Entertainment in Paris
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Angelina
Take a break from the long trek along the Tuileries gardens and line up for a table at Angélina, along with lunching ladies, their posturing poodles and half the students from Tokyo University. This beautiful, high-ceilinged tearoom has exquisite furnishings, mirrored walls and fabulous fluffy cakes. More importantly, it serves the best and most wonderfully sickening ‘African’ hot chocolate in the history of time (€7.20), served with a pot of whipped cream and carafe of water, that prompts the constant queue for a table at Angelina. Buy it bottled to take home from Angelina’s small boutique.
reviewed
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Le Piano Vache
Down the hill from the Panthéon, this bar is covered in old posters above old couches and is drenched in 1970s and ’80s rock ambience. Effortlessly underground and a real student fave, here bands and DJs play mainly rock, plus some goth, reggae and pop.
reviewed
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Moulin Rouge
Immortalised in the posters of Toulouse-Lautrec and later on screen by Baz Luhrmann, the Moulin Rouge twinkles beneath a 1925 replica of its original red windmill. Yes, it’s rife with bus-tour crowds. But from the opening bars of music to the last high kick it’s a whirl of fantastical costumes, sets, choreography and champagne. Booking advised.
reviewed
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Les Deux Magots
If ever there were a cafe that summed up St-Germain des Prés’ early-20th-century literary scene, it’s this former hangout of anyone who was anyone. You will spend beaucoup to sip a coffee in a wicker chair on the terrace shaded by dark-green awnings and geraniums spilling from window boxes, but it’s an undeniable piece of Parisian history.
If you’re feeling decadent, order its famous shop-made hot chocolate, served in porcelain jugs. The name refers to the two magots (grotesque figurines) of Chinese dignitaries at the entrance.
reviewed
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O’Neil
This micro brasserie brews its own: Taste all four with a palatte en dégustation (€5.90) or pick the colour to suit your – blonde (blond), blanche (white), brune (brown) or ambŕee (amber) – poured straight from the barrel. Weekday ‘Happy Hour’ (6pm to 8pm) spells good-value drinking, as does O’Neil’s mighty 1.8L pitchers of beer (€16/20 before/after 6pm). Beer cocktails (€4 to €9.60) and les chasse-bières (beer chasers; €7.50) are its unusual specialities.
reviewed
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Le Pure Café
A classic Parisian haunt, this rustic, cherry-red corner cafe was featured in the art-house film Before Sunset but it’s still a refreshingly unpretentious spot for a drink or well-crafted fare like veal with chestnut purée.
reviewed
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Le Violon Dingue
A loud, lively bar adopted by revolving generations of students, the ‘Crazy Violin’ attracts lots of young English-speakers with big-screen sports shown upstairs and the flirty ‘Dingue Lounge’ downstairs. The name ‘Crazy Violin’ is a pun on the expression le violon d’Ingres, meaning ‘hobby’ in French because the celebrated painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres played fiddle in his spare time.
reviewed
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Lizard Lounge
A quality outpost of Anglo-Saxon attitude in the heart of the Marais, this relaxed pub has beer on tap, cocktails, and grub along the lines of club sandwiches and burgers. Its Sunday brunch is a real hit, as is its cellar space with stone walls where DJs spin tunes on weekends. Happy hour from 8pm to 10pm sees 1.5L pitchers of beer cost a bargain €12.
reviewed
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Le Loir dans La Théière
Its cutesy name (Dormouse in the Teapot) notwithstanding, this is a wonderful old space filled with retro toys, comfy couches and scenes of Through the Looking Glass on the walls. It's dozen different types of tea poured in the company of excellent savoury tarts and crumble-type desserts ensure a constant queue on the street outside. Breakfast (€12) and brunch (€19.50) too.
reviewed
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Le Crocodile
This green-shuttered bar has been dispensing cocktails (more than 200 on the list) since 1966. The ’70s were ‘epic’ in this bar, and the dream kicks on well into the new millennium. Arrive late for a truly eclectic crowd, including lots of students, and an atmosphere that can go from quiet tippling to raucous revelry. Hours can vary.
reviewed
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Cannibale Café
In fact ‘Cannibal Café’ couldn’t be more welcoming, with its grand rococo-style bar topped with worn zinc, decrepit mirrors, peeling mouldings, wood panelling, Formica tables and red leatherette bench seats. It’s a laid-back, almost frayed alternative to the groovy pubs and bars of rue Oberkampf and the perfect place to linger over a coffee or grab a quick beer at the bar. There’s an extensive menu with popular breakfasts (€9 to €12), and brunch (served between noon and 4pm on the weekend) is €18. Oh, and the name of this place isn’t suggesting that you bring condiments if you miss the mealtimes; it comes from a Dada manifesto and a painting by Goya.
reviewed
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MK2 Bibliothèque
This branch of the ever-growing chain next to the Bibliothèque Nationale is the most ambitious yet, with 14 screens showing a variety of blockbusters and studio films, a trendy cafe, brasserie, restaurant, late-night bar, and shops specialising in DVDs, books and comics and graphic novels.
