Casual riff
Best modernist dwellings, Chaillot real estate, Piccolo, Maison Aleph, Le Chalet Olivet, Chéri Bibi, MORE
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
Three properties currently on offer in the Chaillot area of the 16th arr:
→ Trocadéro/Place Victor-Hugo (metro Boissière, above) • 2BR/2BA, 87 m2 apartment • Ask: 1.549M € • artist’s workshop style duplex, on a private lane • Annual maintenance/condo fees: 2000 € • Agent: Matthieu Poncet, Engel & Völkers.
→ Chaillot (metro Trocadéro) • 3BR/3BA, 126 m2 apartment • Ask: 2.72M € • penthouse with multiple terraces on 6th floor • Annual maintenance/condo fees: 8500 € • Agent: Vanessa Landau, Barnes.
→ Place de Trocadéro (metro Trocadéro) • 5BR/5BA, 210 m2 apartment • Ask: 6.3M € • massive top-floor flat with wrap-around balconies • Annual maintenance/condo fees: 7140 € • Agent: Valerie Assaraf, John Taylor.
WORK • Friday Routine
Special events
CLÉMENCE GOMMY • founder • Gomi
Neighborhood you work and live in: 1st arrondissement
It’s Friday afternoon. How are you rolling into the weekend?
Fridays are always busy, with weekend events coming up for Gomi, my event and catering company. If there wasn’t an event the night before or today, I’m usually in the office at 10h with coffee and pastries. We dive into our tasks on the computer while chatting about some of the more unusual requests we’ve received, brainstorming the right formats and proposals. Meanwhile, the kitchen is busy with catering preparations.
What’s on the agenda for today?
I start my day with a filter coffee and checking emails. Then, I finalize a recipe project, either cooking or working on photo and video edits. I follow this with a 20-30 minute workout at home before heading to the lab, which doubles as my agency office. There, I wrap up preparations with the team for an event. We head to the venue together to handle the setup, staging, and team briefings. I usually leave events late in the evening. Depending on how the night goes, I either go home for a quick pilates session before bed, or meet friends at a restaurant or bar.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
Today, I’m having lunch at Rigmarole, followed by drinks at Piccolo, the new Italian bar opened by my friends Hubert and Gianmarco. This weekend, I’m heading to Le Chalet Olivet in the Loire to stay at Alice Moireau’s house. The agenda includes a cozy fireplace, chestnut gathering, cooking, flea markets, and board games.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I enjoy visiting the MEP (Maison Européenne de la Photographie) or David Zwirner Gallery, where my best friend works. I’m increasingly drawn to the art world, not only for its aesthetics but also as an interesting investment. I also often go to the Pinault Foundation; I find their exhibitions quite interesting.
Any weekend getaways?
Recently, Greece has inspired me so much that I’ve been there three times this year. I highly recommend these restaurants: Taverna Ton Filon, a wonderful taverna in Athens, and Cantina and Omega3 in Sifnos. Everything is cooked with ingredients sourced within 10 km of the restaurant: it’s truly incredible.
What was your last great vacation?
I’m lucky to travel often, and it’s a huge source of inspiration for me. My most recent trip was a weekend in Morocco to celebrate my 30th birthday. My last major trip was to Japan, one of the most incredible experiences of my life.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
A vintage Sonia Rykiel bag sourced by my friend Bianca from Vintage Therapy.
What store or service do you always recommend?
It’s more of a café, but I absolutely love Dreamin Man, especially now that they’ve opened one near me in the 1st arrondissement.
PARIS WORK & PLAY LINKS: As rolling strike continues, Louvre remains partially open • Marguerite Le Maire, the magnificent Parisian rugmaker • Making the Mokonuts multigrain chocolate chip cookie • Chatting with pioneering Algerian chef Malik Bouzid of Cafe du Coin and L’Orillon.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Bakery
Quiet cult
After searching in vain for the Levantine sweets of her childhood in Syria, Myriam Sabet quit finance, got a diploma in pastry, and opened Maison Aleph. That was 2017. Since then, her orange-blossom and rose-water desserts have quietly amassed a cult following. Signature creations include Nids, delicate nests of kadaïf pastry filled with flavored creams or fruit confits, and 1001 Feuilles, a riff on mille-feuille, made with filo and filled with halva, pistachios, and other Middle Eastern staples.
