Week 2: A big noise at “Père Tranquille”

100 years ago this week: Week 2

Thanks for all your kind messages after the first post last week. It's good to be back and good to know that people are still reading! Here's week 2!

 

A not so souper evening.... 

 

A big noise at “Père Tranquille”

In an establishment at Les Halles where nightbirds looking for thrills go to taste the classic “Père Tranquille” onion soup, the owners had made a habit of spicing up…the bill.

A soup was priced at 30 francs, with the rest added as a supplement. When customers refused to pay, a special guard working for the establishment invited them to cough up without delay. The day before yesterday, a ruckus broke out over one of these difficult to swallow bills. The police intervened and took the soup eaters and ‘Père Tranquille’ staff to the station. Six of the people arrested were sent to the cells.

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Another tiny film scenario - perhaps this time more suited to a Laurel and Hardy movie - with a setting at once typically Parisian and utterly international. The local star is the onion soup, but all cities have their tourist traps and their unscrupulous businesses that attempt to eke out a little extra money from customers who are either unaware or too drunk to notice. 

The Père Tranquille was apparently unaffected by this micro-scandal and remained a popular late night – or early morning – stop. Evelyn Waugh noted a visit to the restaurant at the end of a Paris all-nighter in 1929 in his "Labels: A Mediterranean Journal".

"It was broad daylight when we left; then we drove to the Halles and ate fine, pungent onion soup at Le Père Tranquille, while one of the young ladies in our party bought a bundle of leeks and ate them raw.”

In 1921, the Père Tranquille – as Waugh alludes to – overlooked the sprawling and hectic Halles food market. The contemporary advert below highlights this proximity, with the promise of fresh market produce surely attracting custom. The mix of populations though must have provided a curious sight – top hats and fur coats in the restaurant, overalls and flat caps on the market floor.

It should perhaps be noted that this clipping comes from L’Humanité (12/01/1921), a newspaper that became the mouthpiece of the French Communist movement in 1920. Everybody in the story is ridiculous, and all are guilty. L’Humanité viewed this story from the eyes of the market worker, scoffing at a restaurant they would never frequent and laughing at the high society arrivistes who for once were being swindled themselves.

100 years later, Au Père Tranquille is still standing at the same location, but the surrounding area has changed beyond all recognition. The restaurant now overlooks the city's largest shopping centre, and top hats and fur coats are rarely seen here today.

Like all restaurants in Paris, it is currently closed. It is sad to see it so quiet, although - for once - it is truly living up to its name. The restaurant, originally opened at the end of the 19th century, is a survivor. When the doors open again and the terrace is set - apparently one of the largest in France - perhaps I'll come and test the onion soup (and look closely for any unadvertised extras on the bill!)