Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
road-tested, so to speak, every lunchtime
(get here early if you want to get a seat);
and cookery classes are led by well-known
chefs in the upstairs demonstration
kitchen.
Cooks may also want to make a stop in
nearby Holland Park to check out the
sophisticated kitchenware at
Summerill &
Bishop,
at 100 Portland Rd. (
&
44/20/7221-
4566;
www.summerillandbishop.com),
from Japanese knives to Italian steel pots to
Belgian glassware.
4 Blenheim Crescent (Tube: Ladbroke
Grove;
&
44/20/7221-1992;
www.books
forcooks.com).
(
Heathrow (24km/15 miles) or Gatwick
(40km/25 miles).
L
$$$
22 Jermyn St.,
22 Jermyn St.,
St. James (
&
800/682-7808
in the U.S., or
44/20/7734-2353; www.22jermyn.com).
$$
Vicarage Private Hotel,
10 Vicarage
Gate, South Kensington (
&
44/20/7229-
4030;
www.londonvicaragehotel.com).
Cookbooks & Kitchenware
41
Librairie Gourmande
In the Shadow of Les Halles
Paris, France
The great Les Halles food market may have
decamped from this Parisian neighborhood
many years ago, but the culinary spirit lives
on in this wonderful two-story bookshop,
its shelves laden with books on food and
wine. Quintessentially French as that may
seem, Librairie Gourmande is much more
international than you'd expect, stocking
books in several languages, including a
sizeable English-language section.
Librairie Gourmande began as an open-
air book stall along the Seine in the mid-
1980s. It then occupied a tiny shop on the
rue Dante for years before moving to this
neighborhood under new ownership in
2007. Oddly enough, considering how
important food and wine are to Parisians, it's
the city's only culinary book specialist.
Alongside cookbooks, biographies, and food
history, you'll find a number of scholarly
titles and reference works. Most titles are
new, although there are some secondhand
copies of classic books as well. The custom-
ers are an eclectic mix of professional chefs,
home cooks, and food enthusiasts.
Inspired by the cookbooks you've found
at Librairie Gourmande, you may want to
acquire exotic equipment for all the new
French techniques you will be trying out.
Naturellement,
Paris has several excellent
kitchenware sources, all close to Librairie
Gourmande. Right down the street you'll
find
A. Simon,
at 48 and 52 rue Montmar-
tre, 2e (
&
33/1/42-33-71-65
), which has
been supplying professional cooks since
1884. That makes it a newcomer, how-
ever, compared to nearby
E. Dehillerin,
at 18 rue Coquillière, 1er (
&
33/1/42-36-
53-13
), founded in 1820. These large
shops go well beyond pots and pans,
offering implements and accessories you
never dreamed existed.
90 rue Montmartre, 2e (Métro: Sen-
tier;
&
33/1/43-54-37-27;
www.libraire
gourmande.fr).
(
De Gaulle, 23km/14 miles). Orly (14km/
8
2
/
3
miles).
L
$$
La Tour Notre Dame,
20 rue du
Sommerard, 5e (
&
33/1/43-54-47-60;
www.
la-tour-notre-dame.com). $
Hotel de la
Place des Vosges,
12 rue de Birague, 4e
(
&
33/1/42-72-60-46;
www.hotelplacedes
vosges.com).
