Parisian café
Parisian cafés serve as a center of social and culinary life in Paris. They have been around for centuries in one form or another, the oldest one still in operation is "Café Procope" at 13 rue de l'Ancienne Comédie, since 1686.
Paris cafés are the meeting place, the neighborhood hub, the conversation matrix, the rendez-vous spot, the networking source, a place to relax or to refuel - the social and political pulse of the city.
The café business sometimes doubles as a “bureau de tabac”, a tobacco shop that sells a wide variety of merchandise, including metro tickets and prepaid phone cards.
Typical Paris cafés are not “coffee shops”. They generally come with a complete kitchen offering a restaurant menu with meals for any time of the day, a full bar and even a wine selection.
Paris cafés crystallize the quintessential Parisian way of sitting undisturbed for a couple of hours, delightfully watching the world go by. Some of the most recognizable Paris cafés include Café de la Paix, Les Deux Magots, Café de Flore, Café de la Rotonde, Le Fouquet’s, Le Deauville, as well as a new wave represented by Café Beaubourg, Drugstore Publicis and many more.
See also
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- Bistro, a form of smaller, informal French restaurant
- Brasserie, a French restaurant which may brew its own beer
- Sidewalk cafe
- Viennese café, cafés and their culture in Vienna