LE SENTIER ❘ PARISIAN WALKWAYS


“THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD IS A MICROCOSM OF PEOPLE WHO AREN’T AFRAID TO INNOVATE”


offering fresh ideas include bars like Hoppy Corner (34 rue des Petits Carreaux) and the DIY brewery Brew Unique (1 rue des Jeuneurs) which are bringing the craft beer revolution to Paris, and La Cave du Sentier (33 rue d’Alexandrie), which is acquainting oenophiles with the beauty of the world’s newest wine style – skin contact or ‘orange’ wine.


Clockwise from above: Brasserie Dubillot has rebooted the concept of the brasserie; trendsetting jeweller Atelier Alice Hubert; Wilo & Grove is a delight to visit; La Cave du Sentier is a treat for the senses; the historic Passage du Caire; book a stay at the Hôtel du Sentier; Pointe Trigano, the narrowest apartment building in Paris; the 17th-century Hôtel de Saint- Chaumond; inset, Brasserie Dubillot; Le Sentier is a buzzing neighbourhood


ARTISANAL FLAIR Of course, food and drink aren’t the only things being revisited in the Sentier. In 2013, Morgane Sézalory, founder of the 100% online pret-à-porter brand Sézane, opened l’Appartement Sézane (1 rue Saint-Fiacre), the first boutique in Paris where shoppers come only to try on clothes before ordering them digitally. In the Passage du Caire, the trendsetting jewellery maker Alice Hubert has opened a workshop-boutique, hoping to inspire other artisans to move into this historic arcade. And at Wilo & Grove (40 rue des Petits Carreaux), former Christie’s auction house art experts Fanny Saulay and Olivia de Fayet created what they call the “next- generation art gallery” in a bid to defend brilliant under-the-radar contemporary artists and keep prices fair for everyone, while presenting artwork in an uncommonly relaxing environment – all in the same building which features the stunning Oasis of Aboukir green wall. “When you see how the Sentier is reinventing itself today, it really refutes this notion we hear that Paris has lost its dynamism,” says Olivia. “That’s why we fell in love with this neighbourhood, it’s a place that seems destined to evolve without end.” With so many attractions, the Sentier has become a destination for in-the-know travellers today. Several stylish hotels have been created for them, from Hôtel Edgar (31 rue d’Alexandrie) to The Hoxton (30-32 rue du Sentier), housed in a sumptuous hôtel particulier once home to an advisor to Louis XV. Finally, in 2021 an historic building with a truly iconic façade was reopened as the Hôtel du Sentier. The hotel’s façade, decorated with sculpted hieroglyphs and heads of Hathor, is a transporting vestige of the Egyptomania which gripped France in the early 19th century. It boasts four-stars, yet founders Charlotte and Samuel Castro instil it with the familial ambience of a provincial guest house. Charlotte admits she’s so at home in the Sentier she rarely leaves. “It’s such a pleasurable place to live. There are busy commercial areas we can visit just nearby, yet when we come home in the evening, it’s so calm here we have the impression we’ve stumbled upon a little hidden square in Provence.” Indeed, spend an evening on Hôtel du Sentier’s charming restaurant terrace on the quiet, tree-lined Place du Caire, while the Egyptian goddess of love, beauty and pleasure gazes down on you from overhead, and you will agree – there is no place in Paris like the Sentier. FT


Aug/Sep 2022 FRANCE TODAY ❘ 53


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