It was during a weekend in London with his fiancé that Olivier Gampel decided someone ought to bring fish-and-chips to Paris. An interior designer with a background in fashion retail, Gampel, though an unlikely candidate, took on the mission himself. Not surprisingly, it's the playfully suave design of Fich, his new 20-seat seafood cafe in the 3ème, that caught our attention.
Photography via Olivier Gampel, unless otherwise noted.
Above: The restaurant is located at 83 Boulevard Beaumarchais in the Marais. Fich is Gampel's shorthand for fish-and-chips. Photograph via Play Like a Girl.
Above: Gampel, whose Paris design firm is known as Les Nouveaux Decorateurs, outfitted his tiny space with hardwearing natural materials: terrazzo-topped cafe tables that evoke the bottom of the sea (or a fish tank), wooden bench seating, low-backed chairs, and marine-blue concrete floor tiles.
The tile, he told us, comes from Portugal—it's uncannily like the Marrakech Design hexagonal cement Dandelion Blue Tile in McShane and Cleo Murname's LA master bath that we spotlighted in Steal This Look.
Above: One-time-use wood utensils are paired with black napkins. The menu graphics are the work of Paris- and London-based illustrator Yesonme, who Gampel discovered online. Photograph via Miam Paris.
Above: Terrazzo is also applied to several of the walls. Marble-patterned ceramic dishes organize small offerings, including My Crazy Pop popcorn. Photograph via Play Like a Girl.
Above: Gampel serves mashed peas as a fish-and-chips accompaniment, but draws the line at newspaper wrapping. Fich's tableware is blue-edged enamelware—go to our Enamelware posts for sourcing ideas, including Made in the U.S. Enamel Plates, Cups, and Bowls. Shown here, lemons for the house "citronnade détox," fresh lemonade with mint.
For more details, go to Fich. And see more Paris restaurants—including The Lovely Bones, a stripped-down bistro, and Clamato, another seafood hotspot—in our Paris City Guide. For an affordable and stylish place to stay in Paris, take a look at the Hotel Henriette.
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