Features

Meet in Paris

30 Aug 2012 by BusinessTraveller

What’s your favourite era? Jenny Southan visits a mix of bohemian, Belle Epoque and contemporary event venues for late-night cavorting in the French capital.

A short hop from the UK by air or rail, the French capital is an ideal option for meetings and events – last year Paris received 13 million business travellers and hosted more than 450 trade fairs and 900 congresses. Its elegant charm, quality infrastructure and wide-ranging hotels, restaurants and venues cement its broad appeal despite high prices. 

Meg de Lafargue, managing director of destination management company Liberty Incentives and Congresses, says: “For clients with the budget, the top three venues in Paris are the Rodin Museum, the Grand Palais and the Palace of Versailles.” It is estimated that each would cost a minimum of €100,000 to hire. However, De Lafargue has noticed that because of the economic downturn, most clients aren’t so willing to throw extravagant parties – or at least be seen to be doing so.

“Nowadays, there is almost always some professional content to justify the spend – people come for meetings and add on an incentive. Big companies don’t like to be seen splashing out.” Because of this, she says, Paris has suffered less than Monaco, Nice and Cannes, which are seen as “more glitzy and glamorous”.

The largest hotels in the city are Le Méridien Etoile (1,025 rooms), the Pullman Montparnasse (953 rooms) and the Concorde La Fayette (950), but De Lafargue says sometimes these still aren’t enough to cater for demand. Even for smaller groups, availability can be a problem as “the seasons have disappeared”. She explains: “Paris can be very busy all year except for the first 15 days of August and between Christmas and New Year. June has become a busy time for meetings, when it didn’t used to be. Budget concerns are much more important so people have become more flexible – they are looking for the right venue at the right price and are more content to adapt their dates.”

So which venue to choose? Taking inspiration from Woody Allen’s 2011 film Midnight in Paris – which magically transports its lead character, an aspiring novelist, to the gloriously bohemian 1920s and golden Belle Epoque – we have picked six historic and six contemporary options that are perfect for a soirée, banquet or cocktail reception, offering you the chance to go back in time or enjoy the best of the present day.

Visit convention.parisinfo.comliberty-incentive.net

Historique

Musée Grévin

Built as a waxwork museum in 1882 by Arthur Meyer, who ran the daily paper Le Gaulois, the Musée Grévin added the incredible Palais des Mirages (Hall of Mirrors) in 1906. The whole venue can be hired any evening of the week from 8pm, and after ascending a baroque marble staircase, guests are ushered into the Palais to experience a kaleidoscopic sound and light spectacle. The strange waxen cast of celebrities, artists and political figures makes a humorous yet atmospheric environment for dinners of up to 150 people in the main room, which is decorated in Louis XV-style with gold leaf an`d Venetian mosaics. The beautiful theatre seats 200 people for award ceremonies and concerts.

  • 10 Boulevard Montmartre; tel +33 147 708 505; grevin.com

Le Train Bleu

A favourite among the moneyed and the famous since its unveiling in 1900, this palatial station restaurant has served everyone from Coco Chanel and Brigitte Bardot to Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau. The interiors exhibit some of the best-preserved examples of Belle Epoque architecture, with every inch of the walls and vaulted ceilings decorated in intricate gilded carvings and evocative murals.

Seating 220 diners, there is the option of hiring sections of the restaurant or taking over the entire space. The cuisine is traditional French, and a set menu is created for large groups – start with a glass of Pommery brut champagne followed, perhaps, by chilled asparagus soup and Charolais beef tartare.

Pavillons de Bercy

Located alongside the River Seine, 5km east of the city centre, the Pavillons de Bercy is comprised of three warehouses (covering 5,000 sqm) that were formerly used to store wine, and two private cobbled streets, all of which can be used for masked balls, gala dinners and teambuilding for up to 4,000 guests.

The venue’s primary function, though, is to house owner Jean Paul Favand’s personal collection of antique fairground art, games and rides, many of which date back to the mid-1800s. Everything from merry-go-rounds to shooting galleries have been restored to working order, allowing visitors to embrace their inner child. The outdoor spaces can also be used for al fresco events, and marquees and stages can be set up.

Salle Wagram

Just off the Champs-Elysées, this restored 19th-century dance hall has been used for fashion shows, exhibitions, banquets, jazz performances from the likes of Louis Armstrong, and even boxing matches. The 800 sqm main ballroom has a 12-metre-high ceiling and mezzanine balcony, and can accommodate up to 1,300 people for a cocktail reception.

A red carpet can be rolled down the steps to the outdoor terrace by the entrance, which can host 400 people for welcome drinks, while the lower ground floor Salle Montenotte is well suited to receptions of up to 600. There is a choice of three caterers – Saint Laurent Gastronomie for classic French fare, Toutbio for 100 per cent organic and Nomad for themed cuisine.

