Angelina

Angelina opened in 1903 in the rue de Rivoli arcades opposite the Tuileries, a Belle Époque salon de thé designed by Édouard-Jean Niermans for the Austrian confectioner Antoine Rumpelmayer. Proust took afternoon tea here; Coco Chanel had her standing order; the Mont-Blanc (chestnut vermicelli over meringue and Chantilly) and the chocolat l'Africain (so thick a spoon stands in it) remain the orders. The chain has expanded internationally but the Rivoli room is the original — Niermans' painted ceilings, the marble tables, the queue-out-the-arcade weekend lunch. Locals use Angelina for the post-Louvre afternoon tea and the Tuileries-walk-then-hot-chocolate ritual.