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| Funky/fun chairs at le Balcon |
The Philharmonie de Paris opened a
resto called "le Balcon"on the top floor of their new concert hall last month. It has fairly
uncomplicated food offerings, but I wanted to give it a try – I like the idea
of getting to a concert early and being able to have a sit-down dinner (not
just finger food at the bar) without having to leave the facility.
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| A recital hall I found while wandering around the Philharmonie looking for the external elevator |
Unfortunately, as with all buildings designed by Jean Nouvel (including the new
Guthrie), signage is hideously insufficient. I couldn’t find any signage for
the elevator to take me to the resto. And there were no visible staff members
to help. I knew that it was possible to
enter via the concert hall lobbies, but the outside doors were still locked
when I arrived for my 7:00 reservation.
So I called the restaurant and asked how to get in. The directions they
gave me took me almost all the way around the building on surfaces that were
still lacking trim and the decorative pavers (and, in a few places, contained
non-trivial cracks – yikes!), and they didn’t lead to elevators up to the top
floor. Grrrr. And brrrrr (it was getting pretty cold and windy). So I went back
to the main entrance and just waited till they opened the doors.
Having little time left to eat, I just
ordered the fish & chips. Fish not bad, chips soggy, tartar sauce delicious,
wine (a white Bordeaux) decent.
I would like to try it again –
it’s a comfortable spot, has great views, and the décor is funky (including
irregularly-shaped tables that mimic the tiles on the building). But first I
need to get there in the daytime so that I can find the dang outside-the-hall
elevator!
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