Page 97 - FOYER_Cannes 2001

DIARY BERLIN • LOSANGELES • MILAN • FOYER • CANNES • TOKYO • LONDON PAGE95
ST. TROPEZ
ST. TROPEZ
whiled away their last summer. There are many beautiful beaches in the world, but only one St Tropez.
And only one Tomaselli. Meeting him, you are in no doubt that he could take on the mayor and win. He could take on the entire French police force. Despite rumours, La Voile Rouge remains resolutely open, untouched by the bulldozers the mayor has threatened to unleash on it and its attendant hotel, The Hacienda. No, he has never thrown anyone out of his restaurant for outrageous behav- iour. What is outrageous behaviour?
Asked what is the most money any- one has ever spent here, he shrugs. “Never enough.” Given that a bottle of the best champagne costs £350 and all bills must be paid in cash that seems remarkable.
“What a wonderful world,” he says to visitor Sylvester Stallone and friends, as the the topless Thai girl mounts the table once more. She is joined by a fat Russian in a Hawaiian shirt. “Its a nice family restaurant which occasionally gets a bit rowdy,” says Sly. “Good food, though. So long as you like champagne with it.”
It all began a couple of summers ago when Barfly, the bar restaurant just off the Champs-Elysées and where George Clooney met amour Céline Balitran - arrived in St Tropez with a simple, but original, formula: take one trendy joint and transplant it onto a private beach. Holidaying Parisians crowded in to booze ‘n’ boogie - et voila, the trend was born.
“Things picked up during the Cannes Film Festival,” explains cele- brated Paris club connoisseur and Ramatuelle hotelier, Yvon Samuel. “Eaterie Man Ray took over a whole beach on the Croisette in Cannes. New Japanese restaurant Lo Sushi rolled up, as did Champs-Elysées’ club VIP, which took up residence at l’Opéra for the duration of the festival.”
“The fashionable young of Paris have their favourite club,” says Samuel. “When they get to the coast they want to meet up with their friends from town. It’s just like the New York clubs that open up in The Hamptons throughout the season.”
Ironically, Barfly, which started the whole Paris-sur-Mer phenomenon, was refused a ticket to the big “groove du Sud” last year. Embroiled in a court battle with the St Tropez authorities to regain its licence, its absence was lamentable, considering the unforget- table summer it originally created in St.Tropez: “We were a huge success,” says Barfly’s Jean Yves Haouzi.
Photos top left: Jackie & Yvon Samuel; top right: Brigitte Bardot
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