Bookworm's delight

Vie Privée, Latin Quarter real estate, iRASSHAi, best Anglophone bookstores, rue Martel, Astier de Villatte, Hotel 48 Nord, MORE

Nov 28, 2025

∙ Paid

WORK • Friday Routine

It’s private

REBECCA ZLOTOWSKI • director
Neighborhood you work in: 5th arr
Neighborhood you live in: 10th arr

It’s Friday afternoon. How are you rolling into the weekend?
France has this tradition of the author-director that we stick to, so sadly (or fortunately) depending on the mood, no Friday looks like any other. Also, all writers know they never really stop working, even on their days off. When I’m in the process of writing a film, I spend my days in my small office in the 5th, surrounded by a garden that makes it feel so special in Paris. I read, write, talk, smoke cigarettes, sleep in the afternoon, then jump on my bicycle to pick up my four-year-old from school around 6. I listen to a podcast while cycling, cross the Seine, and join the gang.

Fridays are also when my stepdaughter comes back for our week. It feels like a party: She’s 10, and we all have a movie night together. And to be specific: I roll into the end of the day with a glass of red wine. I’m a living French cliché.

What’s on the agenda for today?
I’m releasing my latest film in a few days and shooting a TV series at the same time. So I’m texting all day and night with my co-director, editing what has already been shot, and prepping the release of Vie Privée in France on the other days. I’m currently on my way to Aix-en-Provence for a premiere of the film tonight. But don’t get me wrong, this is clearly a hectic moment. Usually my life looks more like unemployment (see answer number 1).

Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
Yesterday was a free day. We celebrated my father-in-law’s birthday at Hôtel Amour in the 9th, then I took my kid to the Jardin du Luxembourg for a ride on the carousel and some fun at the Luco park. Walking those alleys, especially in autumn, makes me feel blessed to live in Paris.

I know I’ll spend the weekend at my fav restaurants and spots on my street, rue Martel, Kamo for amazing tapas, Le Martel for couscous, Madame Gen for a drink, Chez Marie for lunch. You have it all on one block. Perfect for the laziest person in town: me.

How about a little leisure or culture?
The best art dealer in town: the hidden gem Galerie Bazar, where Joséphine Guerrin has just opened this affordable, cutting-edge place full of great artwork from rising artists. I also love the secret spot Out of the Blue, where you’ll find drinks, food, and a hidden little cinema downstairs with an amazing program curated by Chloé Bourges.

Any weekend getaways?
La Bastide de Moustiers is the best getaway: good food, good wine, lost in an amazing landscape, just two hours from Paris and close to les Gorges du Verdon! Romantic and quiet. It’s only open seasonally, so you’ll have to wait until spring, but trust me, it’s worth it. And the restaurant by Alain Ducasse has both a Michelin star and a Michelin Green Star.

What was your last great vacation?
The Italian Alps, Hotel Bellevue, in Cogne. Snow, landscapes, raclette, cute outfits and uniforms for everyone in the hotel, an amazing spa and a kids’ paradise.

What store or service do you always recommend?
Best gifts at Astier de Villatte! Everything’s precious, beautiful, fun, and you can spend 10 euros or a million, depending on your mood and your bank account.

Where are you donating your time or money?
Les Guerrières de la Paix, women fighting for justice and peace in the Middle East, we all need this. And Viens Voir Mon Taf, a place where kids without any social network can discover mentors and jobs they wouldn’t know existed, and concretely find internships. I believe in these local, smart initiatives that bring more social justice.

REAL ESTATE • On the Market

Three properties currently on offer in the Quartier Latin:

→ Sorbonne/Panthéon (metro Maubert-Mutalité, above) • 1BR/1BA, 67 m2 apartment • Ask: 1.522M € • modern feel with exposed wood ceiling beams, ideal pied-à-terre • Annual maintenance/condo fees: 4192 € • Agent: Delphine Mangiameli, Daniel Feau.

→ Heart of Latin Quarter (metro Maubert-Mutualité) • 3BR/2BA, 139 m2 apartment • Ask: 1.9M € • top floor with terrace, steps from Place Maubert • Annual maintenance/condo fees: 9000 € • Agent: Ingrid George, Engel & Völkers.

→ Sorbonne (metro Cluny-La Sorbonne) • 4BR/3BA, 187 m2 apartment • Ask: 3.1M € • spacious family flat on upper floor, with high ceilings and original details • Annual maintenance/condo fees: 5698 € • Agent: Cristelle Chirouter, Barnes.

GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop

High concept

Walking into a concept store always carries a little thrill — the sense that you might stumble across something unexpected to take home with you, anywhere you look. iRASSHAi captures that feeling perfectly. Its shelves are stocked with Japanese essentials, alongside which are scattered unique finds. Add to that an impressive selection of sake and Japanese whiskies, and even the most seasoned aficionado will pause.

Part of iRASSHi’s charm is the way it folds so much into one space without losing its center. Alongside the épicerie and Japanese homewares, there are three eateries: Kissaba, the café; Shokudo, the canteen; and Biwan, the restaurant downstairs. Located right across from the Bourse de Commerce-Pinault Collection, it’s an easy and worthwhile stop.

