For years, Nikita, the Russian cabaret in the 16th arrondissement, has been the classic Russkie rendezvous in Paris, with balalaika players, vast vodka resources, and red velvet banquettes that play to our White Russian, Tzarist fantasies.

IKRA, which opened on the Left Bank last October, takes a different tack.

“We wanted Russian, but not so traditional,” says owner Alain Kocer, an Istanbul-born, Macedonian architect, about his first foray into the Paris restaurant fray.

The décor is sleekly contemporary (with a virtual fireplace) and a big red piano where artists like Moscow-via-Tashkent Svetlana hold court. Chef Clément Bouldoires provides a lighter spin on classics like koulibiac, beef stroganoff, and pear vatrouchka. And of course, there’s caviar… which is what ‘ikra’ means back in the ex-USSR.

Director Mischa Korotkov, from Saint Petersburg, doubles as barman and neatly juggles bottles à la Tom Kruzki. Not satisfied with pouring Stoli all night, Mischa invented a colorful collection of molecular (not Molotov) cocktails like vodka/manzana-based Matrechka or apricot/amaretto Russian Gigolo that get an extra taste-burst from Marx-ist (that’s Thierry, not Karl) fruit ‘pearls’.

At happy hour (every day from 3 pm to 8 pm), these adventurous cocktails cost only 5€. There’s a comrade-friendly 14.90 € lunch too. A three-course dinner for two is approximately 70€ before wine.  Last dinner orders at 11:30 pm … 365 days of the year.

IKRA, 119 Boulevard Raspail, 6th arrondissement. Tel: 01 45 48 12 33. Metro Notre Dame des Champs. Open daily from 7:30 am to 2 am.

© 2013, Corinne LaBalme

Corinne LaBalme, a Paris-based writer, journalist and editor, is currently working on development of a series lifestyle documentaries for Muses Productions.

The post IKRA: Russian Cuisine (and a Red Piano) in the 6th Arrondissement appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

While Paris’s seasonal crop of exhibitions, theater and music clamors for attention, the numerous national and religious cultural centers of Paris yield their fruit year-round to lesser fanfare.

These centers welcome members and outside visitors to diverse programming of a more intimate or confidential kind, bringing to Paris glimpses great and small of nations and of religions.

Some of the centers and institutes listed below are worth a visit even without attending a particular event since they occupy notable or historical buildings or attractive settings in their own right: for example, the Swedish Cultural Center has a peaceable tearoom in his historic building and courtyard in the Marais, while the Collège des Bernadins (a Catholic cultural center) occupies a historical building of the 13th century across the river from Notre-Dame.

Here to start are six institutions that reveal the diversity of these cultural centers

1. Irish Cultural Center
5 rue des Irlandais, 5th arrondissement
The Irish Cultural Center, located two blocks south of the Pantheon, grew out of the Collège des Irlandais, a Catholic seminary for Irish students. A community of Irish students and clergymen officially gathered on the Left Bank in 1578 as they sought refuge for training and education of Catholicism, then restricted back home. Irish colleges (seminaries) were then set up in various Catholic or Catholic-friendly countries of Europe; about 30 existed in continental Europe by the end of the 18th century, with the community in Paris being the largest. The students moved into the location of what is now Irish Cultural Center in 1775. Later extensions include a chapel dedicated to Saint Patrick, which still holds Sunday mass open to the public, and a library of old books and manuscripts, many dating from the 15th to 18th centuries, visited only by special permission. A modern library on the ground floor is open to the public.

La Fondation Irlandaise (The Irish Foundation), comprised of French and Irish members, has managed the Collège des Irlandais since a decree by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805. The street the center is on was renamed for the Irish two years later, though the complex has also served other functions over the years. In 1945 it briefly served as a refuge for displace persons claiming or requesting American nationality. From 1945 to 1997 it was used as a Polish seminary. Returned to the Irish, now financed by the Irish government, and no longer a religious center despite the presence of the chapel, the Irish Cultural Center reopened as such in 2002. The center promotes various aspects of culture emanating from the island, including music, poetry, literature and film. The center also has housing for 45 students, artists and writers.

2. British Council 
9-11 rue de Constantine, 7th arrondissement
The British have an extensive educational and cultural network throughout the world in the form of the British Council, “an executive non-departmental public body, a public corporation (in accounting terms) and a charity” promoting all things British. The British Council in Paris is of most interest to English-speakers residing or visiting the city for its occasional speaking events involving prestigious figures in the fields of the film, literature and the performing arts. The British Council is also heavily involved in efforts to promote the English language through courses and to promote British science, culture and arts through cooperative programs.