Maxim’s

This Parisian institution, in view of Place de la Concorde, has been frequented by the likes of Rita Hayworth and Marcel Proust since opening in 1893. Couturier Pierre Cardin bought the restaurant in 1981 and while it may no longer be at the cutting edge of Parisian haute cuisine, and the carpets threadbare, throwing a dinner party here still earns one a certain caché. The moody ground-floor bar and eatery seats 200 people and is furnished with red velvet banquettes, stained glass, mirrors and pink lamps. Upstairs is a dark, wood-panelled dining room for 70 guests, while a dozen meeting rooms are to be unveiled this autumn. The second floor has four new rooms with huge floor-to-ceiling windows, used as a nightclub Thursday to Saturday. On the top level, Cardin has a small museum dedicated to art nouveau objects from around the world.

Le Grand Vefour

One of the locations for Midnight in Paris, this outrageously expensive but wonderfully prestigious fine-dining restaurant has been serving kings, queens, politicians, artists and writers since 1784 (with a gap when it was closed between 1905 and 1947). Even Napoleon ate here on occasion. Although it lost one of its three Michelin stars a few years ago, head chef Guy Martin works hard to create inventive French cuisine, with dishes including blue lobster on a crunchy salad with grapefruit and basil oil to start, and fillet of lamb with sour cucumber as a main. The setting is delicately luxurious, with 18th-century hand-painted figures and florals edged with gold, and mirrored walls.

The main restaurant seats 60 people, while a more contemporary upstairs private dining room can accommodate 20. Le Grand Véfour is only open for lunch and dinner during the week and cannot be exclusively hired for large groups.

Moderne

Mini Palais

This chic dining spot is located in the Grand Palais, just off the Champs Elysées, by the River Seine. Its majestic 300 sqm terrace, flanked with pale stone ionic columns and potted palms, is popular among local business people, but the atmosphere is relaxed. The food is a fusion of rustic Mediterranean and French gourmet – try the tomato tartare, sorbet and lemon thyme reduction to start, or the duck magret burger topped with foie gras and homemade frites. The light-filled, high-ceilinged restaurant features wooden floors, steel beams and plaster statues – in fine weather it is open to the terrace, which is illuminated orange and pink in the evening. The entire venue can accommodate 350 guests for cocktails.

Club Silencio

Since opening a year ago, this stylish nightclub has quietly become one of the coolest places to hang out in Paris. This has been helped by its association with surrealistic film director David Lynch, who designed it.

Although primarily a private members’ club (€420 a year for foreigners) open 6pm-6am Tuesday to Sunday, it is possible to gain access if you know a regular or book a private event. The dimly lit underground venue has a central bar area where tattooed trendies mix up cocktails, a dance floor and stage, a 24-seat cinema, and several anterooms with low-slung 1950s-style sofas, coffee tables and art books. Vaulted ceilings are overlaid with chunks of wood covered in gold leaf and there is even a smoking room featuring a “dying forest” of bashed scaffolding poles and a one-way glass wall, behind which strippers perform on occasion. The club can only be hired exclusively on Mondays (for up to 350 people) – otherwise, sections can be booked for small groups.

Maison Blanche

Located above the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, this high-end restaurant may be a favourite nightspot for amorous couples, thanks to its romantic panoramic views of the Eiffel Tower, but its spacious white interiors and two rooftop terraces mean it is also good for corporate events. Weather permitting, the outdoor areas can accommodate 30 to 48 diners each, while the split-level indoor space holds 200. Maison Blanche is open daily for dinner, and Monday to Friday for lunch, but private rentals can be made for any time of day. The cuisine is described as “Languedoc with international inspiration”.

Club Haussmann

If you are looking to throw a lively after-party, product launch or themed night with pumping music, this sleek club for 700 standing is a good bet. Open to the public on Friday and Saturday nights only, it can be privatised Sunday to Thursday. Originally a Swedish bank, the building has a dance floor and bar with black walls and blue lighting, overlooked by an expansive mezzanine level featuring wrought-iron balconies and leather banquettes. Since opening in September last year, companies such as Orange, HSBC, American Express and Tom Ford have chosen it for events.

Le Lido

With its numerous event packages, 1,100-person capacity and high-tech stage with lasers and giant screens, Le Lido makes a good alternative to the better known Moulin Rouge. The glitzy Vegas-style venue, open since 1946, can be taken over for gala dinners, award ceremonies or product launches, but the lavish performance by 70 artists (including 42 Bluebell Girls) is the real selling point. As champagne corks fly, you will be dazzled by bare-chested beauties in frills and feathers as they sing and dance across 23 sets in more than 600 costumes. Backstage tours can be provided on request.

  • 116 Bis Avenue des Champs Elysees; tel +33 140 765 610; lido.fr/us

Le Meurice

This 160-room luxury hotel from the Dorchester Collection may be a Louis VXI-style treasure but in addition to its five historic meeting and banqueting spaces, it has an impressive 250 sqm modern roof terrace on the seventh floor offering sweeping views of the city and space for 80 guests. To gain access, you need to rent out the adjoining 300 sqm Belle Etoile Royal suite, which costs from Ä18,000 a night, but you can be guaranteed the event will be memorable – sunset wine tasting with three-Michelin star canapes is one option.

In December the hotel will open an eight-person private dining room called Table d’Yquem in the basement kitchen, looking on to the chefs at work.

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