Book: Paris C'est Chic!

Paris - the city of love, the city of lights, the city of food, the city of fashion. This city of a thousand facets is still the subject of many dreams all over the world and it is therefore hardly surprising that yet another guide book claiming to reveal new hidden treasures has been published - even if deep down, the real connoisseurs know that the real essence of Paris will never change.

Despite knowing the city extremely well, we are open to new guidebooks that all seek to further define what makes Paris a city we simultaneously love and love to hate. This week, Easyvoyage reads Paris C'est Chic! - a new guidebook by the self-proclaimed trendy site Do it in Paris and published by Parigramme.

With such a title and the fact that there are already hundreds of Paris guide books detailing everything from the best brunches to the best 'underground' spots, we had our doubts over whether this new release would be able to teach us anything we didn't already know about the city of lights.

'Paris C'est Chic!' made its debut at Colette (this store is actually featured on the first page of the guide book) - the ultimate temple of all things trendy in Paris. This little book, its pages clean and concise, are illustrated with quirky parisiennes by Angeline Mélin . The book details the crème de la crème of places to see and be seen so that you don't even need to be a native Parisian to know exactly where to go.

From the Palais Royal to the Batignolles, only the trendiest places are included in the guide - meaning you don't waste time wandering the streets of Paris aimlessly; just make sure you have your gold card at the ready.

The book is in French but all the place descriptions have a short summary in English, making the book a good option for die-hard Francophiles.

We liked the selection of places in the guide, which showcase the Paris of the past as well as present-day Paris. From the minimalist interiors of the 'Forum des Images' (Les Halles), to tiny bistros adorned with vintage wines, such as Ma Cave Fleury (Etienne Marcel), or more unusual venues like the curiosity cabinet at Deyrolle (Rue du Bac), the spectacular Maison Baccarat (tube station: Boissière), the bargain hunters' paradise of Tombées du Camion (tube station: Grand Boulevard), and the best places to find luxury pistachios (surprised? So were we!), jams, dim sum and of course, macaroons!

There was one tiny mistake in the book that we must point out - the Aubrac Corner restaurant is actually called La Maison de l'Aubrac and the website is in fact www.maison-aubrac.com, not www.aubrac-corner.com as stated in the guide.

Nevertheless, we absolutely loved the variety of places suggested in this little book - whether it was for shopping or to satisfy the visitor's curiosity in one of Paris' many museums or galleries, from the Magnum Gallery in Saint-Germain to the Gustave Moreau Museum in Saint-Georges.