Once upon a time, things were not so good at this little hotel on the Left Bank in Paris. Back in 1900, it was called Hotel d'Alsace and was dingy and cheap. Its illustrious guest Oscar Wilde died here, leaving his bill unpaid. What a difference a century makes.

Wilde's bill has long been settled, fashionable guests have checked in - luminaries like Catherine Deneuve, Jim Morrison, Al Pacino and Kate Moss - and local resident Johnny Depp drinks at the bar. A sumptuous refurbishment in recent years by interior designer Jacques Garcia has made this a sexy city nook in the 6th arrondissement.

The latest stroke is a Michelin star, awarded to the hotel's 30-year-old chef in March this year. Philippe Bélissent's brief menu at Le Restaurant features light foams and ultra-fresh ingredients, served by waiters in shirts the colour of Ribena. Apple and fennel flavour the fresh spider crab, ravioli is stuffed with truffle and mushroom. In the style stakes, the wine glasses are by Vera Wang.

The rest of the hotel is Eartha Kitt-enish awesome: playful, old-school and over-the-top. Leopard-print rugs, gilt cornicing and Napoleon III-influenced seating adorns the bar. The crepuscular basement holds an intimate pool-for-two. The 20 bedrooms - arranged around an open circular atrium - are individually decked out in chinoiserie, Art Deco mirroring, swagged purple silk, even a painting of Cardinal Richelieu.

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The hotel is now owned by A Curious Group of Hotels, which also owns Cowley Manor, the luxury country hotel in the Cotswolds, and the private Corner Club in Oxford. That makes Le Restaurant the only British-owned restaurant in Paris with a Michelin star.

A relative of the hotel's most celebrated guest is, for one, thankful it hasn't been taken over by a big chain. Merlin Holland, Wilde's grandson and author of several books on his life and letters, visited the hotel several years ago. "It's kept an awful lot of its late 19th century charm, which is the most interesting thing about it," he says.

The hotel certainly isn't shy about its connection to the poet and bon vivant, with framed letters in the sitting room, his old room decked out with a peacock mural and Oscar's single bed, now reconfigured as a double. There's even an Oscar Wilde cocktail in the bar.

"He's sort of become public property. If you have the connection, make the most of it," says Holland.

"As Left Bank hotels go, it's very charming. But it's slightly curious too that in Oscar's day it was a fourth-rate hotel."

That's one thing at 13 rue des Beaux-Arts that's considered ancient history.

L'Hotel

13 Rue des Beaux-Arts

75006 Paris

(+33 (0) 1 44 41 99 01; http://www.l-hotel.com/ )

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