Banke Hotel and Josefin Restaurant, Paris

The hotel for our week in Paris was Banke Hotel, located on Rue Lafayette, a quick walk from Les Grand Magasins - Galleries Lafayette and Printemps. It was also a short walk from the Opera Garnier, Le Louvre and many other sights.

Situated in a former bank headquarters, Hotel Banke is housed in an early 20thcentury building designed by architects Paul Friesse and Cassien Bernard. The building was refurbished to become the hotel in 2009. The stately facade dominates the corner of Rue Lafayette and Rue Pillet Will with a style that revives the charms of Paris's Belle Epoque.

The hotel makes a statement with it's spectacular mosaic floored lobby crowned with a glass cupola. The lobby retains many of the original bank features like the teller counters and safe deposit boxes. The colours are predominantly deep red and gold, lots of gold. A decor that blends original architectural elements with contemporary design bringing a 21st century touch to a Hausmann style building.

We were quite fortunate that we were able to try two different room types during our stay. Our first room was a Superior room, mid tone woods, rich burgundys and a velvet head board with lots of designer touches. Our second room was an Executive room which had the same colour choices, a bit more room, and the main feature in this room was a leather headboard, leather woven rug and leather sofa. Stencil furniture prints were painted on the walls giving a whimsical touch to the decor. Both rooms had well sized marble bathrooms with good sized tubs and seperate toilet which for some reason made Vikki happy. WHile not the largest room we have stayed in they were very comfortable and had plenty of storage space with great wardrobes and sufficient drawer space.

During our stay at Banke Hotel, we decided to try the hotel’s restaurant, Josefin.

The stunning glass domed lobby is home to the reception desk, restaurant and bar. On one side of the spectacular mosaic tiled floor is the restaurant and the bar is opposite. 

Glamourous gold leather banquettes, dark wood and leather chairs, gold metal and crystal chandeliers with dramatic red and black highlights were the feature of both the restaurant and bar. Along the old teller counters were whimsical little displays, plants and flowers. 

 Our amuse of salmon:

Beautiful freshly baked breads served with our favourite butter, Beurre d’Isigny:

Unusually for us we both opted for seafood entrees. I ordered the tuna Tataki:

Vikki ordered the carpaccio of lobster with aged balsamic and Spanish extra virgin olive oil:

For main Vikki had a panfried duck breast with wok fried vegetables. Which she said was quite light even though it was duck:

I love seafood so I had scallops with a shellfish foam and mushrooms:

We skipped dessert as we had a big lunch.

Banke Hotel is a great spot to drop your bags and stay in Paris, and is easy to walk to most places. Metro stations are a short walk in several directions. We walked from Banke Hotel to Le Tour Eiffel and Sacre Coeur. Both are big walks but enjoyable and you get to see a bit more of the real Paris.

Unfortunately we forgot to take photos of Hotel Banke so have "borrowed" some from their website.

Vendome Jaeger LeCoultre Boutique Visit

On our first day in Paris Vikki and I went for a long walk that ended at Place Vendome.

One of our first destinations to visit was the Jaeger Le Coultre Boutique. Located in one of the corners of Place Vendome, at numbers 7 and 9, it covers 500sq metres over three floors and has an amazing amount of floor space. A watch making workshop is also located within the boutique space so that small repairs and adjustments do not have to make the trip to Le Sentier.

Behind the stone facade lies a boutique that is light and airy, with walls painted in creams and light greys, light and dark woods, wood floors with  rugs in shades of grey and unique wrought iron work, the JLC boutique is an elegant setting for displaying some of Switzerland’s best horological products. Apart from space for the normal display of watches, the boutique also contains space for special exhibitions.

On arriving we were very lucky to be met by Caroline, the Boutique Manager. Caroline quickly realised that we were quite informed about watches and Jaeger LeCoultre. Within two minutes we were whisked upstairs to the salon for high end pieces.

I had a couple of Jaeger LeCoultre watches that I was particularly interested in seeing and Caroline was most helpful in fulfilling my request to view the Spherotourbillon, Gyrotourbillon and the Master Extreme LAB. First up was the Master Extreme LAB, in both titanium and in rose gold. 

Next up Caroline  upped the ante on the Spherotourbillon and the Gyro Tourbillon by showing us the platinum cased versions with diamonds. We were wowed by the beauty of both the Master Gyrotourbillon 1 and the Duometre Spherotourbillon, and if the platinum and diamonds weren't enough dazzle both watches had an amazing blue aventurine dial which really made a statement. The aventurine has a subtle sparkle to it that is hard to capture in photographs.

Another favourite that I got to see was the Reverso GyroTourbillon 2, a stunning watch from any angle.

Vikki and I always love to look at the JLC Atmos clocks, and the Vendome Boutique had two of the most unique and amazing Atmos clocks on display. Both have a marquetery external box with a hidden button to open them. The first was a design of a Klimt pattern, you can see the button when the box is open, but when closed it combines as part of the design.

 The second Atmos marquetry piece was very subtle, being a patch work of thousands of precisely angled slithers of wood. Each piece so well pieced that Vikki at first thought it was heat treated titanium. The technique is known as straw marquetry.

We also got to see some of the enamelling that JLC is renowned for. This example is a reproduction of the famous Klimt painting “The Kiss”. Not only was it an enamel dial but it also has the roll away curtain, meaning you can display the dial when you like.

After a great conversation with Caroline, we were invited to a masterclass which we were happy to say yes to. 

More on the Masterclass in the next post.