#23: My Paris List (Part 1)

Where to stay, shop and sip life-affirming broths.

After years spent squirrelling away the names of many a hole-in-the-wall and buzzy wine bar, my Google Maps Rolodex now spans places I have zero plans to visit (sorry, Belgium), as well as several that are only one or two restaurants long — the rationale being that I could easily find myself in Sydney with a hankering for a lamington.

Save for London, my Paris lists (plural, as last year I divided the original behemoth into ‘favourites’ and ‘to go’ for ease) are my lengthiest, thanks to my proximity and how often I visit for work; the sheer volume of recommendations I see online and subsequently jot down; and how tremendous the food is. Of course, there are vintage shops and museums, but the bulk of the recommendations below are gastronomic.

Much has been written about social media, gastro-tourism, and cultural capital (topics I’ve touched on in previous emails), and there’s much to be said still. But that’s food for thought for another day; today’s dispatch is about Paris and to my lists we turn.

I’m not a big Hemingway fan, but in the spirit of indulging in the French capital and making plans (actual or hypothetical), I’ll send us off with his words.

“As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast