Sharing lunch in Paris with 100,000 people
Our lunch at the iconic restaurant La Tour d'Argent... and what happened next.
You know what’s a bit weird? You go to lunch and take a few pictures, a few short video clips. Edit them together, add some music, upload it to social media.
And then… in the blink of an eye… 100,000 people have seen it. [Update: 400,000 people now!]
Now I’m no fool, I know this had nothing to do with my filming or editing skills. This was all about the restaurant: none other than the iconic Tour d’Argent.
I went there for a fancy lunch last week as part of our current A to Z podcast season. T was for the Tour d’Argent. And it turned out lots of people wanted to know about it.
But why? What’s so captivating about this restaurant?
Well, I think La Tour d’Argent has managed to juggle the perfect mix of box-ticking for the ultimate Paris experience.
The restaurant has history. It dates back to 1582. Kings have eaten there. Nazis pillaged its famed wine cellar.
It has the news. The restaurant just came out of a 16-month renovation, and people clearly wanna know what it looks like. Spoiler alert: It’s stunning.
It has the gimmick. La Tour d’Argent has numbered all its ducks since 1890. Diners get a little card with their duck’s number embossed upon it. (We got number 1,179,385)
It has the nostalgia. All week I’ve been getting nostalgic messages from people around the world. One woman dined there in 1983 (she got duck number 579,678 and framed the picture in her kitchen - see it below). Someone else said they’d eaten there in 1965 and “can still remember the unique taste of the pressed duck”!
It is exclusive and that piques curiosity. What do you get for a 150-euro lunch? There were whispers in the comments. “You need to wear a necktie to get in” (You don’t, but you do need a jacket). “Only tourists go there” (We were surrounded by French people… and we’re not tourists either). “Those portion sizes seem tiny” (They do seem tiny, but we couldn’t have had another bite).
It has Paris. The view from the ceiling-high windows is nothing short of breathtaking. You’re looking over the Seine, Notre Dame, the zinc rooftops, terracotta chimney pots, and the Ile Saint-Louis. You can’t get more Parisian than this.
How fascinating. It’s the perfect recipe, if you’ll excuse the pun, for a wonderful experience (and a viral video). I hope this doesn’t mean that I have to go for a Michelin-starred lunch every time I want a video to be seen, because, let’s face it, that’s not in the budget.
But how lovely to have been able to do it once, I can highly recommend it for anyone who can make it happen. After all, as I said in the podcast that we recorded a la table, it was the best dining experience of my life.
Read more about our time there, listen to the show, and see all our photos here.
And here’s the viral video below via my YouTube channel. It’s much nicer to view full screen on your phone, so check it on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook.
Where else to dine in Paris?
Of course, no one in their right mind would go to the Tour d’Argent every night for dinner. There are over 40,000 restaurants in Paris, for goodness sake. So what else is on the table?
This week I updated some of my articles about where to dine in Paris, here is a selection.
Six classic restaurants on the Left Bank of Paris
Ten historical restaurants to impress your travel buddies
A great restaurant in each of the 20 arrondissements
Our Christmas party
In other news, it is almost entirely certain that the annual Earful Tower Christmas party will be on the evening of Saturday December 2nd. I have a very unique and unusual idea for a Paris event unlike any that has ever happened. Spaces will be extraordinarily limited, you’ll need to get a ticket, and the tickets will go on sale to the Patreon members first.
Consider this the “save the date”. I can’t say much more about it right now, but it will be a magic night. And I know most of you won’t be in Paris on that day, so I’ll do my best to share it globally too. How exciting.
Shakespeare and Co event
If you’re in Paris next week, we’ll be at Shakespeare and Company on Tuesday morning promoting our children’s books. I know that place usually has a pretty big queue, but we’ll be there signing books. Come say hi! More info on social media closer to the event.
Our Walking Tours
And lastly, I’ll be personally leading semi-private walking tours of the Marais every Monday morning until Christmas. Some of them have already sold out!
However, we still have availability for most of them, including next week. You can book a spot here, or just send me a message. Friday afternoons are semi-private walks in Montmartre with Hannah in the Earful style. Book that one here.
If you want to get a better idea of the tours, our past guests have uploaded 113 photos and 55 reviews right here. They share it better than I ever could. Look, here are some of their pictures below. I wonder what those old books are……..
And that’ll do! Happy dining. Happy exploring. Thanks for reading. Maybe see you in Paris one of these days. Oliver
Lovely ♥️
What a superb recommendation.