Chef Ruba Khoury trained
at Michelin-starred Septime and Frenchie. She’s now shaking up the Paris bar scene with womenand queer-friendly spot Dirty Lemon (dirtylemonbar.com), which serves creative cocktails and sophisticated fare.
“I saw an exhibition recently on the photographer Rachel Fleminger Hudson, which was quite astonishing. It was showing at La MEP (Maison Européenne de la
Photographie; mep-fr.org), a bite-sized museum in the heart of the Marais. The best flat white I’ve had in a while was at
Café Kaldi (cafe-kaldi.fr), an authentic Ethiopian coffee shop located just outside the city limits in an up-and-coming neighbourhood called Montreuil. Café Singuliers (@cafe.singuliers) is a coffee shop during the day and, in the evenings, a restaurant that has chef residencies. I dined there when it hosted a friend of mine, chef Zuri Camille de Souza. Her mostly plant-based food was colourful, flavourful and served in a beautiful space in the th that’s super-cosy and full of greenery. Chef Erica Paredes started doing supper clubs and pop-ups before opening her own place serving Filipino-inspired food,
Reyna (reyna.paris), months ago on Rue de Montreuil. Erica is known for her chicken wings but I love her burrata, served with a garlic-lemongrass chilli oil and spring onions. Sichuanese restaurant Le
Lac de L’Ouest ( rue Volta, ; ) has been in the city for a very long time but only locals eat there – it’s a hole in the wall so you don’t go for the ambience. Order the marmite de boeuf, peanut salad, aubergine and minced pork.”