This week, from September 23 to October 1, Paris Fashion Week will descend on the city The Ink Collective calls home, and our agency team will be in the midst of it — meeting & greeting talented designers and discovering fresh trends for the seasons ahead. For those also in town for the shows and events, we’ve compiled a listing of a few of our favourite haunts to try — our top picks on where to Eat, Drink, Stay & Play in style for fashionistas in full swing.
Lights, camera, catwalk – New York Fashion Week has been in full swing all week, and The Ink Collective has been in the Big Apple for it all. Here is our listing of a few of our favourite haunts, and our top picks on where to Eat, Drink, Stay & Play in style.
Surf’s up and the sun is out, so as temperatures heat up, our Prêt-a-Partir Summer Series heads to the US and hits up the West Coast to give you a hand-picked shortlist of where to Eat, Play, Drink & Stay in the City of Angels.
This week we kick off the Prêt-A-Partir Summer Series — a stylish, sun-kissed shortlist of our top travel locations for swimsuit season — and our recommended hotspots to Eat, Play, Drink and Stay in each.
Whether it’s the Grand Bistro, Bar à Huîtres, or the string of trattorias he’s known for; such as The Little Italy, The Brooklyn Pizzeria and Manhattan Terrazza; one thing is for sure — restaurateur Garry Dorr knows his stuff — and with his latest outpost ‘Madison Caffe’, he’s done it again and is onto a winner.
Sweet-tooth, pastry (and bread-eating) people — rejoice. After weeks of teasing on Instagram, Cédric Grolet — rising culinary star & executive pastry chef at the French five-star hotel, Le Meurice — has (finally) announced the opening date of his very first bakery, in Paris.
It’s Thursday — so take a breath, keep calm — and just go get yourself a banging soufflé (which is the past participle of the word “breath,” or “puff” in French) — at this cute and classic restaurant tucked into a discreet, pedestrian street behind the Bon Marché.
Balls, balls, balls. When the mercury drops in Paris and we’re seeking a spot of comfort food — we go back to ‘basics’ via the superb arancinis served up by talented Sardinian chef Simone Tondo at this stylish (Michelin-starred) nook, tucked into the Passage des Panoramas.
It may not be new, but last month — Giuseppe Cutraro, the young pizza chef who joined the Big Mamma Group just a few years ago — gave us a fresh reason to visit this Italian hotspot when he became the Champion of the world for contemporary Neapolitan pizza, at the 2019 Neapolitan pizza world championship, organized in Naples.
Definitely a place for a meat lovers. Described as an “ode to nature” following in the footsteps of the Argentine tradition of fire cooking — this new place from the The Asado Club (at the Canal Saint Martin) and creators Sabrina Goldin and Stéphane Abby combines ancestral cooking techniques with top products of land & sea in their “extreme nudity”.
Lunch with a view at the Louvre? In Paris everything is possible. Boasting a unique and privileged location on one of the busiest streets in the capital — Rue de Rivoli — at the intersection where grand hotels, luxury boutiques and museums meet, this restaurant at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs is an urban sanctuary at the very heart of Parisian life.
Tea-time on a Tuesday calls for something sweet, stylish and succulent — and this place is pretty as a picture too. The brainchild of former model and DJ Clémentine Lévy — this spot is our pick of the bunch for a clean, healthy break mid-week.
Perched on the shady, tree-lined banks of the Canal Saint-Martin, this trendy little café offers “home cooking made only with quality products”, and a charming spot for no-nonsense, al-fresco lunches inspired by the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Perfect for shooting the breeze on hot summer days — complete with great, friendly service and a cosy ambience.
They have often made this strange and penetrating dream .... An elegant, charming and cultured gentleman who knew how to make himself available every day and often very late at night… A gentleman who worked, exhibited, cooked, sang and sometimes even danced ...
To step into this iconic restaurant through the Gare de Lyon is to enter a place where time stops; where diners are taken on an incredible gastronomic journey of discovery through the most beautiful regions in France, and where the décor is just as magnificent as the food.
This pretty little tea room located at rue Saint-Dominique, in an upscale neighborhood of Paris near the Invalides has made its name by elevating one ingredient above all the rest – and doing it right. Yep, you guessed it – sweet, delicious, sticky – caramel.
The sixth culinary wonder, from Paris entrepreneurs and Big Mamma fathers Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux, is Pink Mamma – and she doesn’t disappoint. This latest restaurant from the Big Mamma Group franchise follows the successes of foodie hits such as Ober Mamma, East Mamma, and Mamma Primi – and it’s just as delectably good.
