This is (I think but make no promises) the last of my posts about my recent trip to Paris, as I tried quite a few new places, from great restaurants to the moment I had that feeling ‘I want to get my hair cut NOW’ (as girls do) and luckily found somewhere truly excellent.Starting with Helen Restaurant, specialising in – you guessed it – fish, and at 3 Rue du Berryer slightly further than a stone’s throw away from the Etoile by foot. This is not a brash brasserie nor a rowdy restaurant but a peaceful beautifully designed small and elegant place to sample their specialities in the ‘culte du
poisson’ and recommended by a friend who lives in Paris – you couldn’t ask for more.At Helen you will find a selection of ‘cru’ fish such as carpaccio of bar or daurade (sea bass or sea bream), salad of poulpe (squid) and lobster, and turbotin (turbot), rouget (red mullet) and merou (grouper) plus other fishy delicacies. It’s well worth refreshing your knowledge of fish in French before you go, although the staff of course speak English – I always think a menu in English doesn’t have the same resonance as it does in its native language.
Everything here is carefully and beautifully presented with the fish being the outstanding element. Expect wonderful flavours and a meal well worth the short walk. There are delicious looking desserts as well – if you can get that far. The Helen restaurant website also is only in French but it’s well worth a look. On to the important subject of a hair cut. Not something you take lightly if you want to look your best all the time and suddenly notice (and are rem
inded that – oh yes) something should be done. I’m not one of those people who wants to hang around unhappy with her haircut until I’m back home, so I walked to a salon I had passed previously in the Boissy d’Anglas, just off the Place de la Concorde and the Faubourg St Honore. There’s no point in looking for a cheap trim in Paris, there are hundreds of salons and who knows what they would do to you. This, M H Coiffure, is in an expensive area and a beautifully designed salon. So if you’re in Paris in need of a hair cut go and visit them. You won’t be disappointed. As I wasn’t.
Helen Restaurant
3 rue Berryer, 75008 Paris
h@helenrestaurant.com
+33 1 40 76 01 40
M H Coiffure
15 rue Boissy d’Anglas, 75008 Paris
salon@mhcoiffure.com
+ 33 1 47 42 15 77.
