Le Grand Mazarin looks like it’s out of a Wes Anderson movie, but its charm extends far beyond that

Be yourself.

That’s what parents say, isn’t it, when they realise their progeny tilt towards certain eccentricity and uniqueness.

What’s important is that these inimitable elements — the same many will attempt to soften or directly instruct to “tone down” — come to act as a certain signature. These are the very things people remember — the off-centre charm and the boldness that doesn’t ask permission. I’ve always said there’s a particular power in not sanding yourself smooth (Yes, I was one of those kids told to be himself … thanks Ma and Pa). OK, it risks being too much for some. Good. That’s the point. Because who’s here to be universally palatable?

Further, and in what’s a rather necessary segue given we’re more than 100 words into what is a hotel review, in the heady-scented world of high-end hotels, enough of the minimalism and par-boiled, bain-marie palettes and “soft” timbers.

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To be yourself isn’t about fitting in more comfortably. It’s about standing out without apology — louder, stranger and far more interesting because of it.

Well, these be the thoughts bouncing about my bonce on making it to Paris’ fascinating Le Grand Mazarin hotel on a recent evening enveloped by a velvety, tangible darkness.

What a gift to step inside this bold boutique — held centrally within the Marais (know you’d struggle to find a better address from which to explore the area that remains a must, given necessary culinary and retail outings).

Le Grand Mazarin — owned by the standout Maisons Pariente group, a family-owned luxury operation that also includes Meribel’s equally brilliant Le Cocou — is immediately wonderful and warm and irresistible. It’s also very much itself. Which is to say an enticing entwinement of 18th-century Parisian classicism and an unmatched air of modern luxury.

You’ll hear people say it, so we might as well just get it out of the way. “It’s like being in a Wes Anderson movie”, they say, somewhat lazily. Though we should perhaps be thankful they’ve seen some of Mr Anderson’s work (which we doubt extends to Rushmore).

As I see it, and let’s stick with the cultural elitism, Le Mazarin strikes as the sort of hotel that’s read more books than you. And it wants you to know that.

Tucked as it is into the historic Marais and with a flair for the dramatic, it equally holds what feels like a sense of cultivated mischief. There’s fun here — once within you immediately sense that someone, somewhere, had the courage to say “yes” one too many times, and you’re glad they did.

If you’re after clean lines and those (aforementioned) apologetic palettes and furniture that whispers — know you’ve taken a wrong turn off the peripherique. Le Grand Mazarin is an ode to maximalism with a side in whimsy: jewel-toned velvets, riotous patterns, walls that seem to hold both patterns and opinions. It’s theatrical. And bold. And oh so wonderful.

Dressed in purple — it’s perhaps the sole questionable misstep – the welcome is warm and attentive in a way that outs this as being very different to that time you spent a week in Paris in your twenties. But that’s also what comes with a certain spend — and well done you.

Across six floors rest 61 rooms and seven suites. ROAM’s Superior room is a continuation of the vibrant fun and texture and colourful shape — sizable for Parisian standards (you can walk entirety of the queen bed, with canopy draped in art de lys tapestry) and replete with large windows framing a Marais street scene, associated natural light and adjoining en-suite in ochre.

The wonder and the whimsy Le Grand Mazarin offers is the work of Swedish interior designer Martin Brudnizki and his London-based firm, MDBS.

“We wanted the hotel to feel as though it has always been a part of Le Marais’ landscape,” Brudnizki has said. “So we sought inspiration from the great houses of the aristocratic era, where figures from literature, art and music gathered in sumptuous residences, exchanging ideas and thoughts.

Our design concept was to reignite this historic ambience for the modern world, where guests feel as though they have arrived home and have the freedom to express themselves.” That’s right — to be themself.

Downstairs rests the restaurant Boubale – a name taken from Yiddish and the childhoods of the property’s directors and meaning “my little doll, my little darling” and which the co-founders — sisters Leslie Kouhana and Kimberley Cohen — were called by their grandmothers as kids.

Menus are shareable and large and driven by Middle Eastern and eastern Europe flavours: starters of eggplant caviar and veggie falafels with anchovy sauce before mains of slow-cooked lamb shoulder with spices and shrimp kefta and braised lettuce.

There’s no wild experiments here, no desperate attempts to reinvent butter. Instead, it’s a confident reminder that when things are done well, that’s enough.

Let’s skip dessert and instead head for the subterranean pool. No one needs a pool in Paris — OK, perhaps there are some August days that warrant such — though this is more than a mere collection of water. Under Brudnizki’s direction this is a surreal and tiled space of bold colour that feels as though it was dreamt rather than designed.

Service throughout the hotel is attentive without the suffocating choreography you often find in hotels trying too hard to impress. Here, there’s a lightness of touch — friendly (English-speaking) staff available when you need them and who are happy to assist though they also assume you’re competent in your life as an actual adult.

In a city that trades heavily on its own mythology, Le Grand Mazarin manages to feel both entirely Parisian and slightly outside of Paris altogether. It doesn’t try to be everything to everyone, which is precisely why it works. It’s bold without being brash, curious without being chaotic, luxurious without slipping into parody.

It understands that true indulgence is not about excess but about intention and detail. It is, ultimately, proud to something different, proud be itself.

From approx. $1200 a night; legrandmazarin.com