Straight Up: Hotel Des Grands Boulevards, Paris
In case it’s escaped your attention, houseplants are having a moment. Entire Instagram feeds are devoted to them, debating the merits of the monstera versus money plant. I recently witnessed a near-physical altercation over the last fiddle-leaf fig at a southwest London nursery.
Hotel des Grands Boulevards is a haven for amateur botanists, with succulents and ferns strewn around the entrance courtyard, lobby and restaurant.
It’s just one example of the zeitgeisty touches that French interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon specialises in. Bedrooms come in a palette of muted teal and dusky pink, bathrooms have art deco-style mirrors and brass accents, the restaurant boasts a herringbone parquet floor. It’s Instagrammable but not gimmicky, luxurious but not flashy; in short, what #interiorsinspo dreams are made of.
Chances are you’ve already seen Meilichzon’s work populate your feed: she’s also responsible for the heavenly Henrietta Hotel in Covent Garden and Ibiza’s shabby-chic Experimental Beach.
Both, like Grands Boulevards, are part of the Experimental Group, the team of craft cocktail connoisseurs that started out with Experimental Cocktail Club in 2007 and whose hospitality empire now encompasses 15 venues across Paris, New York, London, Ibiza and Verbier.
The Group’s third hotel in Paris, Grands Boulevards combines irresistible design with killer cocktails: a well-dressed, ‘older millennial’ clientele is a given.
Beyond the lobby is the Shell Bar, a carmine red and burnished copper cubbyhole that harks back to Marie Antoinette’s alleged love of shells - a nod to the building’s origins, built just before the French Revolution. Dimly lit and furnished with sumptuous velvet armchairs and shell-shaped sconces, it’s a seductive spot for a nightcap.
We started at the art deco-style oval bar that dominates the internal courtyard. A retractable glass roof and plethora of plantlife gives this indoor-outdoor space a greenhouse feel. Cocktails are divided into ‘no shell’ (no alcohol), ‘one shell’ (low ABV) and ‘two shells’ (the strong stuff).
We dove straight in with the vodka-based Next Intention from the two shells section: the tartness of kombucha, cherry liqueur and lemon juice tempered by floral notes of lavender and hibiscus cordial.
With whisky, honey and chocolate bitters, the Mizu a Mi sounded like an Old Fashioned, but is served long, with sparkling water and an unexpected sour note thanks to the addition of apple vinegar.
For the Experimental Group, the clue is in the name: house-made tinctures and syrups combine carrot and coconut, wasabi and agave, or lapsang souchong and muscovado.
I ordered a Pink Paradise: a frothy, blush-coloured thing of beauty, but its good looks hid a peculiar salted rhubarb flavour that was an experiment too far. Happily our sympathetic bartender mixed me another: here, the clichés about French service don’t apply.
On the roof there’s a smaller, even more verdant bar space - you’ll be lucky to nab a seat much after 7pm - and the French-Italian restaurant has been well received. It was fully booked on the Tuesday evening of our visit, and something strange hit me mid-way through our second round; all around were couples and friends deep in conversation, with not a phone in sight.
In London, this photogenic atrium would be full of wannabe tastemakers photographing the floor, the toilets, their food. But les jeunes et jolies of the 2e arrondissement are too busy having a good time to bother Instagramming the shrubbery. Vive la France.
17 Boulevard Poisonniere 75002 Paris; grandsboulevardshotel.com
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