La Petite Chinoise : LPC

August really is the month for indulgences for us, les travailleurs (the workers)… I get to go places in Paris I normally avoid during the year. Last night, we “tackled” the busy intersection in the 14th arrondissement. For me, Montparnasse is the eyesore La Tour Montparnasse that is probably ridden with asbestos, countless cinemas with glaring neon signs and hordes of people dashing in, about, around tons of crêperie stands. The Paris rollerblading crowd meets between Gare Montparnasse and Tour Montparnasse for their Friday night rollerblading and that intersection becomes even more of a nightmare for me… there’re better places to be in Paris on a Friday night.

Anyway, here I am on a balmy Tuesday evening in Montparnasse with no chance of getting run over and only good food and good company to be had. Ben and I meet my FMIL for dinner at La Coupole, which means “the dome”. La Coupole appears in many of the Paris guides for its architecture and place in history.

La Coupole used to be a wood and charcoal warehouse. Messieurs René Lafon and Ernest Fraux, then owners of the café Dôme, bought the warehouse in 1927 and refurbished it into the largest brasserie in Paris. La Coupole is more than 1000m2 and was patronised by all artists, from different cultures and walks of life, including writers like Ernest Hemmingway and Simone de Beauvoir…

Today, La Coupole is still one of the places in town to see and to be seen. The setting is perfect for this timeless pastime of people watching. From the outside, La Coupole doesn’t look like much. My FIL remarked that it looked like an IBIS Hotel . On the inside, La Coupole is decorated in Art Deco* style and is very well maintained by its current owners. I love the high ceilings and thought the brasserie is well partitioned by the 33 green marbled and gilded pillars. I also like the big brasserie feel to it, further accentuated by the mirrors, square-ish designs and tiled floors.

I ordered “Le fameux curry de l’agneau à l’Indienne depuis 1927” (The famous lamb Indian lamb curry since 1927). The curry came with some rice and chutney, big cuts of lamb and stewed apples. I was disappointed with the curry, as it was not spicy at all for my Singaporean tongue. But the locals must like it for this recipe to survive 79 years. Or was it a marketing gig? Ben ordered an asparagus risotto, which was good but the portion was small and more like an entrée (appetizer). The best deal was the seafood platter, which was fresh and a good brasserie size serving.

Verdict: The food is only so-so, but lovely Art Deco setting.

*The name “Art Deco” was first coined at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriel Modernes, a World’s Fair held in Paris in 1925. The Art deco movement occurred at the same time as the rapid social and technological advances of the early 20th Century and is also influenced by African and Egyptian arts. The style is characterised by the use of “modern” materials such as aluminium, stainless steel, lacquer and sharkskin, zebra skin, inlaid wood. Bold use of zigzag shapes, stepped forms and big curves.

La Coupole
102 boulevard Montparnasse
Paris, 75014
Tél : 01 43 20 14 20
Métro : Vavin or Montparnasse
Non-smoking and open all year round