Cocktail Bar entertainment in France
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A
Harry’s New York Bar
One of the most popular American-style bars in the prewar years, Harry’s once welcomed writers like F Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, who no doubt sampled the bar’s unique cocktail and creation: the Bloody Mary. The Cuban mahogany interior dates from the mid-19th century and was brought over from a Manhattan bar in 1911.
There’s a basement piano bar called Ivories where Gershwin supposedly composed An American in Paris and, for the peckish, old-school hot dogs and generous club sandwiches to snack on. The advertisement for Harry’s that occasionally appears in the papers still reads ‘Tell the Taxi Driver Sank Roo Doe Noo’ and is copyrighted.
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Alcazar
Also known as ‘La Mezzanine’, this hip bar inside Alcazar has got Conran’s name all over it. Narcissistic but alluring, it’s a modern white-and-glass mezzanine overlooking the restaurant (brunch €34, lunch/dinner menu €20 to €34/40) with fancy cocktails, nouvelle cuisine dinners and a fashionable supper-club clientele. Wednesday to Saturday, DJs ‘pass records’ in the corner – this place is famous for its excellent trip-hop/house/lounge music compilations. Next door is Conran’s club Le Wagg. Flyers for all three are posted at www.blogalcazar.fr.
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Andy Walhoo
Casablanca meets pop-artist Andy Warhol in this cool, multicoloured cocktail lounge hidden away just north of the Centre Georges Pompidou. Its clever name means ‘I have nothing’ in Arabic and is a major misnomer: its acid-yellow colour, sweet cocktails, pushy staff and loud house music may be too much for some palates. Happy hour, 5pm to 8pm, ushers in a great-value €5 cocktail du jour and the courtyard behind is paradise for smokers and pullers.
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Ice Kube
Every city worth its, err, salt, has got to have an ice bar nowadays, and this temple de glace (ice temple) on the 1st floor of the très boutique Kube Hôtel is the French capital’s first. The temperature is set at -5°C, there are down jackets on loan and the bar is a shimmering block of carved ice. For €38 you get four vodka cocktails and 30 minutes of chill time.
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Le Sun 7
An unpretentious, happening place, Le Sun 7 attracts a pretty young crowd keen to knock down a few drinks and shake their stuff at the weekend. It's more laid-back on weeknights.
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Le China
Although China is present in name only, this is nonetheless a delightfully plush place to meet for drinks, with deep leather couches, a 1930s Shanghai decor and live shows in the basement.
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Le Rosebud
Like the sleigh of that name in Citizen Kane, Rosebud harkens to the past. In this case it’s to Montparnasse’s early 20th-century heyday (the decor has scarcely changed since Sartre drank here). Enjoy a Champagne cocktail amid the quiet elegance of polished wood and aged leather.
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Prescription Cocktail Club
With bowler and flat-top hats as lampshades and a 1930s speakeasy New York air to the place, this cocktail club – one in a trio run by the same massively successful team as Curio Parlor and Experimental – is very Parisian-cool. Getting past the doorman can be tough, but, once in, it’s friendliness and old-fashioned cocktails all round. Watch its Facebook page for events such as Sunday afternoon Mad Hatters pyjama parties.
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Le Fumoir
This colonial-style bar-restaurant is a fine spot to sip top-notch gin from quality glassware while nibbling on olives from the vintage mahogany bar, or discover new cocktails with friends during happy hour (6pm to 8pm). A buoyant, corporate crowd packs out the place weekday evenings after work, while the restaurant revs into gear with late-morning breakfasts during the week and Sunday brunch.
The best seats in the house are in the ‘library’ and on the summer pavement terrace.
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Curio Parlor Cocktail Club
Run by the same switched-on, chilled-out team as the Experimental Cocktail Club et al, this hybrid bar-club looks to the interwar années folles (crazy years) of 1920s Paris, London and New York for inspiration. Its racing-green façade with a simple brass plaque on the door is the height of discretion.
Go to its Facebook page to find out which party is happening when.
reviewed
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Buddha Bar
The décor is simply spectacular, with a two-storey golden Buddha and millions of candles, at this A-list cocktail bar, known for its Zen lounge music.
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Experimental Cocktail Club
Called ECC by trendies, this fabulous speakeasy with grey façade and old-beamed ceiling is effortlessly hip. Oozing spirit and soul, the cocktail bar – with retro-chic decor by American interior designer Cuoco Black and sister bars in London and New York – is a sophisticated flashback to those années folles (crazy years) of prohibition New York.
Cocktails (€12 to €15) are individual and fabulous, and DJs set the space partying until dawn at weekends. The same guys are behind the equally hip Ballroom cocktail bar in the cellar of the New Yorker-style Beef Club.
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Le Havanita
Kick off the night with a few mojitos at this cheerful den on the quayside.
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Cubana Café
A post-work crowd sinks into leather armchairs beneath oil paintings of daily life in Cuba for a huge range of Cuban cocktails made with Havana rum and regular live Cuban music (check the program online).
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