Her shelves are lined with memories and inventions of her own: zaatar chips made from toasted pita, housemade jams, spice-dusted orangettes, and bars of grand cru chocolate perfumed with cardamom, rose, or saffron. There’s even an intense, perfectly chewy spice cake inspired by the Iraqi klija, baked with a secret mix of seven Levantine spices and crowned with nigella seeds. It keeps for two weeks, but rarely makes it past the weekend. –Victoire Loup
→ Shop: Maison Aleph (4th arr) • 20 rue de la Verrerie • Daily 11h-20h.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Clowning Around
Paris FC v PSG • Parc des Princes (16th arr) • Sun 04/01 @ 20h45 • cat1, 251 € per
Slava’s Snowshow • Le Trianon (18th arr) • Wed 24/12 @ 17h • cat 1, 61 € per
Candice • Salle Pleyel (18th arr) • Mon 22/12 @ 20h • carre or, 69 € per
GETAWAYS • Biarritz
Night sky
At Chéri Bibi, evening begins outside, in the queue for the counter — somehow, part of its pleasures. The front is one wide window, where you can peek at the coziness inside. Once you’re in, you can look out at the beautiful light descending from the sky. At the counter, the barstools are broad and welcoming, facing the open kitchen, a small theater of precision and fire.
There are no hooks under the counter, a small imperfection that feels almost charming in a place where everything else is so considered. The service is flawless — gentle, rather than polished. Everything here is organic, local; the team even rents a small plot of land to grow their own vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers.
The chefs decide the rhythm of the meal: what comes next, when, and how. You can sip through a few glasses as the night unfolds, or step into their glass cellar to choose a bottle together. We opened with anchovies set on a burnt black lime condiment (the kind that could convert an anchovy skeptic), paired with a glass of crémant from Kumpf & Meyer, a powerful start as we scan the menu.
The menu itself resists a clear structure. Confitted eggplant comes with a mind-blowing egg white custard and seaweed, a completely new texture, brightened by ponzu and kiwano. Just-seared tuna with potatoes and sauce au poivre evokes a surfing grandmother’s Sunday table, while the veal and oyster tartare with kimchi and chili feels like both a punch and a hug in a salty meadow. Dessert is rooted in more simple, homey pleasures: apple and pear burnt compote, fromage blanc, poached quince, and caramel, paired with my favorite vermouth (the Bianco by Chinati Vergano, a blend of Cortese and Moscato).
At first, the kitchen feels almost too serious, with chefs at the bar studying each plate like a thesis in texture and flavor. But as the evening finds its rhythm, the tension softens; laughter surfaces, the team relaxes into the flow. Every member of the staff moves with intent and respect, switching stations, watching over one another. It’s a choreography of care, both in front of you and behind the counter.
The big communal table hums with conversation, strangers trading bites and smiles. Next to me, a surfer muses: “Before going out on the waves, I can’t eat too much — we’ll grab a little matcha in Anglet after, as a reward.” His words drift between the clink of glasses and the hiss of the grill — a reminder that this is the Basque Country, where food isn’t just sustenance but rhythm, ritual, and connection.
Chéri Bibi feels like the kind of place that could only exist here in Biarritz, a blend of technical mastery and genuine warmth, of land and sea, of precision and pulse. –Candice Chemel
→ Chéri Bibi (Biarritz) • 50 Rue d’Espagne • Thu-Mon 19h-0h • Book.
GETAWAYS LINKS: London hotel watch: in six interconnected townhouses, new Zetter Bloomsbury sets March 2026 opening… The Newman Hotel will open in February • Air France opening posh new lounge at LHR • Five notable new ski lodges in the Alps • The real reason you should dress up for the airport.
ASK FOUND
Three fresh 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 for dining alone in Paris?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@foundparis.com.
CULTURE & LEISURE • The Nines
Modernist dwellings, Le Corbusier et al
The Nines are FOUND’s distilled lists of the best in Paris and surrounds. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or email found@foundparis.com.
Maison Louis Carré (Bazoches-sur-Guyonne), architecture and interior details, including furniture, textiles designed entirely designed by Alvar Aalto + Elissa Aalto