Made famous by the dramatic downfall of John Galliano from his post at Dior, La Perle is a relaxed neighbourhood café and brasserie on the Rue Vieille du Temple in Le Marais. Walking away from the busy Rue des Francs Bourgeois and continuing northwards, the pavements are more densely lined with cutting edge designer boutiques and passers-by are fashion forward and kooky. La Perle is a popular haunt for the ‘in-crowd’ and the clientèle gathers outside on the terrace, chatting and drinking espressos. In general, the customers are the most striking characteristic; in one corner, a girl is absorbed in her reading, at the bar a man sits with his young son, some people surf the web and elsewhere, others gossip idly. Inside, things are kept basic although charming and comfortable, with tables in high demand. The defining characteristic of La Perle is its atmosphere; employees are friendly and smiling and a mixture of age groups mingle together contentedly.
La Perle can be visited for either a cup of coffee or a meal. Prices are relatively cheap, with an espresso costing around 2,20€ and a meal between 15 and 30€. Not bad for a slice of Dior drama!
Information:
Address: 75 rue Vieille de Temple, 75003
Metro: Chemin Vert (Line 8), Saint-Paul (Line 1)
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday 06:00 – 02:00, Saturday and Sunday 08:00 – 02:00
Telephone: 01 42 72 69 93
4 Comments
Hi there!
Wandering around wordpress-land I came across your blog.
About La Perle… looks (and sounds, by the way you describe it) like the kind of café I would enjoy. Sitting in a café terrace and making up stories/the lives of the ones sitting around you it’s always fun 😉
I’m glad I found your blog, I’ll keep looking around!
Take care!
Sitting at La Perle as we speak 🙂 very low key but I love it – the crowd is great snd super friendly.
I discovered this after reading about the Cafe Galliano, I’m trying to understand… He said he was under the influence of valium to cope with his workload after his business partner, Steven Robinson, died of a heart attack in 2007…
I hope to write about Cafe Le Perle on my blog… Cool place!
John Galliano was fired from Dior for things he said to a bothersome patron of Le Perle even though Galliano’s insults to his fellow patron are not much different than Bjork or Russel Crowe assaulting an annoying fan or member of the press. Furthermore despite the fact that Galliano’s insult and commentary on anti-Semitic history were not politically correct, he was not advocating anti-Semitism. John has very close Jewish friends and has never discriminated in hiring or working with Jewish people. John is a great artist and like many artists is sensitive, fragile. Like most of us he is a flawed human being, is exaggerated in his gestures, and likes to be provocative. In the cutthroat backstabbing industry of fashion Stephen Robinson was much more than a business/creative partner and losing him John was left without one of the few people he knew he could count on and trust. I sincerely wish that those offended could offer a little compassion and give him a chance to let the world know that he is more man (imperfect are we all) than monster. CDKaParis
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[…] too much time in the garden- we had a mission to fulfill. That afternoon we spent in search of La Perle. Sounds familiar? Why of course it does-it’s the cafe/bar where John Galliano (of Dior, […]