The Michelin Red Guide, recently accused of losing touch with the changing world of French cuisine by influential Le Figaro critic François Simon, seems to have taken the criticism to heart and has given a coveted star to Yam’Tcha, a tiny restaurant that does not fit the usual Michelin bill of fare: it opened only a year ago, is run by a young woman chef, specializes in Chinese-influenced dishes and – blasphemy of blasphemies in France! (except that tea is currently très à la mode) – serves tea with food. Chef Adeline Grattard has worked in Hong Kong and at gourmet French restaurant Astrance. Otherwise, few radical changes were made to the guide. Most notably, L’Auberge du Vieux Puits in the southwestern village of Fontjoncouse was elevated to three-star status.
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One-minute Paris: Birdsong on the Canal Saint Martin at dusk.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009 00:00
CENSORSHIP ALIVE AND WELL IN FRANCE
An ad for a DVD of “Sarkoland,” comedian Gérald Dahan’s stage show satirizing French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has been turned down by the advertising department of national broadcaster France Télévisions because the ad shows a caricature of Sarkozy by famed political cartoonist Cabu. As one reader of nouvelobs.comnoted on its Web site: “Caricatures of Mohammed are allowed, but not of Sarkozy,” a reference to the same cartoonist’s controversial caricatures of the Muslim prophet.
And, on April 21, the exhibition “Our Body: The Universe Within,” which has already been shown in many countries, was ordered to shut down by a French judge, who termed it “indecent.” The exhibition uses real corpses preserved by polymer impregnation to provide lessons on human anatomy. The organizers will appeal the ruling.
VIVE LE MINITEL!
Believe it or not, the clunky Minitel, the forerunner of the Internet introduced by France Telecom 26 years ago, lives on. A million of the networked boxes, now used mainly as telephone directories, are still in use, appreciated for their sturdiness, simplicity of use and lack of viruses. France Telecom, which planned to decommission the Minitel this month, has given it a reprieve and decided to keep it in use.
Although an RATP ticket can be used on all forms of public transport in Paris, you can’t complete a journey using one ticket if reaching your destination requires transferring from the Métro to the bus. In this case, you need to use two tickets for a single journey, even if the bus leg of the journey is only a few stops. Nick Woods Click here to send your contribution to C'est Logique! or C'est Magnifique! (maximum of 50 words, subject to editing).
