La Cantine du Potager, Merci, 75003 Paris

Merci is a newcomer on the Paris scene:  a large, very trendy store, selling clothes, housewares, furniture, and decorative items but also housing a restaurant called La Cantine du Potager and a cafe, called the Used Book Cafe, where the walls are lined with hundreds of donated books.

The Bastille area is full of quirky and specialist shops which are located around the Opera de la Bastille, the new building that replaced the Opera Garnier, and is a huge concrete concert hall which looms over the whole area. It is not very attractive inside, but the acoustics are first class.  It can seat very large audiences, and the programs are usually sold out as soon as the tickets come on sale.  I saw the ballet Don Quixote, choroegraphed by  Rudolf Nureyev,  there over Christmas and it was a magical experience.

But back to Merci.  The shop was established by the former owners of Bonpoint, a privately owned small chain of  upmarket children’s clothing stores, who, when they sold the business,  decided to branch out in a completely different direction.  The buildilng where it is located was a former warehouse, with soaring ceilings, a lot of metal work and huge floor space.  One of the interesting concepts is that once all the salaries and overheads have been paid, any additional profit is given to women’s cooperatives in India or Madagascar.  The prices in the store are on the expensive side, so there should be some profit, but unfortunately this altruistic aspect of the business is not sufficiently advertised. The merchandise is  very carefully selected and beautifully displayed – and there are undoubteldy many hopeful creators and designers  hoping to place their creations lurking around! I noticed several young peoplle sitting on the wide metal stairs  sketching some of the unusual articles for sale.  On a much larger scale it reminded me of Conran in its heyday,  when the furniture on offer was made by up and coming young designers and everything on sale had been carefully chosen.  Sadly no longer the case!

The Cantine du Potager is a vegetarian restaurant  – all the vegetables and fruit are sourced from the organic garden of a certain Madame Bertin and all the dishes are made on the spot.   So the selection of is not large but very healthy and appetising:  soup, salads, beans and lentils, home-made cottage cheese, risotto,  freshly squeezed juices, smoothies  and wonderful cakes.  Carrot cake, cheesecake, chocolate fondant, nut cake, and fruit crumble. There was a good selection of well-chosen wines and also delicious home-made ginger-flavoured lemonade.  Prices ranged from 8 euros for the soup, 19 euros for a smoked salmon salad, 6 euros for the cakes and 6.50 for the fresh juices.  The clientele was mostly young and trendy,  but there were also  health conscious “ladies who lunch” and a selection of “arty” types probably looking for inspiration or for a market for their own creations.

I  really enjoyed the whole experience and without even realising it, we spent over 4 hours in the store and restaurant! The Used Book Cafe looked fun too, but we were out of time…

Store open Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.