Readable feasts: Paris Style Guide

Why buy it?

There are few cities that have captivated the imagination of artists, poets, musicians and filmmakers quite like Paris. An epicentre for fashion, philosophy, food and - if Paris Style Guide is anything to go by - prop hunting, the French capital glimmers with je ne sais quoi. Here, in Elodie Rambaud's debut tome, we are shown a new side to Paris; impelled to turn our gaze from the city’s towering monuments to the time-worn treasures and innovative creations nestled inside its stores. 

True to its back cover blurb, Paris Style Guide “looks into the address book” of Elodie. With more than 300 entries, it’s a compendium of where to eat, sleep, stroll and, for the most part, shop. The book concentrates on items for the home (think textiles, tableware, art and furnishings), but botanicals, vintage bicycles and ‘tool box’ essentials also feature. Paris Style Guide is adorned with illustrated maps and in-store photography (taken by its talented author), making it both a practical coffee table book and visually-arresting city guide.

If you’re thinking Elodie's name rings a bell, it is for good reason. The French native worked as a visual merchandiser in London, before moved to Sydney in 2005 and landing a job at donna hay magazine. Now permanently based in Paris, her fingers remain on the pulse as she sources beautiful objects for a living. 

Walkability

Under Elodie’s watchful gaze, you’ll be navigating Paris’s central districts like a local. Each store entry features the phone number, full address, website, where available, and the nearest Metro station. Plus, the book’s arrondissement-based maps will assist locating nearby stores, cafés, restaurants and bars. 

Must-visit

Pop into En Selle Marcel, a boutique bicycle store specialising in vintage designs with a masculine feel. The stunning cycles may cost more than your airfare, but their beauty is really worth admiring. And hey, you might be able to afford a canvas bike bag, attractive bell or attachable leather seat. 

Most surprising find

For a book that is brimming with elegance and, dare we say, expensive taste, it’s a pleasure to stumble upon some eating locales that are accessible to all. Elodie recommends the house-made udon noodles at Kunitoraya (read more in our exclusive eating guide below) and Pigalle bar Glass “for beer and hot dogs”. 

Paris wisdom

“In spring, with the first sunny days, the café terraces come to lie, fresh colours overrun the window displays and second-hand markets and ‘junk’ sales happen around the capital almost every weekend.”

Ideal for

Francophiles, cool hunters, antique collectors and homemakers with deep pockets.

Sneak-peek at Paris Style Guide

Calling all epicurean explorers! Here are four must-visit stores. 

E. Dehillerin

Famous among food lovers all over the world for its window display, E. Dehillerin is a Parisian institution. The store reflects the old Paris. On the unvarnished wooden shelves are implements that have all but disappeared with the evolution of cooking. Attelets, for example, a sort of metal skewer topped with an ornamental hare, rooster or pig, once used for fancy dishes like canard à l’orange. There are no electrical gadgets here, it is a temple to traditional cuisine – copper tarte tatin moulds, charlotte moulds, knives, roasting trays and giant saucepans. The place is usually packed, so be patient. And it closes at 6pm sharp.

18-20 Rue Coquillière . 75001 . 01 42 36 53 13 . e-dehillerin.fr 

Métro Étienne Marcel or les Halles

G. Detou

Don’t miss the G. Detou food store. With no pun intended, G. Detou really has it ‘tout’ (all) – all the best-quality products from France and elsewhere, from pieds paquets (an offal delicacy from Marseille) to dried morel mushrooms and a five kilogram slab of Valrhona chocolate. It’s a paradise for cooks.

58 Rue Tiquetonne . 75002 . 01 42 36 54 67 . gdetou.com

Métro Étienne Marcel or les Halles 

Rue Herold

The space is beautiful, white, simple and graphic and seems to get straight to the point: selling beautiful fabrics at affordable prices. Charlotte de la Grandière, an enthusiastic and creative prop stylist, is behind this project. She selects the different fabrics: striped, plain, indigo, white and ecru linens, dusty pink linen-wool blends, beautiful cottons – natural materials for the most part. Fabric is sold by the metre and cut before your eyes – heavy bolts of fabric tumble down, material flies across a big table and scissors crisply get to work.

