Salons de thé are a relatively new-fangled invention, cropping up characteristically in both established upper-class haunts and newly gentrified parts of town. As bars are still characteristically more popular with men, salons de thé tend to attract a female clientele. More refined than anything suggested by the translation "tea room", they serve everything from light midday meals, brunches, salads and quiches to rich confections of cake and ice cream. The oldest salon de thé is Angélina's, with its marble cake-frosting exterior. More exotic and relaxed is Café de la Mosquée, in one of the least Parisian of the city's buildings.
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