Pin Up Board: 07
to eat and drink in London and Paris in the winter
January might indeed be a perfect time to visit Paris and London as New York is frozen over. The sun is low but the streets are empty. If you don’t mind wearing your furs and missing the foliage, you end up with a clear view of the cities. Here is what I loved:
London
A Black Velvet
Guinness and Champagne served in a sterling tankard, invented for the mourning of Prince Albert’s death in 1861. What a magical drink. Turns out if you put a little bit of something I don’t like (Guinness) with a little bit of something I do like (Champagne), it tastes good! Maybe it does have a tinge of metallic from the vessel, nonetheless, it is fabulous.
Pub Appreciation
We had quite the tour guides for time in London. Chase’s dear friends from the world of menswear, Matt Coles, Manish Puri, and Joe Beeching, were our drinking shepherds. They toted us around from cocktail bar to flat-roofed pub, one with a theater inside, some with a cat wearing an Elizabethan collar, one with a deli counter.
Regency Cafe
Our Full English felt correct at Regency Cafe. We took a liking to the black pudding and the tiled walls.
Sweetings
My favorite bit of London. On our last day in town, Chase and I took to our favorite indulgence, a long lunch. There is something so special about a long lunch, much more fabulous than a dinner. You bask in the sunlight and luxuriate in the wine and decadent food. We did just this at Sweetings. It is a seafood restaurant only open for weekday lunches in the part of town where the power lunch is a part of the culture. We were seated in a near empty room at the counter where I was instructed to crawl under the bar to find stool, allowing Chase and I to sit opposite of each other. A bottle of Chablis and a half dozen oysters were ordered along with fish, peas, and spinach. The food was divine, the room was peaceful and ancient, the service was a delight. When the sun is still up and you are surrounded by such fabulous earthly spoils, it is hard not to feel close to heaven.
Paris
Aux Deux Amis
What a delight to roll into this fabulous restaurant, even in a hungover state from 1 billion martinis at Chateau Voltaire the night prior. All of the world’s wrongs were righted as Chase and I met our dear friend Darsi Monaco for lunch. This place was a recommendation from Amanda Lee Burkett and Flynn McGarry and it truly reflected their sensibilities: beautiful food, perfect natural wine, and a dreamstate timewarp interior with a Cafe Gitane spirit (RIP). A perfect meal so perfect we came back for bites and wine later in the week just to be in the room again and pick at their magical morsels.
Chez René
The best old ladies of The Rive Gauche dine at Chez René. As the talented Stéphane Timonier described it to me, “Paris, Rome and Milan are the capitals of little old ladies though I’d say René might be even better known for its tempestuous old dealers with rabelaisian appetites.”
Chez Georges
Our Parisian Long Lunch and our last real meal in the city. Chase and I took car over and tucked in for almost the entirety of the lunch service as well as the hour following. Potted goose, two steak frites, from which I received a “good job” from the older waitress for finishing mine. I took this with honesty and no sarcasm as I believe a finished steak is a moment of pride, as well. A bottle of Beaujolais and a dessert made from chestnuts as I kept seeing them roasted in the street. We finished the meal and walked to the left bank for some shopping at second hand stores. Our final afternoon and we walked until our phones were at single digits in battery and a car was needed to usher us back to pack for our return home. Leisurely to say the least.
xx
Lanier