’s always something going on here, including watching the local kids practice their dance routines in the open-plan hall. This month, 20 up-and-coming photographers experimenting with CCTV footage and AI will be showing their work until 2nd June.
Ever wondered what it’s like to create a cooking school that teaches visitors from all four corners of the globe how to make croissants and macarons? How does France and its wealth of produce from rich and diverse landscapes inspire chefs who have made Paris their home? Questions North Americans Jane Bertch of cooking school La Cuisine and chef Carrie Solomon who was based at Aube café until recently, delve into in their new books The French Ingredient (find out more in my chat with Jane) and Bohème Cooking (get to know Carrie as she answers my questions here).
Dance the night away on the vestiges of the Babcock boiler-making factory in La Courneuve (north of Paris). A playground for graffiti artists, the warehouse (AKA ‘rave house’), which used to host legendary techno nights up to seven years ago, is now taking up a firm spot on the official electronic music circuit. The line-up is led by underground collective Kumquat events, known for organising raves in offbeat places. Babcock Factory opens with a massive event on 5th April and more to come.
Browse art from galleries of the French scene at this year’s edition of the annual Art Paris fair from 4-7th April. I’m not a big fan of these huge impersonal art fairs, but they do give you a glimpse of a lot of diverse art in one place, which is handy. There will be a mix of artists and galleries presenting work with a focus on fragile utopias, which is certainly in line with the times. Crossing my fingers I’ll make it this time.
On the menu
Places I’ve loved this month, including heart-warming steak-frites and giant, gooey cookies.
OTTO, somewhere worth stopping for food on Rue Mouffetard, which is no given in the land of tourist traps. An izakaya-style counter where everything’s cooked over Binchō-tan coal (Japanese white coal), it’s co-owned by the Michelin-star and MOF chef Eric Trochon, so produce is pretty high-ranking. There’s grilled aubergine with sesame and pomegranate seeds, meaty shiitake mushrooms with sesame oil and beef with chimichurri sauce for extra tanginess. The desserts are all worth trying too because they’re light and not horribly sweet. There’s also a lunch menu in the week for under €20.
Korean goodness close to the Eiffel Tower at Mojju. A shiny little pocket with earthy tones that’s been designed to feel like a corner of South Korea less than a 10-minute walk from the Grande Dame, it’s here that chef Thibault Sombardier’s made his dream come true. A fan of South Korea, the chef’s first foray away from French food, is putting this lesser-known cuisine on the Paris map. Expect dishes to share like heart-warming prawn, tofu and mushroom pancakes, raw nashi beef with egg yolk to start, and monkfish thrown on the grill served with bowls of spicy red kimchi and super-fresh buckwheat noodles. Perfect for when you want to pivot away from French classics and get to know Korean food other than bibimbap.
A true find you won’t mind venturing off-course for at César. When my fellow writer and friend Kasia asked me if I would join her for lunch here, her invitation came with a joke about whether or not we needed passports, because it’s so far. Jokes aside, it’s not that far and we were delighted to venture to Clichy, an area that, thanks to recent transport links is slowly being folded into Paris proper. Inside a red-brick building opposite the resting place of France’s most notorious gangster Jacques Mesrine (if you haven’t, watch the two-part 2008 French biographical crime film where Vincent Cassel plays him), chef Charles Boixel is cooking up a feast of sunny dishes like monkfish flavoured with chorizo and crispy rice. Leave room for the incredible giant cookie doused in vanilla ice cream to share.
A backstreet spot for steak-frites you won’t forget at Candide. So, steak and fries aren’t really the restaurant’s raison d’être but boy, are they good here. Between Canal St Martin and Belleville, this candle-lit neo-bistro is a well-loved institution with a local crowd, and mainly serves Franco-Italian food with natural wines. I recently ate here after a making a failed booking somewhere else, with a friend who’d come from the US and wanted to dip back into her culinary memories of Paris. Luckily they had a spot at the counter and the most tender, tasty beef that’s been matured for 45 days and that hung up in its own glass cabinet on show in the open kitchen. It came on a bed of creamy clam and spring onion sauce - and I can’t think of a more perfect sauce. At €38 a pop, it wasn’t cheap, but was totally worth it.
