One or two people asked if I could give some information about my neighborhood in Paris, which is way off the traditional tourist track, so I walked around a little and took a few notes in order to be able to give some specific details of what is up here in the Paris “ethnic zone.”
My recommendation is for a walking tour with Gare du Nord as the starting point, and it can become the first section of a day that will take you to Montmartre. Good walking legs are highly recommended, but if you need to make some rest stops for refreshments, you will see that we are far from the land of the not-so-mythical $8 Coke.
Little India, Mini Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Mauritius, Peter Brook and the Hell’s Angels
While a major zone of Indian restaurants already starts several blocks south of Gare du Nord (notably the Passage Brady and rue Jarry area, not far from Gare de l’Est), the main South Asian zone of Paris starts just north of Gare du Nord along the Faubourg Saint Denis. The various cultures appear to live in complete harmony, which gives rise to a sort of gastronomic fusion, sometimes quite unexpected, like the Indo-Mexican Fast Food at 186 fbg. St. Denis.
While the aroma of curry and other spices hangs over the entire neighborhood, it is the other shops that will attract the most attention on the Faubourg. I have never seen a Western woman not start fantasizing about a costume party while looking at all of the mannequins in the Indian shop windows, and at 3 saris for 14€, such as the Januna Fashion shop at 189 fbg. St. Denis proposes. Okay, the fancy saris are sold for 25€ each, but no matter what price, the saleswomen are always there to show exactly how you ladies are supposed to drape the things on. Islamic fashions are sold as well, and in the very next shop you will see long Punjabi tunics with the accompanying pants on sale for 16€.
Culture is a very important element of the lifestyle of this community, and to say the least, it is very accessible. Have you always been fascinated by those Indian movies with all of the incredible singing and dancing? That will be 8 DVDs for 10€. At the M.G.S. shop at 195 fbg. St. Denis, there is an incredible selection, but you must also choose whether you prefer Hindi or Tamil versions. Don’t forget – these are DVDs, so you can often get them with English (and French) subtitle options.
For some one-stop shopping, you can try 199 fbg. St. Denis which boasts both the Asian Sari Centre and the Asian Music Centre ( + DVDs ).
But don’t forget the side streets branching off to the right. (There are no streets branching off to the left, due to the Gare du Nord train tracks.). Feeling hungry? At 15 rue Cail, the Chettinadu Mess is a very appealing establishment, clean and modern, offering vegetarian biryani for 5.50€ and non vegetarian for 6.00€. For those who don’t know what a biryani is, it is a massive rice dish with “ingredients” mixed in. It is a meal in itself. For the 100% vegetarian, Krishna Bhawa at 24 rue Cail looks pretty appetizing as well. But all through the neighborhood, you will find plenty of appealing options. At 54 rue Louis Blanc, there is the casual New Banana and right next to it, looking a little more elegant, same building and same address, is the Asoka which proposes both Indian and Srilankan specialities.
More discoveries as you continue to wander. While the Hell’s Angels in general are not known for their extreme tolerance of different cultures, it might be a different situation in Paris, because you will see the headquarters (and café) for Hell’s Angel’s Paris France right in the middle of the Indians at 62 rue Louis Blanc. It is also worth looking at the products displayed in the various shop windows, to discover what appears to be indispensable to people leaving their beloved Indian subcontinent for a bland and desolate city like Paris. Maybe some Parachute brand perfumed non sticky coconut hair oil+ (3.90€)? Or for the taste of home cooking, a big bottle of Mustarda, a +blend of rapeseed oil, mustard oil, beta carotene and food colouring. That will be 2.50€. Did you other people know that mustard oil existed? I certainly had never heard of it.
Looking for an upmarket clothing shop while you’re in the neighborhood? Try Chennai Silks at 57 rue Louis Blanc. (For those who missed this detail, ‘Chennai’ is the new name for ‘Madras’.) And of course do not forget the many jewelry shops spread all through the neighborhood. Indians have an immoderate love of gold jewelry, usually sold by weight on a scale, and this is the area to buy gold.
A short aside on the “why?” of this neighborhood. It must be noted that even though greater India was a massive British colony, France and Portugal possessed a few minor specks here and there. France was notably established at Pondicherry, Chandernagor, Kerikal, Yanoan and Mahé. This started in 1673, and the territories were not returned to India until…. 1956.
The main thing to know is that France offered citizenship to all of the inhabitants of its territories before the turnover, and the population at that time was 362,000. Quite understandably and commendably, the vast majority opted to become Indian. However, about 6000 families remained French. I needn’t inform you that India has a healthy birthrate, and that those 6000 have multiplied over the years. Pondicherry is reputedly one of the richest cities in India due simply to French government subsidies paid to French families there, even if they have never set foot in France.
The residents of this neighborhood in Paris are not all from southern India, however. Many are British (EU citizenship can be very useful to have.) and lots of others come from (French) Réunion Island and Mauritius, which is also mostly French speaking. In recent years, many thousand Srilankan refugees were accepted by France, and most of them are in Paris. Nevertheless (and this will interest tourists with deficient language skills), throughout this entire neighborhood, you will have no problem at all finding people who speak English better than they speak French, even if they are French citizens.
In any case, most of the residents of the area can be classified as hardworking poor+, but little by little, you can see the progress of a dynamic entrepreneurial spirit. At 28 rue Philippe de Girard, you can see the grandly named Ganesha Plaza. The real thing is somewhat less grand, but it boasts a +tea room and cool bar, wholesale and retail textiles, butcher shop, florist and phone cards. Speaking of phone cards, this is the area where you can buy cards for 10 hours of talk to North America for 7.50€ or less. Every single shop sells them.
Going north along the Faubourg Saint Denis, you will have almost arrived at the elevated metro line 2, where the nature of the neighborhood will begin to change. You might want to grab some Bengali pastries at Ganabady Snacks at 21 rue Perdonnet or perhaps just contemplate the Boucherie 3R at 34 Ph. de Girard, which currently combines in its shop window proclamations about the fact that it specializes in mutton, goat and cabri+ (kid), promises that it is all +hallal (slaughtered in accordance with Islam), and has a big “Joyeux Noël” painted on the window along with Santa and a reindeer (probably on sale cut up in little pieces as well).
Just before passing under the metro, you can pop into Ghopal & Co. for giant sized bags of spices (strangely enough, most of the exotic spices are from Ducros, the big French spice company, but the boxes and cans of curry powder are straight from India). Directly across from Ghopal at Place de la Chapelle, you can also see the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (www.bouffesdunord.com) where Peter Brook has been established for more than 30 years. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but if you saw Jean-Jacques Beineix’s movie Diva, this is the theatre from the beginning of the movie where the opera singer was performing. It remains stripped bare, paintless and seatless (one sits on cushions, except in the balconies, where the old wooden seats have been retained), and presents some of the most spectacular plays that one can see in Paris. Fittingly enough, a number of the plays have been based on Peter Brook’s travels to India.
Next: North of metro line 2 (Nation-Dauphine)
