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No such thing as a casual lunch….

9th June 2008 by Helena 11 Comments  

""When I went up to Paris for my style talk last week (which incidentally went very well except for the fact that I forgot the cardinal rule of hanging out with French women – never overdress – and consequently looked like a Christmas tree compared with the rest of them) I had lunch with my shopping guru and new friend Ghada.
The first time I met Ghada (in St Tropez, where else?) she recognised the designer of my hat at 20 paces. This is the kind of thing that bonds women for life.
Anyway, I suggested we have lunch and she sent me the following, truly incredible, list of choices which shows that there is no such thing as a casual lunch, at least not in Paris.
Can you guess where we ended up?
 

Café Charlot in the Nouveau Marais
o        Mood: low key café in an going up neighbourhood
o        Bistro food: Salads, grilled fish & meat
o        Shopping : Johnny Farah, Les Bouclards, Surface to air, Tsumori Chisato, Shine…
o        Who : people in the neighbourhood
 

Café de Flore in Saint-Germain des près
o        Mood: a bit Intellectual, a bit snob, a bit low key and place to be seen
o        French café food : salads, eggs
o        Shopping: Calypso, Sonia, Louboutin, Mona, Irié wash, Atika, Le bon Marché…
o        Who: Sonia Rykiel, Le Monde people, Prada team
 

Hotel Costes in Saint-Honoré
o        Mood: if the weather is nice, the terrace is the place to see and be seen
o        Costes food: Club Sandwich, grilled fish, pasta, vegetables
o        Shopping around: Goyard, Renaud Pellegrino, Miu-Miu, Jérôme Gruet…
o        Who : Actors, Comedians, Singers, Models

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008


Filed Under: Fashion, France, blog --> Tagged With: casual, lunch, thing

11 thoughts on No such thing as a casual lunch....

  • Bob says:
    9th June 2008 at 8:39 am

    McDonald’s?

  • helena says:
    9th June 2008 at 11:29 am

    Er, wrong Bob. Try again. I’ll give you a clue, it is one of the places on the list.
    Hx

  • GHCH says:
    9th June 2008 at 1:30 pm

    It has to be Hotel Costes. Did you have a dip in their cool pool?

  • Jo says:
    9th June 2008 at 5:28 pm

    Hotel Costes for sure…

  • gillie says:
    9th June 2008 at 10:13 pm

    I rather like the sound of Cafe Charlot (and liked the reviews I found on Google even more!). However, I’m not sure that’s were you ended up!

  • Ruth says:
    9th June 2008 at 11:11 pm

    Go with the picture – I’d say the Cafe Charlot!
    Did you enjoy?

  • helena says:
    10th June 2008 at 12:40 pm

    Hello all – we went to the Cafe de Flore and talked of nothing but existentialism – and designer hats….
    Hx

  • GHCH says:
    10th June 2008 at 6:07 pm

    I don’t believe it. Did the Café Flore still smell of old Gauloises smoke and wet dog?

  • helena says:
    10th June 2008 at 8:33 pm

    No, smoking ban in full force for a while now and not a wet dog in sight. Some strangely dressed women though, I never thought I’d see a Goth in St Germain. I ate a lovely plate of haricot verts and smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, after which I felt very intellectual and saintly.
    Hx

  • Ghada says:
    11th June 2008 at 9:16 pm

    Don’t forget the Japanese green tea!
    x

  • Dona AK says:
    23rd January 2009 at 4:12 pm

    I need a friend like Ghada..can she come visit? 😀

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor in chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. Helena is also working on a thriller called Thin Ice that will be published in spring 2021 as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

Her latest non-fiction work Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles came out in hardback in 2016 and in paperback in April 2018.

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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