April Bonus🔥: Kate’s Paris Olympic Games cheat-sheet
Like a lot of Paris locals, my friend Kate, a fellow British writer and resident of Paris, ponders whether to stay or go during the OG.
August is usually when the city empties for the grandes vacances (school vacation), leaving remaining residents free reign of café terraces, seats on the metro, parking spaces and museums. This year though, things will be a bit different. From July 26th to August 11th, the 2024 Olympic Games will take over, with sports fans back for the Paralympics on August 28th until September 8th. And, as you can imagine, there’s been much Gallic grumbling as we all ponder whether to stay or flee the city.
Go ❌: Thinking of navigating the city with 16 million expected visitors this summer fills me with dread. Some metro stations and roads will be closed too (check this Paris transport map if you are going to be here). Official advice is actually to work from home or cycle as much as possible (see this map for cycling itineraries during the OG).
Go ❌: The big question though, is whether to rent out my home to visitors. With larger properties going for up to a mammoth €1,000 a nigh, I could make a killing… But tidying all my family’s possessions away is too much to face.
Stay ✅: Who wouldn’t want to experience the city full of that energy? There are still tickets, with more released until nearer the time for a range of events and prices... Failing that, the Cultural Olympiad will include 180 events during the summer and big screens will be up around the city playing out the Games in real-time. Some events will even be free to watch, like the marathon, not forgetting the public Marathon Pour Tous (marathon for all) on the official Olympic route, and the opening and closing ceremonies if you find a vantage point — friends with apartments overlooking the Seine are in high demand. Check out these super-handy maps of venues in Paris, Ile-de-France region and France.
So, should I stay and embrace the Olympic spirit, or flee the madness? I’m going with the best of both worlds; holidaying for the busiest week (the first) then coming back as the city gets into its groove (the second), to watch the City of Lights shine its brightest during a once-in-a-lifetime event. What about you?
Go with the Flo: The Paris sushi wave
Japanese chefs have taken the city by storm these last few years, but proper sushi is only just seeing a boom. Florence breaks it down and shares her top rec.
If you were to roughly outline the history of sushi in Paris, it could be categorised into three distinct ‘eras,’ let’s say.
First came the pre-noughties, when sushi was still under the radar, enjoyed by well-heeled foodies, some of whom had ventured to Japan. They savoured the delicacies despite the hefty prices at establishments that looked like something between toy stores and sanctuaries, headed up by a sushi master who had voyaged far and trained for years.
The next two decades saw an haute cuisine sushi scene flourish in alluring locales like Aïda (Paris 7), which secured a Michelin star in 2008. Meanwhile the Blackcode group (Kinugawa restaurants) gained momentum. Sushi surged, but not always for the better. The unhygienic practices of some Chinese noodle shops in Paris revealed in TV programmes prompted them to rebrand and pivot to sushi, explaining the plethora of sushi joints all over the city. In parallel, entrepreneurs launched takeaway chains like Sushi Shop and its imitators, albeit with varying degrees of success (Nutella sushi, anyone?), shamelessly relegating sushi from its pedestal in its homeland to a mundane fast-food commodity.
Since 2020 though, while Paris is still scattered with fast-food sushi, a new generation is finally doing the masterful art of sushi-making justice. Parisians have evolved into better informed foodies, expecting sushi worthy of their travels to Japan. This shift is marked by offerings that are more accessible and higher in quality like Haïkara, Zakuro, Totto, reinstilling faith in - and the taste of - raw fish.
One of my favourite spots? Iodé Sushi, found amidst the touristy fray of Rue Saint Dominique (Paris 7). Close to the restaurants of luminaries like Chef Christian Constant, a modest counter awaits. With stylish interiors by Atelier Cailloux, you get to taste the creations of young chef Jun Yoshikawa, who exclusively works with sustainably sourced fish from France, paired with carefully curated condiments, sauces and beverages like a variety of sakes but also natural wines, vintner champagnes, and locally brewed kombuchas. It's a delightful experience, remarkably affordable, and, above all, utterly delectable.
Thank you for reading all the way to the bottom of this newsletter! I’ll be back on 1st May, and putting Breakfast Scrolls, the mid-month breakfast edition of this newsletter, on hold until next month so that I can hang with my little daughter during the school vacation. Have a great month and see you in May!