Paris [February 2025]: Lafayette Saltiel Drapiers & Restaurant Pavyllon by Yannick Alléno

A month and a half after settling in Lille, I think it’s time for a quick round trip to Paris. I’m sore all over and my favorite masseuse is in Paris (I call her “healer” because she has magic hands). Plus, I need to buy interfacing for my sewing projects, but the selection in Lille isn’t exhaustive. JB tells me he still has the Fine Dining offer with American Express (€100 credit at a selection of restaurants) that I can use in Paris. Appointments booked, I leave fairly early in the morning and take the TGV. A little over an hour later, I arrive at Gare du Nord.

Lafayette Saltiel Drapiers

Previously, I made an appointment with @tymsla.paris, we’ve been following each other on Instagram for a while. She’s a leather goods maker, but I discover she also does sewing and knows the fabric merchant where I want to go. We go together to Lafayette Saltiel Drapiers and thankfully she’s there because without her, I’d be completely lost.

We are welcomed by Simon, who is taking the same online tailoring classes as me so he knows exactly what I’m talking about. Just for a vest and a pair of trousers, we spend 1.5 hours buying all the necessary supplies.

Then I ask to feel the cashmere samples. I know Geoffrey B. Small used to say that Piacenza’s cashmere was the best in the world. And I wanted to touch it to see why. Simon brings out samples from Piacenza, but also from other English and Italian weavers. The feel is DIVINE!!! Piacenza’s surpasses all the others. Next to Piacenza, the others look like cheap wool that hasn’t been worn since 1990. I ask the price: €600 per meter (it depends on the fabric). Ouch.

Simon also shows me other samples from Zegna; it’s “just” superfine merino wool blended with cashmere and silk, but it also feels very luxurious, and it’s the same price as 100% cashmere.

A little further away are two samples: vicuña (probably the most expensive fabric in the world) – I often talk about it on this blog, for me it’s the ultimate goal – and some super super superfine merino wool fibers. It’s the softest fiber I’ve ever touched; I want to sleep in it, it’s like a cloud. What a privilege to be able to touch them, even the vicuña sample costs €250 (because the fabric is €2000 per meter haha).

At Lafayette Saltiel Drapiers, I found two rare gems: a belt riser and thread for making milanese buttonholes (the buttonhole on the lapel of a jacket). Very rare, because the manufacturer of this thread has closed shop.

I copy Geoffrey B. Small and also buy mother-of-pearl buttons for shirts and horn buttons for the vest and trousers. He says buttons are very important but people ignore it. Having buttons made of natural materials is a luxury that ready-to-wear can no longer afford.

Pavyllon by Yannick Alléno

Thanks to American Express’s Fine Dining offer, I can lunch at a multitude of Michelin-starred restaurants. The first one I chose canceled the day before due to a medical emergency concerning the chef; I had to book in a hurry at Pavyllon by Yannick Alléno, a Michelin-starred restaurant just behind the Petit Palais.

In the morning, an employee calls to ask where I want to sit: at a table or at the counter. I should have chosen the counter, because you can see the open kitchen. But never mind, from my table I can also see part of the action.

It’s very rare for me to find Michelin-starred restaurants good, but this one is an exception. It is less creative than others, but it does what it’s supposed to: serve delicious dishes with fresh ingredients without starving us. As a customer at the next table would say, “even the butter is good.”

I do think that those who eat less salty than I do will find they go a bit heavy on the salt; but for me everything was delicious. The service is impeccable and the venue is very beautiful.

FYI, I opted for the Champs-Elysées menu at €135, with €100 reimbursed by American Express Platinum. There’s a lot of foie gras, I looove it!

It makes me so happy to see my favorite bridge in the world again: the Pont Alexandre III just opposite Les Invalides. However, it’s time to take the metro and go to the safe deposit box to pick up some things. Then I follow up with a long massage in the 13th arrondissement at my favorite healer’s (I feel like I’m floating afterward); and finish with a hot chocolate in the company of my friend M. I would have liked to add two shopping stops, but in the end I didn’t have enough time.

1 hour by train later, I’m back in Lille, my arms laden with purchases. I didn’t waste a single minute in Paris and was very surprised to see Paris emptier than usual (maybe because people are working from home on a Friday).