Since the nineteenth century, La Closerie des Lilas at 171 Boulevard du Montparnasse has been a gathering place for the artistic and literary elite of Paris. The roll-call of former regulars reads like a syllabus of French and American letters: Verlaine, Baudelaire and Mallarme, and later Hemingway, who wrote part of The Sun Also Rises at its tables, with small brass plaques still marking the favoured seats of its famous patrons. The interior is a beauty in its own right, with mosaic floor tiles, red moleskin banquettes, gleaming polished tables and the accumulated atmosphere of well over a century of creative life. Today it operates as a brasserie and a more formal restaurant, alongside a celebrated piano bar that keeps the evenings lively. The kitchen serves quality traditional French cuisine that suits the setting, classic dishes that need no reinvention because the surroundings do so much of the work. Its position on the edge of Montparnasse, where the boulevard meets the leafy avenues toward the Observatoire, keeps it at the heart of the quarter's storied past. A monument of literary Paris, La Closerie des Lilas endures as one of the most evocative addresses in the city, a Montparnasse institution whose famous patrons, beautiful interior and timeless cooking continue to draw Parisians and visitors in equal measure.

Type: Restaurant

Address: 171, boulevard du Montparnasse, Paris, France

Telephone: 01 40 51 34 50

Website: http://www.closeriedeslilas.com/

Open Days: .