First published by The Times on 11 February 2023
Paris can lay claim to a long list of adjectives. Chic? Of course. Romantic? Inarguably. Grubby? Pas faux. As far as coolness is concerned, however, it slipped off the agenda some time ago.
Of course tourists never stopped wanting to take a boat trip along the Seine, peer at the Mona Lisa or climb the Eiffel Tower. We love the residual glamour of knowing Pablo Picasso and Josephine Baker hung out in Paris, but that was long ago. Coolness – being at the forefront of culture, in the place to be seen – doesn’t hang around. Even in the Nineties, young French people were heading to London to party, away from what the writer Geoff Dyer describes as the “bistro-mausoleum of Paris”.
Then London became so expensive that it too lost its street cred, and off we traipsed to Berlin. Copenhagen, Lisbon and Barcelona have had their cool moments too.
Nobody expected Paris, city of cheese, to make a comeback, and yet everyone I know agrees that it has. Fromage-filled Netflix hit Emily in Paris has given the city a tourist boost – online searches for Paris holidays hit a five-year high when the latest series arrived – but the truly cool are not watching Emily, so that doesn’t explain everything.
What’s this renaissance about? Our own downfall may be part of it. Brexit made the UK less appealing to the young, creative and progressive. France – our accessible neighbour – became more attractive in comparison.
Arts are on the up: France last year poured more than €4 billion into culture funding. It was big news when Art Basel launched an annual fair there in October. Gallery owner Kamel Mennour said, “People used to think of Paris as an old lady – a museum-city only, with no blood in its veins. Now there’s a lot of energy and people and collectors.” Galleries offer housing subsidies to their artists – but it must also help that the cost of living in Paris is about 20 per cent cheaper than in London.
Seb Law is a Brit who works for a French fashion company. In recent years he’s seen a burgeoning hipster culture there. He calls it “the Shoreditchisation of Paris. The good places are still a little hidden, but waiters don’t give a Gallic shrug when you ask for a vegan option.” Even the national sport of being rude to foreigners is floundering. Today’s waiters might smile when your French fails you, rather than roll their eyes and spit in your croque monsieur.
The restaurant scene is better than ever. National Geographic recently declared the 20th arrondissement home to the most exciting cuisine in France, with delicacies from Mali, Vietnam, Tunisia, Syria, China, Morocco and Colombia on offer, all against the charming greenery-meets-graffiti backdrop of Belleville. In scarf and gloves last month, I had an excellent Middle Eastern lunch on the terrace of Chez Marianne in the trendy Marais. Farm-to-table dining is also a big deal in Paris, with restaurateurs priding themselves on using local and seasonal produce.
Similarly, natural wine has gone mainstream. In fact, on all things eco, the French seem to be ahead of us: Paris is packed with organic supermarket chains such as Bio c’ Bon and Naturalia, and there are plenty of places to shop en vrac (packaging free). Returning to the UK after a long visit last year I was embarrassed to see so much plastic.
The city has also caught Britain’s passion for cocktails. Hiru, the Montmartre restaurant (where I was photographed for this article), prides itself on a delicious menu, with the most expensive, a Manhattan, costing €14 – around £12. In London a good cocktail is closer to £15.
Public transport is more affordable in Paris too (€2.10 for a journey anywhere in the city), and it’s so quick and easy to get around that it would be a shame not to venture beyond touristville. “In London I spend half my life on public transport, but here a journey’s never more than half an hour,” says Seb Emina, editor of The Happy Reader, who relocated ten years ago.
Each arrondissement has its charms. “Canal Saint-Martin is the best bet for shopping and lunch,” says Law. “Pigalle is the place to be for dinner and drinks – and clubbing, if you’re into techno.” Just because there’s clubbing in Pigalle doesn’t mean you can’t get a traditional French meal – Law recommends Le Bon Georges, where I also had a wonderful lunch last year.
Beyond that, even the banlieue – the areas outside the ring road – are being reevaluated. They’re not as far away as Parisians seem to think. Don’t miss the marché aux puces (flea market) in Saint-Ouen, a suburb you can walk to from the 18th arrondissement. It has the scruffy-chic feel of Portobello Road and is similarly a place where you can buy an antique lamp or a knock-off Gucci T-shirt. There are great places to eat there, including Bistro L’Insurgé on the well-named Rue du Plaisir, where you can go to a jazz night.
Beyond all this, Paris still has the same delights it has always offered: Haussmannian architecture, immaculate parks and exquisite cakes. Plus, as always, its residents don’t give a merde what we think about them. And what could be cooler than that?