La Mère Catherine sits on the corner of the Place du Tertre behind a bright yellow facade. Established in seventeen ninety-three, it claims to be the oldest restaurant in Montmartre. Russian soldiers occupied Paris in eighteen fourteen after Napoleon fell, and they frequently stopped here to drink. These soldiers shouted bistro, the Russian word for quickly, at the waitstaff whenever they wanted another round of alcohol. This is how the term bistro entered the French language and eventually spread across the world.
La Mère Catherine
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