Paul Biwand: why London’s bar scene beats Paris for openness and innovation
Paul Biwand, sommelier at Elsa in Fitzrovia, talks lessons wine can learn from mixology, the key difference between London and Paris’ bar scene, and the importance on supporting restaurants that divert “spirits, Espresso Martinis and happy hours” amid an overcrowded market. db reports.
Originally from Alsace, Paul Biwand spent 10 years as a cocktail bartender in Paris, working across buzzy bars and upmarket hotels, before jetting to London for a new challenge. While Paris prides itself on “heritage and tradition”, in the British capital, “reinvention and innovation” are at the forefront, he sums up.
“Consumers in London are definitely more open to trying new things than in Paris,” says Biwand. He moved to London, bored by the “predictability” of Paris which he felt, hamster-esque, was “going round in a circle”, joining Lyaness and then the opening team at NoMad. “From a bartender’s perspective, the crowd in London is more interested in experimenting and in trying new things,” he says. “If you can’t tell the difference between three kinds of martinis, and they do, you look silly.”
Biwand also believes that hospitality jobs are valued more in London: “In Paris, people tend to be very arrogant,” he says. “They look down on those working in the hospitality industry. It’s not a career choice. The majority of people don’t understand that this is a craft that takes years to master.” In contrast, he’s found that bartenders are “professional and respected” in London.
Paris to London
But he adds that London is “far from perfect”. When asked which city is better, he replies: “It’s hard to say. The sweet spot maybe would be in the middle.” At his time at NoMad, under the guidance of wine directors Bella and Amber, Biwand split his time between the cocktail and wine scenes, developing a zest for wine that encouraged him to take on the role of sommelier at Alsatian-inspired bistro and wine bar, Elsa, last year.
The wine list champions European, low-intervention and cool-climate wines. Biwand excited about the amount of “cool products” currently available, with importers taking “calculated risks” resulting in unique wine-drinking experiences on the restaurant floor. Still, he’s not shy of speaking out about the challenges: “It’s very hard to run an independent restaurant in London, where the market is tough and overcrowded.
“You have lots of people taking less and less risk in what they are doing, so it’s important to support the small hospitality businesses that are willing to take those risks and bring interesting products to guests, and not only rely on spirits, Espresso Martinis and happy hours.”
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Alsace takes centre stage
“Authenticity” is a word that’s overused, claims Biwand. Nonetheless, the somewhat elusive term is what consumers are seeking when they dine out: “They are slowly drifting away from the sharing plates concept,” says the somm. “They’ve been starting to understand how unfair it is; this system that you order more, that you sometimes leave a bit unsatisfied, spending a bit too much money,” hence why Elsa returns to foodie tradition with the well-worn ‘starter, main, dessert’ triage.
When it comes to wine, “people are more concerned about what they put in their body,” Biwand has found. For a long time, he says many restaurants got away with serving wrongly-made wines under the guise that they were ‘organic’. But now, a wave of educated consumers, able to spot defects, are searching for wines that are “clean and well-made” yet high-quality, too.
Increasingly, continues Biwand, Crémant d’Alsace is also winning over British consumers as an “interesting alternative to Champagne,” with a new gen of Alsatian winemakers producing a wave of “fresh, experimental” cuvees particularly fitting for the London market. That’s reflected on Elsa’s weekly-changing menu: The sharp minerality of a Crémant can cut through the richness of a signature creamy whole-roasted chicken dish, for instance.
What’s wine doing well, what can it do better?
Globally, wine’s in a tricky patch, with sales dropping to their lowest levels since 1961 last year. On the flipside, cocktails are booming with consumption shooting up by 300% from 2019 to 2022 in the UK. Biwand thinks the wine sector can learn a key lesson from the mixology market, and that is, the importance of storytelling. “At Lyaness, we had this way to approach a cocktail – we used to start from a story, and from the story we’d extract flavours,” he explains. “Storytelling creates a universal base where everyone can relate. It’s a way to unite people, whether you’re from any type of culture around the world.”
He also thinks the wine industry could do a better job at explaining wine’s hefty price tag to consumers. “It’s very hard to experiment with an average price of £18 for a glass of wine” he says, but he reasons that guests are more inclined to splurge if they understand the justification for the cost.
Biwand believes bartenders and sommeliers would do well to engage with each others’ work. “There are lots of cocktail bartenders that are excellent in their craft, but have no clue whatsoever about wine. They have no clue about what’s behind the label and to read the label, or how to work a wine list. At the same time, lots of sommeliers think they know about cocktails but don’t know anything.
“The key is collaboration, because you’re not going to ask all the sommeliers to be perfect cocktail bartenders. It doesn’t make sense, everyone has a specialty. But if everyone had a bit more of an open mind to different things, and could listen to each other, it can lead to something special.”
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