My City: Paris with Maison Caulières’s Xavier Desforges

“Parisian people love to be in Paris,” says Xavier Desforges, founder and owner of French beauty and wellness brand Maison Caulières. The company has earned a cult following, not least because it’s stocked in the spas and guest rooms of some of the world’s leading hotels, from Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel in Paris and Hôtel Chateau du Grand-Lucé in the Loire Valley to Washington School House in Park City, Utah.

Desforges used to spend much of the year abroad, but since the pandemic, he’s made a point to spend more time in Paris, where he lives in the 10th arrondissement. “I travel much less now, and I’m loving it.”

So apart from time at his family’s Loire Valley estate—where he grew up and where his family has produced natural oils for generations—Desforges is, more often than not, at home. And he says he’s not alone in that shift, either. “There’s a change in mentality among locals to be here. I can feel it.”

What’s the allure? “I like it because you live more of the city. It contributes to your inner balance, and it gives you more roots. You discover more places and more people.”

Below, Desforges shares some of those discoveries.

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Paris’s Renewed Obsession with Heritage Dining

“There are a lot of new entrepreneurs opening new concepts of bars, new concepts of restaurants, which are much more focused on the beautiful heritage of France with the food but also with the history and the good products from the fields actually. And I really feel that people are much more focused on eating better, on knowing where the food comes from and who produces it, and choosing the natural products—the beautiful and good products. And this is very important in the restaurants. I can feel that a lot.”

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Where to Eat: Five Restaurants To Visit Now

Francette: “It could be a cliché, because it’s a boat on the Seine River just below the Eiffel Tower, but it’s actually very much Parisian. The food is absolutely excellent: very French, but revisited, and with all natural ingredients. I go there a lot with my friends.”

Riviera Fuga: “Close to the Alexandre III bridge, this is another boat restaurant on the Seine[from Fuga Family, the same team behind Francette]. It’s refined French and Japanese cuisine, and the service is excellent.”

Arbela: “It was created by French Colombian chef Juan Arbelaez, who is very popular in France. He is the ex-boyfriend of Miss France and he loves French cuisine and he made a very nice concept between the French wines and the cuisine from southwest France. The food is great, the atmosphere is great, the decoration is great.”

Nonos: “I spend my life at Hôtel de Crillon. This place is disconnected from real time because first, it’s beautiful. Second, the service is perfect. They opened a new restaurant, which is a bistro and I love the name. It’s a bit of slang that children use to talk about dog bones. It’s all popular French dishes, but reviewed by Paul Pairet, who is a very famous French chef. You can buy a dish at eight euros or a dish at 200 hundred euros.”

CoCo: “The decor here is inspired by the 1920s, and it’s almost inside the Opera Garnier. The place is amazing. It's always the same. And I love this. The dishes are very French as well. It’s very chic.”

The Boulangerie Break

Le Pain Retrouvé: “I go there all the time. It makes very special breads, very traditional as well.”

An Ideal Weekend Stroll… With a Beauty Stop