Art Nouveau Beauty... Bouillon Racine.

In a relatively unassuming side street of the Latin quarter, not far from the Ecole des Mines by the Jardin du Luxembourg, I caught a glimpse of this enticingly impressive façade and having peered in through the beautiful window, decided that I just had to reserve a table to experience a meal there! Although I did not realise it at that moment, the establishment in question was one of a handful of remaining 'bouillon' restaurants in Paris.

With its unique concept, distinct from the typical offerings of a brasserie, bistrot or banal restaurant, the 'bouillon' has always occupied a singular position, even if the profile of today's clientele is surely very different from that of the past.

The term bouillon, meaning 'meat stock', refers to the key item proposed by the founder of the first bouillon etablishment in 1854, a certain Adolphe-Baptiste Duval (1811-1870). This butcher catered to the food porters and general workers in and around the vast parisian market - Les Halles - which Zola depicted as Le Ventre de Paris.

While stock was not a new culinary invention, Duval understood how to present his own signature version to les forts des Halles in an appealing manner, at affordable prices so that demand would grow. Thus he was able to boil down and thus use up the pieces of meat generally overlooked or dismissed by the public (offal and the like...) while vastly improving his takings.

The offering was soon widened to include basic meat dishes of good quality, served in clean settings with quick, efficient service delivered by smartly dressed waitresses - 'les petites bonnes' - and hence the bouillon restaurant was born.

The popularity of this concept was such that hundreds of other restaurants were set up on the same model and so countless bouillons were scattered across the city over the following decades, acting as a 19th century precursor of our present-day fastfood outlets.

Towards the end of the century, the two Chartier brothers, Camille and Edouard, decided to try their hand at a new bouillon restaurant; one that would provide the same renowned and respected menus and service, but in an illustrious Art Nouveau setting in line with the aesthetics of la Belle Epoque that had been displayed in the Exposition Universelle de Paris 1900.

Le Bouillon Chartier Grands Boulevards was opened in 1896, and must have stunned the public with its vast dining area and lavish Art Nouveau decor, with swirling forms and sculpted wood, brightly-lit chandeliers and numerous mirrored surfaces that reflect the facets of the great expanse.

The Bouillon Edouard Chartier Montparnasse saw the day in 1903, followed by the Bouillon Camille Chartier - known as the Bouillon Racine in 1906. It was the latter that I visited and the former that I next intend to experience! And what a lovely experience Bouillon Racine was...