Attaché Dispatches No. 2

Welcome to Issue 2 of Attaché Dispatches. Thanks to everyone who replied to the first email with feedback - hugely appreciated. We’ll continue to tweak the format as we go so please keep your thoughts coming. If you reply to this email it goes directly to me…so do with that information what you will. As always, feel free to forward this to anyone you think might enjoy it. And if you’re the recipient of aforementioned forward, don’t forget to subscribe - it’s free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Last week I spent some time in Paris. I’ve been to Paris dozens of times for work and pleasure - it’s right on my doorstep, after all, and in many cases cheaper and faster to get to than, say, Manchester. As a result I’m now in that wonderful and rare place where there’s still so much for me to discover in Paris but also a familiarity and comfort that comes only from repeat and regular exposure. I no longer feel like I need to dash from icon to icon, be it landmark, food, or institution - rather I have a handful of favourite local spots that I like to return to. I can fall into the rituals and rhythms of the city while still discovering something new and enchanting around every corner. I can’t think of many (any?) cities in the world that I have the same relationship with.

I was able to relax into that same routine on this trip, too. A balance of revisiting old favourites (more on that in the Food section) and wandering around The 11th, an arrondissement I didn’t know well until recently, but have quickly become enchanted by. It is clearly an area that attracts the young - indeed I often felt like the oldest person in the entire arrondissement. But with that comes a creative confidence that is extremely attractive. And that, as so often is the case, is heavily reflected in the food scene. 

In the last decade or so, Paris has created a new category of restaurant. Chefs who cut their teeth in the sometimes intimidating world of haute gastronomie left to set up bistros with much simpler food and menus but made with the techniques and ingredients they worked with in some of the best kitchens in the world. The result is Bistronomie - a perfect blend of high-quality ingredients and techniques with unfussy menus and very reasonable prices. And the 11th feels like the epicentre of this uniquely Parisian movement. If you’ve been to Paris more than once, and want to experience where the city feels like it’s heading rather than where it has been, the 11th is a very good place to start. And you will eat very, very well while you’re there.

Before we go any further, it’s worth mentioning that I will never share a place or meal or dish that I haven’t personally eaten and loved. There will be no “I heard about this place” or “this dish looks good” or “some jerk on Instagram gushed about this place”. These are all dishes or places I’ve personally tried and tested, every single one of them. It’s a tough job…

Yvonne in the 11th - Yvonne had been open for less than 2 months when we visited. Which is always a gamble. But what a payoff. Yvonne is the embodiment of the 11th and Bistronomie. A simple but interesting menu, great atmosphere, accessible prices, and incredible food. Highlights included leek confit in a vinaigrette with burnt miso, and pollack in a saffron beurre blanc.

Jambon Beurre in Paris - The glory of a jambon beurre is its simplicity. Bread, butter, ham. That’s it. Why embellish perfection? It’s one of those rare foods where even a mediocre version is still enjoyable. But the good ones, like my favourite from Le Boulanger de la Tour, are exemplary. Crunchy baguette, thick-cut ham, salty French butter. Perfect. I never come to Paris without having (at least) one.

📍 Speaking of Paris food, I have a lot of favourite food spots in Paris. And other cities too. I’m thinking of compiling them into some sort of guide/list. Interested? Let me know.

Cashless Paris - Over the four days I spent in Paris I used cash exactly zero times. From the Métro (the Navigo ticket system is now entirely paperless) to tiny little side-street boulangeries, cash was never needed. In fact my wallet never left the hotel room, it was Apple Pay for literally every transaction. To my Europe and Asia-based readers I’m sure this is a “yeah, so?” tidbit but I suspect it still comes as a surprise to my American brothers and sisters.

Exchange Rate Shenanigans - If you do use your card and the machine asks if you’d like to pay in your home currency, say no. Every time. It’s called Dynamic Currency Conversion - the travel equivalent of a rigged game. It sounds helpful - familiar numbers, easier math - but what you’re really doing is letting the merchant pick the exchange rate. Choose the local currency and let your card provider handle the conversion instead - you’ll get a much better rate.

Film Festival Win - Attaché won gold at the Japan World Tourism Film Festival for our Shimla episode. There were 1500 films competing in the festival, so to receive the Gold prize for Independent Travel Films is a huge accomplishment for our little show.

First Peeks - As I mentioned in the last issue, we’re working on a big new project. Our Patreon backers will be the first to get ANY tidbits about the new project, so be sure to subscribe.

A travel read I enjoyed recently - I Regret Almost Everything by Keith McNally. Hat-tip to Greg Barnes for recommending this one. Keith McNally is the British restaurateur behind some of New York City’s most beloved restaurants - Balthazar, Minetta Tavern, and The Odeon to name a few. His story, the backbone of which is his devastating stroke, is utterly compelling. One of the best autobiographies I’ve come across in years, made all the more engaging by Richard E. Grant’s reading of the audiobook.

I didn’t set out to make this a Paris-centric issue, but here we are. There is so much to love about this city, so it’s hard not to gush. We’ve produced a couple of guides to Paris, the most recent probably being the most relevant but the original still has some applicable tips…except for the Hipmunk sponsorship…they no longer exist and they never ended up paying us, so you should probably just ignore that part.

But to that end, how do you feel about a destination-centric newsletter? Or do you dig the random nuggets approach? Again, just hit reply to this email and let me know, I really do love hearing from you all.

Until next time…