8 Rue Hérold . 75001 . 01 42 33 66 56 . rueherold.fr

Métro Palais-Royal

Ceccaldi

Mr Ceccaldi is Corsican. With other members of his family he creates exceptional knives – folding and non-folding shepherd’s knives, kitchen and table knives – in his Porto-Vecchio workshop. The shape of the wood dictates the design of the knife, so each piece has its own identity. The store in Rue Racine, close to the Odéon, also contains a workshop with a knife-sharpening service. You can now also buy knives engraved by young designer Elodie Di Battista.

15 Rue Racine . 75006 . 01 46 33 87 20 . couteaux-ceccaldi.com

Métro Odéon

This is an extract from Paris Style Guide by Elodie Rambaud (Murdoch Books, $39.99, hbk). 

Elodie Rambaud’s Paris eating guide

In an SBS Food exclusive, Elodie Rambaud shares her pick of bars, boulangeries, restaurants and food markets in France's food-loving capital. Enjoy cocktails and oysters, quality coffee and the best croissants in Paris!

Coffee fix

Most of the good coffee places in Paris are owned or run by Australians! Coutume is a popular café and coffee roasting school in the seventh arrondissement co-owned by expat Tom Clark. They sell their own beans, along with filter coffee, cold coffee extraction and the signature cocktail.

The essentials: bread, wine and cheese

For bread, I go to a place called Du pain et des idees, near the République. They have a sourdough loaf called “le pain des amis” (“bread of friends”). It's a very old bakery in a nice area - the 10th. For wine, I like Vivant. It’s a restaurant-wine bar with a beautiful selection of organic and biodynamic wines that you can buy to take-away. And cheese? Paris has plenty of nice stores! On Rue de Martyrs (near Pigalle), you have two or three good cheese shops, and there are lots along Rue Montorgueil in the second quarter.

To market, to market

The Marais is home to food market known as le Marché des Enfants Rouges. I mainly go there for the Moroccan stall's couscous. From there, if you walk down Rue de Bretagne, you have a shop called Popelini. They sell little choux pastries filled with custard. They’re delicious and easy to eat while you’re walking around.   

Speaking of pastries, Blé Sucré sells some of the very best croissants in Paris. It’s in the 11th arrondissement near the Marche d'Aligre, a famous market that’s open every day and almost all-day long!

Eating out

On Rue de Charonne in the 11th arrondissement, there is a well-known restaurant called Septime. Right next door - and run by the same chef - they’ve opened Clamato, a wine bar serving modern bistro food with fresh ingredients, interesting textures and a nice selection of organic wines.

Rue D'argout in the second quarter is a pedestrian-only street with lots of nice restaurants. For casual eats, I go to the burger place called Blend. The street leads you to Rue Montmatre, which is always good for a drink!

Drinks and nibbles

I really like Le Mary Celeste in the third arrondissement. Go for cocktails and oysters; simple seafood bites to share with friends. I’ve heard great things about a new place in the 19th called Paname Brewing Company. It’s right on the River Seine and sells artisanal beer with clever snacks.

Unexpected treasures

The knife store Ceccaldi is one of my favourite places in Paris. It's a very simple shop, with the workshop right next door, so you can often see Mr Ceccaldi making knives when you visit. Each one is so different – they make a really good gift.

I really like the owner of Rue Herold, a girl named Charlotte. She used to be a stylist, then decided to open an affordable linen shop. She sells very simple, beautiful linen. You won't find crazy colours, just nice whites, light pinks and blues.

Little Japan

For very good udon noodles I go to Kunitoraya in the first quarter. They actually have two different restaurants in the same street (Rue Villedo). One is all about noodles and the other looks like a French bistro, but specialises in Japanese cuisine. The area is not far from the Louvre and if you continue walking along Rue Villedo, you’ll come to the Japanese grocery stores and bakeries. I love the little breads, similar to brioche; some taste like melon and others like chocolate.  

Aussies in Paris

Paris is home to quite a famous chef called James Henry. He opened the restaurant Bones a while ago and it’s very successful, but I've heard he’ll soon be doing something new. James’s style is... well perhaps not rock ‘n’ roll, but he’s known for playing loud music and serving delicate, innovative food. A new Aussie phenomenon to hit Paris is the food stall My Pie – they sell Australian pies!

Images and map from Paris Style Guide by Elodie Rambaud (Murdoch Books, $39.99, hbk).