Little Tokyo in Paris
Where do my French friends go for a nice lunch or dinner? Increasingly they renounce a French bistrot for the joys of sushi, sashimi, ramen or some other Japanese dish.
Indeed, France is alive with interest and curiosity for the land of the rising sun. And it is not only a question of gastronomy. The French love Japanese style, arts and fashion.
Rue Saint Anne is the centre of Japanese gastronomy, although there are Japanese restaurants all over Paris. This delightful little street is neatly tucked in between the Opera Garnier, the Louvre and the Palais Royal.
Rue Saint Anne is curious for being a street named after the mother of the Virgin Mary. It was famed for male prostitution from around the 1700s. Nightclubs, restaurants, and bars flourished from the beginning of the 20th century. By the 1960s, Rue Saint Anne was the place for homosexual expression and liberation.
And then, gradually Japanese restaurants and shops began opening up in Rue Saint Anne. The 1970s and 80s was the heyday of the Japanese bubble economy, and Japanese businessmen visiting Paris took to staying in hotels near Rue Sainte Anne, and dining there.
And coincidentally, as the Japanese economy was trending into stagnation from the 1990s, French curiosity for Japanese exotica was taking off. Voila, le quartier japonais.
I enjoy a regular lunch with a friend in Rue Sainte Anne at the highly ranked restaurant YOU. We always have “Shakedon” which is a bed of vinegar rice topped with delicious slices of salmon. When you’re on a good thing, stick to it, he has convinced me. So we always order the same dish. Then we slip around the corner to the Salon de The, Tomo, in Rue Chabanais, for a little cake and tea.
Another must is Takara in the nearby rue Molière. This is reputedly the oldest Japanese restaurant in Paris, having been established in 1958. It is known as the “canteen of celebrities”.
But there is so much to enjoy in le quartier japonais. To mention just a few there are all sorts of noodles like ramen, soba, udon and tan tan men.
Then there are hotpots like shabu shabu and sukiyaki, not to mention Japanese curry or tonkatsu. And all of this can be washed down with saki, Japanese beer or green tea if you must, perhaps accompanied by gyoza!
Somehow a few Korean restaurants have snuck into the mix! And in point of fact, there is also an excellent Korean supermarket, “K-Mart”, where you can buy all sorts of products, including Japanese ones.
I was recently able to buy some miso paste in K-Mart. This is a necessary ingredient for “Hoto”, the miso-based noodle soup that originated in Japan’s Yamanashi prefecture.
There is also a boulangerie and indeed a bookstore. But perhaps the greatest curiosity of the Rue Sainte-Anne is the delightful little Corsican wine bar, run by the friendly Bruno.
France would not be France without talking architecture. Thus, the Rue Sainte Anne is home to several notable buildings, including the Passage Saint-Anne and the Hôtel de Lulli, built in 1670 by the architect Daniel Guittard.
So when you are tired of “steak frites”, there is no better place to lift your spirits than Little Tokyo, le quartier japonais de Paris.