Cafe Signes sits on a leafy avenue on the Seine’s Left Bank, and from the outside appears much like any other laid-back Parisian café. Animated discussions over coffee and pastries spill onto the pavement. However on closer inspection, its clientele are gesticulating even more vigorously than you’d expect in a lively Gallic discussion.
And it’s not only the customers; the waiters are also signing back. This is because Cafe Signes is France’s first bistro to be staffed by deaf people. Even the menu is filled with sign language, from which you can make yourself understood to your waiter.
Altogether, it makes for a surprisingly tranquil escape from the rumpus of the Paris streets, and for once in the capital, it won’t matter a jot if you can’t speak French.
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