Rows of beautifully packaged bottles and jars could feel overwhelming, but the knowledgeable staff cut through the noise with spot-on suggestions, sometimes pointing toward something new. One discovery: Goma-Mania, a crunchy, spicy sesame oil that adds an umami kick to everything from eggs to green beans to sauces.

The snack section is just as tempting. Spicy senbei rice crackers are salty, fiery, and addictive. On the sweeter side, there are chewy mochi filled with black sesame and jewel-toned lychee or grape gummies.

True to its name, iRASSHi is warm and inviting. Often there are tastings — a cup of sencha or a tea infusion — and recipe cards to grab on the way out and work on until the next exploration. –Sam Brenzel

→ iRASSHAi (1st arr) • 40 Rue du Louvre • Daily 10h-23h.

PARIS WORK & PLAY LINKS: Inside this weekend’s Le Bal, world’s most lavish debutante ball • The interior designer’s home in the 7th that’s home to XXL art • Christmas tea time returns to The Ritz, starting tomorrow • Where to eat in Paris during the holidays • How to get stuff done in France.

CULTURE & LEISURE • I’m Yours

Isabel LaRosa • Salle Pleyel (18th arr) • Fri @ 20h • cat1, 61 € per
Valerie June • New Morning (Strasbourg - Saint-Denis) • Sun @ 20h • GA, 31 € per
L’entourloop • Adidas Arena (La Chapelle) • Sat @ 20h • Black Friday, 27 € per

GETAWAYS • Alsace

Living frame

Hôtel 48 Nord calls itself a “landscape hotel,” and the name isn’t a metaphor. Wooden hyttes — minimalist Scandinavian cabins — dot the Alsatian hillside, discreetly blending into a Natura 2000 reserve. Each one is angled toward the horizon, their giant bay windows becoming a living frame of mountain and meadow.

Inside: pale woods, warm tiles, soft linens, a coziness that feels curated and effortless. In the suite with a jacuzzi, you slip into bubbles while the valley stretches below, robe waiting nearby, birds providing the soundtrack, bottled bubbles and bretzels on the side. Aperitivo, Alsace-style.

Serenity is the unifying design principle. The shared spa is no exception: a Nordic outdoor bath and a sauna for two, fronted by glass walls that dissolve into the view. A massage can be booked in the spa or in your room, always with nature pressing in from the edges.

Even the restaurant’s tables lean toward the giant windows in a quiet choreography of sightlines. The producer’s list mirrors this proximity. Here, local isn’t a marketing flourish — the nearest producer is 100 meters away, the farthest, 90 kilometers. The same treatment applies to the cellar, wines are sourced within 48 kilometers, reaching as far as the Kaiserstuhl German mountains, across the Rhine.

Chef Jérôme Jaeglé (of L’Alchémille in Kaysersberg) lends his garden-bred sensitivity to altitude cooking, executed here by his right hand, Julien Schaffhauser. The menu is compact: five steps, each designed to be shared, the kind of generosity I crave. A pâté en croûte arrives like a personal indulgence; delicate beef effiloché floats in an herby broth with a minty lift; silure, an ill-loved freshwater fish of the Rhine, comes in beurre blanc so creamy and bright it feels like butter baptized by the river. Vegetables, many from the hotel’s own garden, are treated with reverence.

Dessert doubles as performance: The waiter sweeps through the room with a vast soupière, ladling a light île flottante, its crème anglaise perfumed with sweet vernal grass (a local herb that tastes like vanilla). Then, decadence: a cast-iron cookie crowned with ground ivy ice cream, the taste of wild foraging turned into comfort.

In the morning, breakfast is km 0 in spirit and execution. A glass of crémant and a warm coffee to start the day on a celebratory note, followed by fresh infusions, homemade kombucha and kefir, fresh mushrooms, charcuterie, and cheeses — all valley-born and in-house baked goods.

From the cabins angled toward the horizon to the herbs infusing dessert, from the wines within reach of a bicycle ride to the silence of the sauna glass, it’s a stay that feels expansive and serene. Hôtel 48 Nord is a place where nature is the main course, a view I wish to gaze into at every season, the bright green spring, the misty and orange fall, and the snowy winter. –Candice Chemel

→ Hotel 48 Nord (Breitenbach) • 1048 Rtte du Mont Sainte-Odile • rooms from 337 €/ Dec wknd night.

GETAWAYS LINKS: In Sologne, touring a remade hunting chateau that’s a little bit goth • Art Nouveau bones and contemporary craft shape a Marseille home • Inside new East London design hotel Sir Devonshire Square.

ASK FOUND

Three PROMPTS for which we seek your immediate attention

What’s your favorite Paris spa?
Who do you trust to do your eyebrows?
What’s the best bar to dine alone at in Paris?

Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@foundparis.com.

GOODS & SERVICES • The Nines

Bookstores, Anglophone

The Nines are FOUND’s distilled lists of the best in Paris and surrounds. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or email found@foundparis.com.

The Red Wheelbarrow (6th arr), charming store situated just across from Luxembourg Garden

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