Articles on France

Les Guinguettes

Riverdance, French style

A popular and festive feature of French social life is enjoying a revival along the banks of the Seine and the Marne, and throughout France: the guinguette – an open-air, waterside venue for dining, dancing, and of course, drinking. Originally making their appearance in the late 17th century in the villages bordering Paris, the guinguettes were havens for fun and festivities outside the reach of the taxes imposed on goods entering the city: popular entertainment with good local food and the cheap, acidic white wine produced in the Ile-de-France known as “guinguet”, from which they get their name. “Four sous admittance for one bottle worth three,” went one popular ditty. Another went: “Commoners, artisans, grisettes, /All leave Paris and run to the guinguettes. /Two pints for the price of a single booze...” Our best guess at the meaning of “grisette” would be a chronically-intoxicated young lady; it is clear that the main order of business at the guinguettes was to get legless.

As Paris expanded, the guinguettes were pushed further back, and wound up emigrating to the banks of the Seine and the Marne, where they took on associations with the pleasures of waterside life: boating, fishing, swimming, and of course, a cuisine replete with seafood. They were especially popular on Sundays and public holidays, attracting Parisians from the city in search of a pleasant day out and an inexpensive faceful. The “Belle Epoque” in the last decades of the 19th century saw, along with the advances in technology and standard of living for the privileged classes during the years of relative peace, a corresponding enthusiastic immersion of the less well-off into popular cultural milieux which included the cabarets of Montmartre, and the guinguettes. It quickly became “de rigueur” to be seen at one of the most popular riverside haunts, and even the great and the good permitted themselves dalliances among the frolics. Artists, authors, songwriters, and in later years filmmakers, have been inspired into vivid portrayals of the festive atmosphere of the guinguettes, for example, the 1936 Julien Duvivier film, “La Belle Equipe”, with Jean Gabin singing “Quand on s'promène au bord de l'eau” (“Walking on the river bank”), and Van Gogh’s 1886 painting “Terrace of a Café on Montmartre (La Guinguette)”. Not all guinguettes were along the river it seems!

 
Jean Gabin, La Belle Equipe, 1936       'La Guinguette' Van Gogh 1886

Today, the term 'guinguette' is still mostly used for a waterside refreshment place, particularly open-air, all over France, and after going into a period of decline especially during the 1960s, they are flourishing again, and not only in their traditional home along the loops of the Marne. As far away as Lyon there are guinguettes on the Saône, and along the Loire from Nantes to Angers one can find these cheerful establishments offering fine local cuisine and wine, dancing, and pleasant riverside atmosphere.

It is along the Val-de-Marne that the guinguettes have reclaimed their traditional homeland. One of the most popular is the famous Chez Gégène, at Joinville-le-Pont near the Porte de Bercy. It features a spacious terrace with views plunging down to the Marne, and an early 20th century ambience – it was designed in 1910 by Eugène Favreux, and has been the setting for Impressionist paintings and film shoots. Just opposite is La Goulue, serving traditional family fare, and at Le Verger, in nearby Nogent, you can find one of the original 1900s guinguettes, charmingly and authentically restored. At Champigny-sur-Marne, La Guinguette de L’Ile du Martin Pêcheur offers daily dances on the banks of the river. On the Seine, La Guinguette de Neuilly on the Ile de la Jatte offers a wonderful setting and typical decor. A novel take on the idea is the Guinguette Pirate, a replica 12th century Chinese junk which has been around the world, and now presents concerts and good Asian cooking in the cozy restaurant in the hold.

http://en.parisinfo.com/paris-restaurants/-where-for-drinks-where-to-eat-/open-air-cafes-guinguettes-/