Put simply, La Maison Hugo & Victor is one of the greatest patisseries in Paris. Located between 6th and 7th arrondissements, embracing Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in the heart of one of the oldest and aristocratic districts of the capital, this place hits the sweet spot with gusto.
This beautiful and calm oasis in the center of Paris offers a secluded and tranquil sanctuary for lovers of art, history and haute cuisine. A relatively new address, set on the border of the 8th and 17th arrondissements, LE CAMONDO has opened its doors within the eponymous museum, just next to Parc Monceau and is the perfect place to find food for both your body and soul.
Originally hailing from humble beginnings in the hip and urban hub of London’s Shoreditch, The Hoxton line of trendy hotels has steadily made a name for itself across Europe and beyond thanks to its community-vibe, fair prices and pared-down interiors — and the Paris edition, while more polished than its predecessors, still manages to stay true to its roots.
A historic landmark reimagined for the modern day, a showcase for contemporary art, and regarded as “a rendez-vous for artists and bold spirits who are not afraid of their own era”, Le Royal Monceau is, at once, an elegant combination of boutique museum meets Grand Dame — with a certain ‘je-ne-sais-quoi’. Hello Paris.
Nestled amongst the leafy, cobblestone streets of Montmartre – quartier of painters, poets and musicians; blessed with beautiful views and love stories - you will find the smallest hotel in Paris. It’s painfully pretty and packs a punch though.
It’s almost mid-week — so if you’re looking for a place which ticks the boxes for a casual business meet out-of-the-office, a quick catch-up with a friend — or just a cool location to work from with excellent coffee + Parisian street scenes to boot... then welcome to Partisan Café.
When the cold snap sets in and you’ve had a long, tiring week at work — sometimes all you want for a Friday is a good glass of vino somewhere warm, cosy, and away from the crowds where you can meet a few friends for a chat with no fuss.
Born from the visionary imagination of its founder Raymond Visan (the French-Romanian restaurateur responsible for the original and very famous Barfly in Paris), this bar, restaurant, hotel franchise has become a bonafide institution and a household name, renowned — not just in Paris, but worldwide — for its particular brand of nightlife, which spans from Marrakech to Budapest; Moscow to Mexico City.
Inspired by the mixology bars of New York and London, nestled across candle-lit two floors in the ultra-chic district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés on Paris’ posh Left Bank, this prohibition-era speakeasy by the team of the Experimental Cocktail Club, Curio Parlor and Ballroom du Beef Club offers top-notch cocktails oozing with opulent, old-world class.
This hidden speakeasy – promoted simultaneously as a place for “Café, Cocktails and Pyjamas” – is hands-down one of the most poetic (and unique) bars in Paris, tucked away into a chic nook at the beautiful Place des Vosges — the oldest square in Paris.
It may not be new, but this summer-set bar, perched on top of the chic BHV Marais department store, is still one to try when the sun is out and you’re feeling pretty. Just make sure you bring flats if you’re a lady — because it’s popular, despite the years — and you will have to wait in line to get in.
They say good things come in small packages, and this tiny speakeasy is a little slice of cocktail heaven. Voted onto the 50 Best Bars In The World list back in 2015, it still packs a punch after all those years, and delights on arrival every time.
Unashamedly cheeky and shows just enough skin to be sexy without being over-the-top. If you’re on the hunt for something fresh, fun and super Parisian to spice things up this weekend, then this place is just the ticket: a colourful, quirky cabaret show set within a unique floating theatre in the very heart of Paris.
Walk down le boulevard Barbès in Paris’ 18ᵉ arrondissement and you’re bound to come across one of its most iconic eye-sores: the (huge) pink gingham logo sign of French department store Tati, now the unlikely subject of a chic, new exhibition in the capital, spotlighting the company’s collaboration with world-famous fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa. Bizarre but true!
For two nights only — on June 28th and July 19th, 2019 — Cucina Mutualité, the Italian masterpiece of famous Parisian chef Alain Ducasse, will open up its rooftop for the exclusive culinary pop-up event of the season.
Those who have a sweet tooth – and are lucky enough to be in the French capital this weekend – are in for a treat. In a delectable one-off, this 8th and 9th of June, the desserts of Cédric Grolet - from Alain Ducasse’s Michelin-starred gourmet restaurant Le Meurice - will be available for takeaway by the public via pop-up shop.