Inside the complex, Studio Harcourt, the mythical 1934-founded Parisian photography studio famed for its black-and-white portraits of film stars, has installed a hi-tech photo booth for glamour portraits at a fraction of the price of its studio sittings. The booth, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, uses continuous light rather than flash to snap glamorous black-and-white…
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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Café Oz
A militantly Aussie pub at the bottom of sleazy rue St-Denis, Oz tries to be authentic – from its green-and-ochre décor to its strong commitment to maximising your drink intake of Aussie and Kiwi beers. Convivial bordering on raucous, it’s popular with Anglos but the French love it too. The place is packed on Friday and Saturday nights, when it heats up with DJs and dancing. Happy hour is 5pm to 8pm. There are a couple more branches, including Pigalle’s Café Oz Blanche ([tel] 01 40 16 11 16; 1 rue de Bruxelles, 9e; [hrs] 5pm-2am Mon-Wed, 5pm-4am Thurs, 5pm-10am Fri, 2pm-10am Sat, 2pm-2am Sun; [metro] Blanche).
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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Le Zéro De Conduite
In the house where Richard Wagner lived briefly in the 1840s, Le Zéro De Conduite goes all out to rekindle your infancy, serving cocktails in biberons (baby bottles) and throwing concours de grimaces (face-pulling competitions), with cards, dice and board games. Advance table reservations are strongly recommended.
reviewed
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Frog & British Library
A hybrid English pub-French brasserie,this spacious drinking venue around the corner from the Bibliothèque Nationale is propped up by expats and French students who flock here between library visits for food (apple pie and custard, potato wedges, weekend brunches) with a pint.
The pick of the drinks list is its half-dozen beers brewed on the premises with inspired names like ‘Dark de Triomphe’, ‘Inseine’ and ‘Parislytic’.
reviewed
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Stade Roland Garros
By far the glitziest annual sporting event in Paris is the French Open, the second of four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, held on clay at the 16,500-seat Stade Roland Garros in the Bois de Boulogne from late May to mid-June. Tickets are expensive and like gold dust; they go on sale mid-December and bookings must be made by March. They are only available online or via mail. One week prior to the competition (on the first day of the qualifiers), remaining tickets are sold from the box office at the entrance to the stadium.
reviewed
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Peniche El Alamein
Strung with terracotta pots of flowers, this deep-purple boat is a lovely spot on the Seine to sip away summer evenings. Sit amid tulips and enjoy live bands; flyers are stuck on the lamppost at the front. Less hectic than Paris’ other floating clubs moored here, hence the older crowd, its sound spans jazz, world and Piaf-style chansons.
reviewed
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Olympic Café
This community bar in the Goutte d’Or neighbourhood is the best place in Paris to catch live African music along with jazz and reggae groups. The monthly program also includes events at the Lavoir Moderne Parisien, another springboard for young talent down the road. African specialities are available for lunch and dinner.
reviewed
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La Pagode
A classified historical monument, this Chinese-style pagoda was shipped to France, piece by piece, in 1895 by Monsieur Morin (the then proprietor of Le Bon Marché), who had it rebuilt in his garden on rue de Babylone as a love present for his wife. The wife clearly wasn’t too impressed – she left him a year later. But Parisian cinéphiles who flock here to revel in its eclectic programme are. La Pagode has been a fantastic, atmospheric cinema since 1931 – don’t miss a moment or two in its bamboo-enshrined garden.
reviewed
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On Cherche Encore
This relaxed, modern, loft-style bar-café with the less-than-inspired name of ‘We’re Still Looking’, is trying to do it all and succeeding. It’s committed to serving quality food and wines at reasonable prices; the Saturday brunch from noon to 4pm is one of the best around. It is also intent on providing quality tunes (electro, house and funk) from Thursday to Saturday, which leads to some quality mingling. The corner terrace is positioned for all-afternoon sun and is worth pouncing on.
reviewed
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Le Baron
When it reopened in 2004, the Baron shot to fame as the place where everyone wanted to be but no one could get into. Intimately located in a former brothel with smouldering, luxury-cabaret ambience, it's graced by a continuous trail of St-Germain artists, hip writers and A-list celebrity drop-ins (Bjork, Sophia Coppola).
It does what it does very well; this is what Parisians mean when they say a place is hype. You usually need to know a member or be a famous actor (or a brilliant liar) to get in.
reviewed
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Le Troisème Lieu
Billing itself as la cantine des ginettes armées (canteen of armed gals), this kooky place for chic young lesbians is part bar, part club, part restaurant. There’s a large, colourful bar and big wooden tables at street level, with good-value meals available. The vaulted cellar below leaves space for dancing to DJs (house, electro) and rock/alternative music concerts.
reviewed
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Studio Théâtre
Founded in 1680 under Louis XIV, the ‘French Comedy’ theatre bases its repertoire around the works of classic French playwrights such as Molière, Racine, Corneille, Beaumarchais, Marivaux and Musset, though in recent years contemporary and even – shock, horror! – non-French works have been staged. This is one of three venues including the main Salle Richelieu on place Colette and the Théâtre du Vieux Colombier.
reviewed