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Just a dusting of snow on Montmartre's cobblestones on Tuesday. Photo: Eric Tenin of Paris Daily Photo.

 

Wednesday, 08 February 2012 11:13

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TRENDY TAPAS

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The bar at Mojita et Bob on Rue Oberkampf.

The lower stretch of Rue Oberkampf might well get its mojo back from the Belleville end with the recent arrival of tapas bar/restaurant Mojita et Bob (3, rue Oberkampf, 75011 Paris; tel.: 01 58 30 88 59), run by a charming young husband and wife team, and animated by the buzz of a happy young crowd. "Bob," by the way, is not the husband's name – it refers to "bring your own bottle," but they have plenty on hand, along with an extensive cocktail list, including, of course, mojitos. The tapas come from the creative end of the spectrum, with most dishes served in glasses or ramekins on rectangles of slate. Expect blood sausage with spiced banana and speculoos, grilled polenta with Emmenthal and Espelette peppers, pea mousse with chorizo, sardine rillettes, all very tasty. Not a patatas bravas in sight. It's a long way from the simple origins of authentic Spanish tapas, but these are done so well that you can forgive the occasional forays into culinary gymnastics. Colin Eaton

 

Wednesday, 08 February 2012 11:13

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GOURMET GROUPON

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An illustration from GourmanDeal′s Web Site.

Two young (24 and 26) French businessmen, tired of working for big corporations, have had the excellent idea of launching GourmanDeal, an upscale, more exclusive Groupon-style site for restaurants only, great news for those of us who have had far-less-than-satisfactory experiences with Groupon restaurants (read all about it here). GourmanDeal (in French only for the moment) offers an opportunity to try more expensive eateries like the excellent Le Quinze de Lionel Fleury without breaking the bank. The site′s founders, Damien Nantermet and Bruno Bouzid, promise to keep their standards high and plan to expand to other French and European cities. Heidi Ellison

 

Paris Update This Week's Events

For full details about an event, click on its name to visit the official Web site (in English when available).

Festival Au Fil des Voix

World music artists from Tunisia, Morocco, Guinea, Italy, Greece and more. Alhambra, Paris, through Feb. 11.

Ice Skating Rinks

Hôtel de Ville, Paris, through March 4.

Leonardo Live

> Filmed tour of the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery in London, various cinemas, Paris, Feb. 16.

London Calling

> Festival of British films, Forum des Images, Paris, through Feb. 29.

Paris Fine Art

> Art and antique fair, Palais des Congrès, Paris, Feb. 10-20.

Robert Altman Film Festival

> Cinémathèque Française, Paris, through March 11.

Soldes

> Retail sales in Paris: through Feb. 14

Fonds Solidarité Sida Afrique

> Benefit concert with Yael Naim and many others, open to donors to this fund to fight AIDS in Africa, Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, Feb. 13

Steven Spielberg Film Festival

> The entire œuvre, Cinémathèque Française, Paris, through March 3.

 

Outings

 

Tours

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Outings
/ Daytrips From Paris
Created on Tuesday, 28 October 2008 23:00
Published on Tuesday, 03 July 2007 23:00
Written by James Gascoigne
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Basking in the Charms of Balzac's Hometown
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Two views of Tours: one of the city's many parks and its magnificent cathedral.. Photos: J. Gascoigne

Nestling between two rivers, the Loire (to the north) and the Cher (to the south), Tours is ideally situated for a daytrip from Paris or a longer stay as a launch pad for visiting the castles of the Loire valley or the pretty town of La Rochelle. If you take the TGV (fast train) from Montparnasse station in Paris, you will find yourself in what is known as “The Garden of France” (because of the city’s many parks) in just over an hour. A slower (and cheaper) train leaves from the Gare d’Austerlitz.

Tours’ inhabitants of pride themselves on the purity of their spoken French, and certainly, if you are given to eavesdropping on people’s conversations (strictly as a student of the French language, of course!), you may well be delighted by the clarity of the local accent and the relative lack of slang. One of the great French novelists and masters of the French language, Honoré de Balzac, was born in Tours and set a number of his works there, so carrying a couple of his novels (as heavy as they may be) around with you will do no end of good to your Tours street cred!

The undoubted cultural highlights of the city are the cathedral and the art museum (both of which lie to the immediate north of the train station).

The present cathedral was begun in the 12th century but not completed until the 15th , which explains its Gothic grandeur. The 13th-century stained-glass windows are stunning, especially the one depicting the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. A cloister from the early Renaissance, which can also be visited (for €3), includes an old library (with very poor reproductions of illuminated manuscripts) and a copyists’ room. It is worth paying the price just to get interesting views of the cathedral and the chance to inspect some of the many gargoyles at close quarters.

The Musée des Beaux Arts, housed in magnificent grounds right next to the cathedral, with a huge cedar tree planted by Napoleon, is a must for all art lovers. The permanent collection has many impressive works by Monet, Rodin, Delacroix, Rembrandt, Rubens, Mantegna and others.

The current exhibition of 18th-century French paintings from the time of Mme de Pompadour (Louis XV’s mistress), entitled “La Volupté du Goût,” makes a trip to Tours absolutely essential. The curators of this show have refused to the follow current trend of dumbing down intellectual content. The 18th century saw the first serious art criticism in France, written by people who were not themselves artists and directed at a cultivated public. Many of the paintings in this exhibition were first shown at the famous Salons and are accompanied by commentaries from the time, most notably by Denis Diderot, whose Salons, published between 1759 and 1781, are justly celebrated for their acuity and inventiveness.

The medieval district of Tours has many restaurants, and if the weather is good, go to the Place Plumereau, where there is plenty of space to lunch or dine outdoors. The nearby Rue Colbert also boasts a wide variety of restaurants. If you wish to stay the night, there are many hotels to choose from. The three star Central Hôtel on the quiet Rue Berthelot is housed in a particularly attractive mansion.

Tours lends itself well to outdoor living: benches line the banks of the River Loire, and the attractive parks all over the city have plenty of seating. Why not settle down with a Balzac novel on a bench overlooking the Loire and enjoy the gentle pace of this beautiful city?

James Gascoigne

Musée des Beaux Arts: 18, place François Sicard. 37000 Tours. Tel.: 02 47 05 68 73. Open Wednesday-Monday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed November 1 and 11, Christmas Day and New Year's Dady. Admission: €4 (free the first Sunday of the month). Exhibition through January 12.

More outings.

© 2008 Paris Update

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