3. Swedish Institute
11 rue Payenne, 3rd arrondissement.
This is Sweden’s only foreign official cultural center in any country. From the historical mansion that it has occupied in the Marais since 1971 (making it one of the first such mansions to be restored in the district), the Swedish Institute organizes exhibitions, concerts, encounters with writers, projects of films, theater and debates on questions of culture, science and society. Swedish classes are also available.

Even without an exhibition the Swedish Institute makes for an appealing stop in the Marais for its café/lunch room, open noon to 6 p.m. Tues.-Sun. Swedish bread, pastries, soup and sandwiches.

4. Collège des Bernardins, a Catholic cultural center. 
20 rue de Poissy, 5th arrondissement
Before considering its contemporary use, it’s worth noting that the Collège des Bernadins, owned and operated by the Catholic Diocese of Paris, is of exceptional architectural value for its 230-foot-long (70-meter-long) 13th-century “nave” that originally served as living space and educational center for Cistercian monks (also known as Bernardins after Saint Bernard who helped develop the order).

In the absence of special events in the nave, entrance is free and open to the public. It’s located on the Left Bank just one street back from the river across from Notre-Dame. Its gardens, in fact, once spread to the riverbank.

Construction of the Collège des Bernardins was part of the development of centers of learning (which at the time meant a theological education) on the Left Bank are that is now the 5th arrondissement. The origins of the Sorbonne, founded by Robert de Sorbon, also date from this period of the 13th century. The area would eventually become known as the Latin Quarter since the education of these and other institutions was in Latin.

The Collège des Bernadins declined in the second half of the 18th century and, during the revolution, lost its religious function when seized from the Church as national property. It was first transformed into a prison and then used as a fire station for 150 years beginning in 1845.

Purchased by the Diocese of Paris in 2001, a vast project of restoration and enhancement was then undertaken (costing 52 million euros, including 14 million in public funding) to create a center “dedicated to hopes and questions of our society and their encounter with Christian wisdom.” The center reopened in 2008. According to the center’s administrators, no public funding is used for its operating expenses.

The mixed-use center holds exhibits, performances and musical events, provides classrooms for theological and biblical education through the Cathedral School, and organizes conferences and lectures that bring together a political, artistic and academic intelligentsia to discuss numerous themes as vast and varied as biomedical ethics, economics, and relations between Judaism and Christianity.  Events take place in the nave or in the comfortable 240-seat auditorium that has been added beneath the eves.

5. Polish Institute
31 rue Jean Goujon, 8th arrondissement.
As with many of the national institutes and centers on this list, the Polish institute is a window to the nation’s contemporary artistic and intellectual culture and has the mission of promoting the national culture and influence while favoring international cultural exchanges with the host country. The Polish Institute excels in this form of cultural diplomacy in Paris through its programming that presents intellectual and artistic and historical views and voices from Poland.

6. Arab Institute
1 rue des Fossées-Saint-Bernard, 5th arrondissement.
The Arab Institute, Institut du Monde Arabe, opened in 1987 on the left bank of the Seine with a mission of presenting to the public Islamic-Arab culture from its origins to today. It therefore presents and representing a region (ignoring Israel), a religion and the diverse cultures of Arab countries.

Financed by France with contributions by Arab states, the institute has three main goals: to make the French aware of the Arab world, to favor cultural exchanges and to reinforce France-Arab cooperation.

The Lebanese restaurant at the top of the building has a delicious view of Notre-Dame, the Seine and the rooftops of Paris. The building was designed by group of architects led by French architect Jean Nouvel.

Map showing location of the six institutions described above

An extended and non-exhaustive list of other cultural centers and institutes in Paris

The names of organizations representing non-English-language countries have been translated into English for the purposes of this article.

7. Algerian Cultural Center, rue de la Croix-Nivert, 15th arr.
8. Bulgarian Cultural Institute, rue de la Boétie, 8th arr.
9. Canadian Cultural Center, 5 rue de Constantine, 7th arr.
10. Cervantes Institute of Paris (Spanish cultural center) , 7 rue Quentin Bauchart, 8th arr.
11. Cultural Center of China in Paris, boulevard de la Tour Maubourg, 7th arr.
12. Danish House, 142 avenue des Champs-Elysées, 8th arr.
13. Dutch Institute, 121 rue de Lille, 7th arr.
14. Egyptian Cultural Center, 11 boulevard Saint-Michel, 5th arr.
15. Finnish Institute, 60 rue des Ecoles, 5th arr.
16. Goethe Institute (German Cultural Center), 17 avenue d’Iéna, 16th arr.
17. Greek Cultural Center, 23 rue Galilée, 16th arr.
18. Hungarian Institute of Paris, 92 rue Bonaparte, 6th arr.
19. Italian Cultural Institute, 73 rue de Grenelle, 7th arr.
20. Japanese Cultural Center, 101 bis quai Branly, 15th arr.
21. Korean Cultural Center, 2 avenue d’Iéna, 16th arr.
22. Kurdish Institute of Paris, 106 rue La Fayette, 10th arr.
23. Latin American House, 217 boulevard Saint-Germain, 7th arr.
24. Mexican Cultural Center, 119 rue Vieille du Temple, 3rd arr.
25. Romanian Cultural Institute, 1 rue de l’Exposition, 7th arr.
26. Russian Center for Science and Culture, 61 rue Boissière, 16th arr.
27. Swiss Cultural Center, 32-38 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 3rd arr.
28. Cultural Center of Taiwan in Paris, 78 rue de l’Université, 7th arr.
29. Cultural Center of Vietnam in Paris, 19-19bis rue Albert, 13th arr.

