Casino de Paris has been a landmark of Parisian nightlife for over 130 years, actually dating back to the 18th century. It’s here where Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois made her stage debut as Mistinguett in 1895 in the 1,500-seat venue going on to become the undisputed “Queen of the Music Hall” and at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world. Blessed with a magnetic, sensual allure, her risqué routines, joyous energy and outrageous costumes drowned in sparkles and ostrich feathers captivated audiences as did her larger-than-life personality and penchant for flouting convention. Sophisticated, liberated, audacious and stylish, and a true bon vivant, La Miss, as she was better known, was the inspiration behind entrepreneurs Magali (Malou) Faure and Benjamin Demay’s plan to revive Casino de Paris’ historic restaurant as “a place of history, of love, of celebration, of sharing, of good times”.

Vince and Nourry poured through archive photographs of Le Perroquet as well as Parisian brasseries from the 1920s, imbuing the 130-seat restaurant with an assuredly theatrical tone that conjures the ambience of the Années Folles. Centred on a monumental Art Nouveau-style stained-glass window installed in 1922 when Casino de Paris was rebuilt by architect Marcel Oudin, the barrel-vaulted space above the music hall is swathed in a predominantly red colour palette, plush fabrics and Belle Époque-era details.

Art Deco-inspired, custom-made banquettes, chairs and two-toned tables with lacquered legs are paired with antique finds from France, Italy and Belgium, including two stunning Murano glass feather chandeliers. A red and black leopard print carpet, a luminous arch, and a trompe l’oeil clouded sky that visual artist Matthias Kiss painted on the vaulted ceiling in order “to bring the outside-in” all add to the scheme’s glamour and theatricality as do gold-leaf details and red velvet curtains.

Chef Etienne Daviau’s seasonal menu celebrates classic French cuisine with modern twists. Bistro fare includes French classics such as smoked chestnut butternut soup, filet of turbot or John Dory, and côte de boeuf or pastry-wrapped veal tenderloin, carved tableside in a theatrical manner befitting the dining hall’s design. As theatrical is the traditional cheese trolley that rolls across the leopard-print carpet with a dozen varieties to choose from, the signature cocktails named after famous showgirls like Joséphine Baker and Zizi Jeanmaire who animated the Parisian music halls of the 20th century, and of course the jazz singers, dancers, acrobats, DJs, violinists, and other performers who remind the restaurant’s patrons that it’s all about having a good time every night.