Hotels near La Coupole

La Coupole opened on 20 December 1927 and is the brasserie every other Paris brasserie gets measured against: a vast Art Deco hall on Boulevard du Montparnasse whose painted pillars and décor are registered as historic heritage, and where Picasso, Giacometti, Joséphine Baker, Jean Cocteau, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Hemingway all ran up tabs. Cuisine: classic French brasserie. The signature is the Indian lamb curry, on the menu since 1927 and still wheeled through the room, alongside seafood platters, choucroute, beef tartare and roast calf's liver.

Service is continuous from 8am to midnight Tuesday to Saturday and to 11pm on Monday and Sunday, which makes La Coupole one of very few genuinely useful late or early options in this guide. Budget €60 to €80 a head before wine, and more if you order a plateau de fruits de mer. Be clear-eyed about it: this is a large, professionally run operation and the cooking is dependable rather than thrilling. You come for the room, and the room is worth it.

Pro Tip: Book a booth along the wall rather than a centre table, and go at around 3pm on a weekday when the lunch rush has cleared. You get the hall almost to yourself and the lamb curry is still being served, because service never stops between meals.