Hotel Raffles Royal Monceau Paris

In no particular order, a few film impressions of the newly (yesterday) opened Raffles Royal Monceau. I was ready to hate yet another Philippe Starck makeover, but they really created an interesting space here. It looks like Starck really wanted to challenge people's idea of what a hotel can be, and things like breaking down the traditional barman-behind-the-bar-in-front-of-client, and exploding the bar, making it very open, then adding a glowing slab of communal table in front of it, making people sit next to each other. The lighting still needs to be fixed and there was no music, but mucho potential. The Il Carpaccio restaurant, in all its seashell glory was impressive as was the private dining room. The private 100 seater cinema with gorgeous handmade leather seats and insane sound system, and the bathrooms, all rethought, with no sink, no mirrors, all these inside the actual bathroom stalls was quite trippy, as was the herd of deer in the next door room (galery?)

The bar is run by the inimitable Greg Hazac (formerly of the Hotel Costes, French Love and Le Secret) who did his great signature cocktails and we tried a few (remember apple, hibiscus, lemongrass, vodka, gin...18€/21€). Saying hi to Lenny was cool too. Once they get the lighting and music sorted this will be one of the places to hang for the golden set. More soon.

Yer Mama likes Shelter

This Alain Senderens (he staffed the kitchen and pays the salary, so not a cuisine telecommandé as some say..) hotel-restaurant located in a God-forbidden edge of Paris was a nice surprise. Despite a few hicks with the service (largely manic) - long waiting time to order, glass of wine brought instead of bottle, butter forgot, no changing of covers, all this could be forgiven by the fact that they've only been open a little while, and the staff is obviously hard working and friendly. The starter of pastrami and potatoes was tasty, though the spuds were cold, the entrecote (frites just okay) and hachis parmentier de confit de canard were very correct, well served and copious. The restaurant is cosy, although the spot light shining on our table seemed to be shining directly ito our eyes, and a funky Cyril le philosophe seemed more concerned with hanging with the DJ, although Mr. Trigano was omnipresent, observing and making the rounds.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, with the whole dining area transformed into a casual space where people seemed to be nursing hangovers from their nomadic urban night in Paris. English tourists, French bobo families, and young, cool medias types made up the crowd. Continental 10€, breakfast buffet (bacon, eggs, sausages, pastries, juice, hot drink) - 15€



Mama Shelter