There used to be an American Center in Paris, but it went broke in 1996.

The association Forum des Instituts Culturels Etrangers à Paris (FICEP) bring together 46 foreign and regional cultural institutes in the capital. For more information on FICEP, which celebrates Foreign Culures Week in Paris from Sept. 23 to Oct. 2 this year, see www.ficep.info.

© 2011, Gary Lee Kraut

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The tale of her life (1819-1884) and of the men she frequented speaks volumes of the history and culture of all of Europe at the time—from Russia to Paris, from Portugal to London, from Algeria to Silesia—while the presence of her bathtub in a corner of an overlooked and dimly lit shop in Paris’s 17th arrondissement offers a curious glimpse at the afterlife of objects of excess and luxury.

Despite her fame, relatively little is known about the woman who came to be known as La Païva Born Esther Lachmann to Polish Jewish refugees in Moscow, the future marquise was first married at age 17 to a French tailor in the Russian capital. But the working-class life was not for Esther; she left behind her husband and son to come to Paris, where she took Thérèse as her first name.

Young, elegant, intelligent, and determined, Thérèse soon charmed Henri Herz, a wealthy pianist who introduced her to musicians and writers and a taste for a life of luxury. Her ambitions as a demimonde led to London, where British lords continued to treat her well. But Paris was where the real action was. She returned to the French capital where, Henri having hit hard times, she soon married a Portuguese nobleman known as the Marquis de Païva.

The newly minted Marquise de Païva, better known as simply La Païva, had now hit the big time. She took the best of the marquis, i.e. his name and his bank account, and pushed the rest, i.e. the man himself, out the door, while remaining married. Her rise follows that of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, president from 1848 to 1851 then emperor Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, though without the fall since she’d encounter greater fortune in the 1870s.

In 1871, she had the marriage to the marquis annulled (he shot himself the following year) and immediately remarried, this time to Prussian Count Henckel von Donnersmark. France may have been defeated by the Prussians in 1871, but La Païva still had the body and mind of a conqueror. The count was 11 years her junior and a cousin to Bismark.

Now countess, though forever remembered as La Païva, she ordered the construction of a mansion on the Champs-Elysées. That mansion, at #25, is one of the few remaining jewels of the avenue. Passersby often miss that landmark building, however, because it’s set back from the more recent buildings on the avenue that have replaced the other mansions that once lined the avenue. It has belonged to The Travellers Club of Paris since 1904, so only members and their guests get to see the interior.

While that mansion was under construction La Païva ordered the decoration of the Chateau de Pontchartrain, 22 miles west of Paris, which the count had given her. The onyx bathtub was ordered for that chateau. The marble comes from an ancient Roman quarry that had recently been reopened in Algeria, then a French colony. It’s said that La Païva took milk baths in the tub, perhaps Champagne baths as well, but it’s doubtful that she got much use of it.

Her Prussian connections certainly increased her fortune—the yellow Donnersmarck diamonds she wore are legendary—but the couple’s contacts within the upper reaches of French government were increasingly strained in the years following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Some say that she and her husband were accused of spying for the Prussians and eventually invited to leave France. Whatever the reason, they did leave Paris after several years and settled in the counts castles in Silesia, where she died in 1884.

The bathtub now belongs to Nicolas Beboutoff, who was born to a Russian ballerina in Monaco in 1944, was once musician in a balalaika band, and for some time now has specialized in the restoration of pre-1920 plumbing.

How did Mr. Beboutoff come to own the heavy tub and to put it on display among his 19th-century and early 20th-century finds in his shop?

For that curious and distinctly 20th-century European tale you need to stop by his shop at 29-31 rue des Dames in the Batignolles Quarter of Paris’s 17th arrondissement. Best to call first to make an appointment: 01 43 87 88 00. Yes, the tub is for sale. At this writing Mr. Beboutoff is asking 150,000 euros, excluding tax and shipping. See www.sbrparis.com for more about his work.

– GLK

Change of address: Nicolas Beboutoff has since moved his shop (and the famous bathtub) to Cachan, a southern suburb of Paris. The new address is 34 rue Gabriel Peri, 94230 Cachan.

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