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Until now I was only aware of one smoking animal in Paris, the admittedly very famous Au Chien Qui Fume, immortalised in a series of amazing pictures in a rather nice restaurant at Les Halles, where I once went to a pre-divorce.. I mean post-wedding reception.
It turns out that there are other fuming animals coughing their guts up around the place: Lille has Le Chat Qui Fume restaurant, and there's apparently a Sanglier Qui Fume auberge in Morocco.
Dijon has decided that people would enjoy eating whilst listening to some smouldering numbers at Le Piano Qui Fume restaurant, and look what I've just discovered: a smoking goose!
While Google is trying to convince me that he lives in Cabourg, I assure you that I took this picture in the heart of the Latin Quarter just a few days ago, and presume he, or should that be she, is still there.
I'm assuming all the while that these are animals (or musical instruments at a stretch) which actually inhale fumes from burning leaves, as opposed to passively being cooked along the lines of smoked herring or mackerel.
Quite what this obsession is with intoxicated wildlife I don't know. Just an amusing anthropomorphism which seems to tickle us humans I suppose. I used to drink at the Frog and Rosbif from time to time, surrounded by endless pics of our little green friend in various states of leglessness under the influence of a wide range of inebriating brews.
I'm not sure if that other venerable Paris animal eaterie, Au Pied de Cochon, falls into this category. I've never been there, pig's trotters not really doing it for me, but I don't think the beast is expected to partake of the meal anything other than passively lying down, and certainly not getting high on toxins.
Mind you, and this isn't the first time I've thought about this, doesn't a name which includes '... qui fume' sound a bit passé these days? I mean, it's illegal to smoke in restaurants in France, non? I half expect to see a pack of disenchanted dachshunds disconsolately dragging on dog-ends outside the kitchen door every time I pass by rue Berger in the 1st.
I'd like to humbly suggest, just before I go, some more up-to-date versions of these old, outmoded names. What about 'L'Oie Qui Tweet' (almost feasible), 'Le Chien Qui Surfe' (I've seen that in Australia, honest) and why not 'La Souris Qui Se Révoltèrent' (The Mouse That Turned, or Revolted )? Good for some of the dodgy Belleville Chinese joints or insalubrious Indian establishments in Passage Brady, perhaps. Move with the times, right?
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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.
2 comments:
Yes, I wonder what it is with all the smoking dogs, ducks, geese etc. Once I actually came across a donkey in a Latin Quarter restaurant. No, not a stupid waiter - a real donkey. The name of the resto was L'Ane ... something or other.
And there's one just literally round the corner from this one with a couple of really flea-bitten, half-horned goats outside...
Whatever will they come up with next... a Flying Ant Tearoom??? ;-)
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