Georges, 75004

The restaurant Georges, like the Café Marly by the Louvre, has recently come under fire for a policy of seating only the most beautiful by the window, meaning that the less-than-beautiful get a miserly seat at the back.

It may come as a surprise but I can actually understand the basis of this policy. It’s not quite the same thing, but in restaurants that I’ve worked in, we frequently had a policy of seating as many clients outside or at the very least by the window so that it would look busy to passers-by and thereby hopefully attract more clients.

Admittedly, in this case, it’s not quite the same. Stories of potential clients being turned away, because they were wearing overly-practical footwear, are plentiful. If you’re aware of the reputation that the Costes group (the owners of these two hotspots) you would not be too surprised. (Have you ever to the Hotel Costes?? I know grown men who have come away weeping for their mothers after just forty-five minutes at the bar.)

But anyway, my mum was in town for a few days last week. We decided to go and see the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition at the Pompidou Centre… just like the other five thousand people and their dogs, I hear you sigh.

We hadn’t made plans for afterwards but as we take that escalator up the side of the building, getting higher and higher, there was only one option.

The view from the top of the Pompidou Centre is really quite breathtaking. “Shall we meet here for lunch afterwards?” she asked. The deal was done.

Much could be said of the physical attractiveness of the fellow guests (but considering it was a Wednesday lunchtime, the bar was not too high) but what I will remember about this lunch was the sheer dappiness of our hostess. The phrase “to have more beauty than brains” has never really been so pertinent before. Fortunately, our waiter had just as many attractive genes as the hostess and yet a few more brain cells.

The lunch went smoothly. The restaurant is beautifully designed. Attentive service. Good food. Our wine glass was always topped up. Solid. A good experience that is worth doing once.

Two omelettes, a club sandwich, a bottle of Leflaive’s 2011 Chardonnay and a couple of coffees later, we ended up with a bill only fractionally short of a hundred shiny copper pieces… but when you’re in a restaurant like this, it’s not to count the pennies.