A slice of historical past goes properly with a pleasant restaurant meal and it’s a mixture simply discovered at Le Procope, simply up the highway from the Odéon metro station within the sixth arrondissement. For there you’ll find traces of the Revolution, the Enlightenment and heavyweight Nineteenth-century authors like Balzac whereas having fun with among the similar conventional French delicacies which has been served right here for over three centuries. Little marvel then that the restaurant is formally categorized as a monument historique.
The indicators displayed exterior are engaging. “Café-glacier depuis 1686,” reads one, making it the oldest café in Paris in case you low cost the truth that it closed down for a interval within the Nineteenth century. Within the late seventeenth century it was, continues the knowledge panel, virtually actually the primary restaurant to serve espresso, the modern drink newly arrived from Italy. What’s extra, it was introduced in porcelain cups to prospects at their desk. All of this was new, and it was the start of Parisian café tradition.
Le Procope is in 18th-century fashion. Photograph credit score: Michael Rys / Wikimedia Commons
Le Procope opened its doorways in 1686, the brainchild of Sicilian Francesco Procopio dei Cotelli, who opted from the outset for an expensive ambiance, selecting crystal chandeliers, mahogany and velvet for the décor. Commerce was brisk from the start, boosted by actors and viewers members from the Comédie Française theater which at the moment was simply throughout the highway. The novelist Alain-René Lesage was among the many early prospects and wrote delightfully of the bustling new restaurant the place you’d discover “nobles and cooks, wits and sots, pell mell, all chattering in full refrain to their coronary heart’s content material.”
The ambiance right this moment could also be just a little quieter, however a lot of the décor has been stored. Certainly, it’s stated that the wallpaper has not been modified since 1832! The girl on the ticketed cloakroom desk smiled after I requested her if it was true, as I had learn, that the restaurant has just a little museum upstairs. “Ah,” she stated, “the entire restaurant is a museum, madame. You will notice.” We adopted a waiter by means of a room with darkish purple and mustard-colored partitions, lined in prints and framed paperwork the place the tables – primarily full – had been laid with white linen cloths, heavy cutlery and glowing glasses. Within the little nook reserved for us was a heavy previous bookcase filled with historical leather-bound tomes and on the ceiling I noticed not only a copy of key textual content from the Revolution — the Declaration des Droits de l’Homme — but in addition an old style ironwork chandelier. Bliss for the historical past nerd!
Le Procope. Photograph credit score: Marian Jones
However we had, in fact, additionally come for the meals. The classics of French gastronomy all gave the impression to be on the menu – soupe à l’oignon gratinée, sole meunière – and there was a separate part labeled nos recettes historiques with dishes like blanquette de veau traditionnelle and the intriguing tête de veau en cocotte, comme en 1686. What, I puzzled, distinguished a veal casserole cooked in 1686 from one ready within the twenty first century? The set menu for lunchtime, le menu Procope, provided glorious worth, though I barely wished we’d come within the night so I might benefit from the extra extravagantly named menu philosophe. My trout with almonds was elegant and completely cooked, and the Coupe Amaretto to comply with – ice cream and Chantilly cream drizzled with liqueur – was a deal with. The espresso got here with just a little madeleine cake. After all it did!
As for the entire restaurant being a museum, that’s precisely proper. The restroom doorways are labelled citoyens and citoyennes, the egalitarian phrases which changed monsieur and madame in the course of the Revolution, and each nook and cranny is full of cabinets and cupboards displaying objects and paperwork linked to Le Procope’s historical past. And it’s fairly a historical past. It has been described because the “nerve heart for the Revolution,” it was a go-to venue for among the best-known Enlightenment figures and within the Nineteenth century it was the favourite restaurant of lots of well-known novelists and poets.
The Café Procope, because it may be imagined within the 18th century within the background, from left to proper: Condorcet, La Harpe, Voltaire and Diderot. attributed to Jean Hubert. Public area.
A lot of the Revolution was deliberate there and Danton, Marat and Robespierre are all stated to have been prospects. It was from Le Procope that the orders for the assault on the Tuileries Palace in 1792 had been issued, and it’s thought that the primary purple caps worn by revolutionaries had been seen there. Among the many paperwork on show are a fraction of Marie Antoinette’s final observe, written at 4 a.m. on the day of her execution, wherein she bids a heart-rending farewell to her youngsters: “My poor youngsters, adieu, adieu.” Simply close by is a pattern of her husband’s writing, his request for a three-day keep of execution to offer him time to “put together himself to satisfy his God,” a plea which was rejected. A vivid memento from the interval simply after the Revolution is one among Napoleon’s bicorne hats, stated to have been left intentionally in lieu of paying his invoice!
Le Procope was additionally well-liked with the nice thinkers of the Enlightenment interval. Maybe they had been drawn by the mental ambiance of a restaurant close to the town’s best-known theater, then stayed for the meals and the hospitality. Amongst them had been Diderot and his co-editor Jean le Rond d’Alembert, engaged on their ground-breaking encyclopedia, a “ebook of information” extra complete than had ever been written earlier than. The philosophers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu had been prospects too and so was Voltaire, who is alleged to have tried ice cream right here for the primary time and commented that he discovered it “beautiful,” including “What a pity it isn’t unlawful!” There are even claims that Benjamin Franklin ate there, maybe even engaged on the primary draft of the American Structure at one of many Procope’s tables.
The checklist of Nineteenth-century authors who got here to Le Procope is spectacular and prolonged and contains the poets Alfred de Musset and Théophile Gautier, born in 1810 and 1811 respectively, and Paul Verlaine who was a technology youthful. The novelists Honoré de Balzac, George Sand and Victor Hugo, all born on the cusp of the Nineteenth century, had been recognized to be prospects and it’s fascinating to invest on whether or not they had been impressed by the broad vary of individuals they combined with whereas eating to create their characters. Absolutely, they should have been?
Le Procope. Photograph credit score: Marian Jones
When the restaurant closed its doorways in 1897, it should have felt like the top of an period. And when it reopened in 1957, in fact it made sense to lean closely on its repute as a grand literary café from the earlier century. Nonetheless, on the day I visited, I gave the impression to be the one particular person admiring the wealth of displays and historic treasures on present. The tables had been full of consumers having fun with the meals and really a lot dwelling within the second. They had been virtually solely French so far as I might see, absolutely an affirmation of the standard of the delicacies and the civilized, but relaxed ambiance. Whether or not you’re looking for historical past or simply hoping to seek out tasty, conventional French delicacies, you’ll not be upset. And if it’s a mixture of the 2 you search, then actually, I can’t consider wherever I’d suggest extra extremely!
Napoleon’s well-known hat at Le Procope. Photograph credit score: Marian Jones
Particulars
Le Procope
13, Rue de l’Ancienne Comédie, sixth
Metro: Odéon
Menu Procope
Monday-Saturday, 12 pm – 7 pm
Starter + most important course OR most important course + dessert 23.50 €
3 programs 29.50 €
Menu Philosophe
Each night from 7 pm and Sunday lunchtime (besides holidays)
Starter + most important course OR most important course + dessert 33.50 €
3 programs 39.50 €
Lead photograph credit score : Café Procope. Photograph credit score: Jean-Marie Hullot / Wikimedia Commons
