ajar
Hugging the corner of the Rue Sainte-Marthe square, ajar. is a neighbourhood bustle borrowing its name from author, Romain Gary's pseudonym, Émile Ajar, who made Belleville the backdrop to his novel La Vie Devant Soi. From the outside, baby blue-licked walls contrast the charcoal front and from the inside, terracotta tiles form the floor, bricks are left exposed on the walls and the bar is topped with a ceramic countertop. Folk start trickling in as soon as the doors open for evening service at 17:00, though it's a little later when ajar becomes a bustling hive of activity. Chefs, Camille Bacou and Cassandre Beguin-Billecocq dance around the kitchen, serving the likes of white tuna crudo topped with corn and raspberry chunks or a smoked eel crust pie dished up with a scoop of pickled mustard seeds.
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