When Song for the Mute co-founder and designer Melvin Tanaya travels to Paris for fashion week, the schedule is rarely relaxed. Days start early, end late, and most of the time in between is spent inside showrooms, fittings and appointments. But between the chaos, Tanaya has built a reliable routine in the city — one shaped by long dinners, very specific noodle spots, and the occasional pastry splurge.
Want to know where a fashion insider goes when they’re in the fashion capital of the world? Keep reading.
Where to stay…
I usually pick locations based on where our showroom is going to be for that particular season. This January, for the Autumn Winter 26 season, we made the big move to have our own solo showroom in Place Vendome inside of the Commes Des Garcons building (holy shit). Super bougie. So we picked an AirBnb in 75001 / 1st arrondissement, and I guess this is where we’ll be staying for the next foreseeable future when we’re in Paris.
It’s a super good area for food, all of my favourite restaurants are nearby. If you’re a fan of Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars, one of the contestants’ from season two has a restaurant called Okdongsik that just opened up there. It’s so good that I went twice in three days.
If you’re looking for proper Japanese udon, Sanukiya is also near there. And if that place is rammed with fashion week people, you can also try Kunitoraya or Kodawari Ramen. It’s all legit Japanese cuisines – as good as you would find in a small street of Tokyo. Chances are you will find international buyers or designers dining in one of these places during Fashion Week.
Coffees are also good around here. There’s a cute cafe called Cafe Nuances who has over 50k followers on Instagram. That’s a pretty big deal for a cafe, I think? Their content is pretty cool, go check it out. The coffee itself is comparable to Sydney standard which is very hard to find in Paris.
Across the street from that cafe is the Cedric Grolet, the God of Cakes/Pastries/Chocolates. This account has more than 13m followers, (what the hell?) so I went one morning at 9am when there was no line and ordered one of everything from the menu. It cost us 79 euro for croissants and cookies (breakfast of champions) but it was pretty next level. Would definitely order again. Especially the cookies that look more like a pizza. This was fire.
Cedric Grolet.
For shopping it’s also an amazing location as it’s walkable to pretty much everywhere… Especially if you’re into watches, you’re set with the official AD of Rolex, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantine, A. Lange & Sohne, Cartier are all walking distances from each other.
Where to eat…
Aside from the places I’ve already mentioned, these are my go-tos whenever I’m in Paris:
Les Caves Saint Gilles is the best Spanish restaurant I have ever been to. Order the roasted green peppers, garlic prawns, roast potatoes, and eggplant drizzled with honey and razor clams for the entree. Then for the main just trust me and order both of the paella. One is traditional seafood and the other is squid ink. Both are super good and I can’t choose so I always bring a bigger group of 4-6 people whenever possible.
1/3 Les Caves Saint Gilles
I also come to Sardegna a Tavola every single time I visit Paris. This place was introduced to us by one of our international buyers and every time we visit we always see other designers eat here too. Super good Sardinian pasta, simple and incredibly consistent. Order the burrata cheese, it will blow your mind from the get go. Then order the lobster pasta, the squid ink and the truffle pasta. You can ask the team there to recommend you dishes too as the menu is quite big and their service is impeccable every single time.
Pontochoux does the best Japanese curry you can get. Probably even better than the ones in Japan in my opinion. The chicken Karage also slaps here.
Pontochoux, Sardegna a Tavola
If you’re after a good pancake with bacon and eggs with maple syrup like those in American movies, go to Holy Belly. This is the place.
What to do…
I don’t do anything but work and eat while I’m in Paris to be honest. We have an 8am call time and most days we finish at 8pm, then head straight to dinner (but we meticulously plan our meals over there).
Where to shop…
If you’re looking for Song for the Mute, you can get it from L’Eclaireur in Rue Sevigne in the Marais and also from La Samaritaine department store on Level three.
We also always visit Dover Street Market and The Broken Arm as they carry our adidas and Birkenstock collaborations. A newer shop called The Next Door is also pretty cool.
For Vintage watch shopping, head over to Antoine De Macedo, it’s one of the best in the world.
A bespoke must-do…
One thing that I surprisingly love doing during summer in Paris is grabbing a beer and sitting at one of those tiny tables outside the bistro where all the chairs are facing outwards to the streets. I find myself conversing about the most random stuff and usually great ideas come from it. You can people watch and really appreciate the beauty of this city and its people, but also take in how chaotic and out of control it really is (in the best way possible). Paris is rough but there’s a charm to it that you can’t quite explain.
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