The hotel for our week in Paris was Banke Hotel, located on Rue Lafayette, a quick walk from Les Grand Magasins – Galleries Lafayette and Printemps. It was also a short walk from the Opera Garnier, Le Louvre and many other sights.
Situated in a former bank headquarters, Hotel Banke is housed in an early twentieth-century building, designed by architects Paul Friesse and Cassien Bernard and was refurbished to become a hotel in 2009. The stately facade dominates the corner of Rue La Fayette and Rue Pillet Will with a style that revives the charms of Paris’s “Belle Époque“.
The hotel makes a statement with its spectacular mosaic floored lobby crowned with a glass cupola, and retaining many of the original bank features, teller counters, safe deposit boxes. The colours are predominantly deep red and gold, lots of gold. A décor that blends original architectural elements with contemporary design bringing a twenty-first century touch to a Haussmann-style building.
We were quite fortunate that we were able to spend time in two different rooms during our stay. Our first room was a Superior room, mid tone woods, rich burgundys and lots of designer touches. Our second room was an Executive room that was a little more spacious. Still with the mid tone woods and burgundy colours, a feature was the leather headboard and gorgeous leather lounge and leather woven rug. Stencil furniture prints were painted on the walls giving a whimsical touch to the decor. Both rooms had marble bathrooms with good sized tubs, and joy of joys the toilet was separate from the bathroom. While not the largest rooms we have stayed in, there was plenty of storage space, with great wardrobes, and drawers.
During our stay at Banke Hotel, we decided to try the hotel’s restaurant, Josefin.
The stunning glass domed lobby is home to the reception desk, restaurant and bar. On one side of the spectacular mosaic tiled floor is the restaurant and the bar is opposite.
Glamourous gold leather banquettes, dark wood and leather chairs, gold metal and crystal chandeliers with dramatic red and black highlights were the feature of both the restaurant and bar. Along the old teller counters were whimsical little vignettes, plants and flowers.
Our amuse of salmon:
Beautiful freshly baked breads served with my favourite butter, Beurre d’Isigny
Unusually for us we both opted for seafood entrees. Mr CA4G ordered the tuna Tataki
While I ordered the carpaccio of lobster, aged balsamic and Spanish extra virgin olive oil.
For main I had a panfried duck breast with wok fried vegetables. Quite light even though it was duck.
Mr. CA4G had scallops with a shellfish foam and mushrooms.
We skipped dessert as we had a big lunch.
Banke Hotel is a great spot to drop your bags and stay in Paris, and is easy to walk to most places. Metro stations are a short walk in several directions. We walked from Banke Hotel to Le Tour Eiffel, Sacre Coeur. Both are big walks but enjoyable and you get to see a bit more of the real Paris.
A quick note the photos of the hotel are from the Banke Hotel website as we forgot to take photos, to see more of this fabulous hotel visit their website in my links.
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