Les Bains
After the new wave years and the Boukobza-Guetta period, the latest installment from this temple of Parisian nightlife continues drawing in a glitzy crowd. For the 2015 version, where the marks of a glorious past still poke through (old D.A.F. or Echo and the Bunnymen concert posters), designer Denis Montel has remixed the eighties for a Flashdance-inspired décor with pixelated disco tiling, a ceiling with spatializing curves, a double patio and speakers embedded into the bathrooms… While a post-disco playlist helps ease the chronological transition, Les Bains’ kitchen (where Christophe Beaufront and Thiou used to cook during the golden age) plunges us body and soul back into fusion food. Wearing customized short skirts designed by the owner Jean-Pierre Marois’ wife, slender waitresses bring out the creations of Philippe Labbe: as an appetizer, scallops with hints of dashi and emulsified grapefruit on a delicious bed of spinach, or a sea bream and yuzu carpaccio; for the main course, Thai-inspired stingray wrapped around a stick of lemongrass, served with coral lentils, a medallion of kefir-infused monkfish rolled in bok choy and served with turnips, or a presa of Iberian pork seasoned with garam masala and citrus… And if you feel like you’ve hit a dead end with the somewhat lazy desserts (an umpteenth cheesecake and lemon tart), the good mixologist cocktails (a perfect Bloody Mary with garlic vodka and cherry tomatoes, €18) and the classy wine list (Vosne-Romanée, Beaune 1er cru, Pessac-Léognan… from €29 to €13,000 the bottle) will help you secure a bill in the €50-80 range






















































































































































































