Great Bars for Expats in Paris

As a non-French living in Paris I am often on the look out for bars that are laid back and are different from the usual Parisian Café / Bistrot or for that matter from the typical ‘popular’ hangouts. So here is my list of some of the funnest bars I have discovered in Paris and why I love them. PS: I am also a little biased since I have a little dog and all these bars are very dog friendly J

Culture Rapide  $

Now this little treasure is not great because of the drinks – no way! In fact you are better off ordering beer or a simple Gin Tonic to be on the safe side. And neither do they have food or snacks. But, what they do have is a wonderful atmosphere with live bands and poetry jams. With a huge terrace on which one can spend a long summer evening with friends and some of that famous Belleville graffiti to boot. A very interesting piece of art is a teddy bear strung up on a light pole in the terrace.

Address – 103 Rue Julien Lacroix, 75020 Paris

Red House $

This very American bar close to Bastille run by an American is the kind of place where you go with friends and throw a few back to some great music. They have a pinball machine and nachos with an awesome hot sauce. They also have Movie nights on Mondays (free popcorn) and if you have no one to go with just sit at the bar and let the bar tenders entertain you. While there order the Old Torino – the best take on a Mojito I have had – spicy.

Address – 1 B Rue de la Forge Royale, 75011 Paris

Long Island Bar $

This little place at a corner in Pigalle is a precious little gem hidden away from the bustle of the typical popular bars. They have cheap cocktails, cartoons/football on TV, special deals every night and and and…candy in their cocktails! The food is rather good too albeit a bit expensive. This bar has a fun little terrace but you need to get in early to grab a place there.

Address – 24 Rue Pierre Fontaine, 75009 Paris

Melting Potes $

Okay, so technically this bar is not in Paris but just outside in the suburb of Les Lilas. A small neighbourhood bar owned by an old rocker who calls in some great artists to perform live regularly. The bar has decent platters of charcuterie and cheese by way of food and a good selection of alcohol (do not bother asking for cocktails though – the bar owner will ask you how to make it hehe). Also, if you have a dog feel free to bring Fido along, he can be let off the leash and sit on the couch with you.

Address – 32 rue Jean Moulin, 93260 Les Lilas

Très Honoré Bar $$$

Now this is my go to with girlfriends bar. The décor is to die for and so are the cocktails. It is the kind of bar you can go to in a jeans tee-shirt or get all polished p in heels and pearls. The terrace is great even in winters and the waiters know English. They do have a great restaurant as well though I never really go there to eat. I would suggest getting a reservation if you want to go in a biggish group. This is also perhaps the only bar I have been to where they not only welcomed my pooch but offered him a bowl of water without my asking for one!

Address – 35 Place du Marché Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris

Prescription Cocktail Club $$

I absolutely adore this bar! It is tiny and super cozy but can get very crowded, so get there early if you want to grab a table. They have some of the best cocktails and for sure one of the best whiskey sours I have had in Paris. The only negative is that they have no terrace and is definitely not dog friendly. It is a great place to go with a close group of friends and you can for sure meet new people since one is forced to sit in rather close quarters with strangers.

Address –  23 rue Mazarine, 75006 Paris, France

The Vampires of Paris

Hello Chicklets! I know it has been a while since I wrote an entry and its mostly not because of lack of inspiration…but because I have had a rather lazy few months

Anyway, I thought I would come back with a bang!!  And since it is so close to Halloween (which sees to be everywhere right now) I thought why not write a highly interesting entry about vampires in Paris!! Now, before I proceed I would like to let everyone reading this know – a) This is not my POV but a story I heard recently, b) It is one of the most twisted takes on history I have heard and c) It is all in fun – so please read and enjoy it for what it is – An All Hallows Tale MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…..

In the early 19^th century the poor flocked the cities of Europe looking for work and a better life, turning areas of the cities into crowded slums overridden with disease, cries, and…Vampires! All the major cities across Europe saw not just a population explosion of humans but also vampires. Narrow alleyways, tumbledown buildings and squalor provided an excellent hunting ground to vampires along with providing them with dark, squalid corners in which to hide during the daytime. In fact the area just north of the Louvre was so rampant with vampire attacks that it became known as the Vampire Quartier. Despite measures like hiring vampire hunters and enforcing strict curfews the vampire attacks continued to mount and the authorities were helpless until Baron Georges Haussmann, Paris' top city planner, proposed something never done before – instead of killing vampires why not destroy where they take shelter! The proposal was accepted and the work started right away. Under the guidance of Haussmann the city of Paris underwent complete transformation. Thousands of people watched as buildings were demolished and droves of vampires were driven out right into the arms of the French military and killed. 20 years later wide roads, grand buildings and an Opera replaced the vampire quartier. The vampire attacks had dwindled down to almost nothing and Haussmann was the hero of the day. The laurels were premature though since suddenly there was a sharp rise in the vampire attacks and this time the attacks happened all over Paris. As it turned out the extensive sewer system designed by Haussmann proved to be not only a great place for vampires to thrive but also a fabulous underground network for them to get around the city.

For the next 50 years or so these vampires, now called Haussmann’s Children, lived in the sewers and came out at night to hunt and feed. Time to time the city would try to station military at the entrances but eventually gave that up due to a high death and turning toll among the army officers. During the Nazi occupation any resistance fighters who tried to hide in the sewers encountered the vampires. Eventually sophisticated weapons and better hunting techniques lowered the vampire numbers to almost nil. The last of Haussmann’s children was hunted down and destroyed in 1971 near the river Seine where there had been a spate of attacks.

And that my friends, concludes the saga of Haussmann’s Children!

Fall 2013 - What to wear (or not) in Paris

This is going to be a rather small and slightly bitchy post about a complete stranger who might teach us all something – which is why I have not included her face in the picture. Every season we are bombarded with fashion trends and well, lets just face it; if you love fashion you follow the trends (hopefully just far enough that they look good you)! Anyway, spotted this lady on the metro, wearing spot-on trends for 2013 – just done wrong!

Midi skirt – check, Floral top – check (couldn’t take a pic but it was color blocked in hot pink and white with white embroidered daisies on the pink part), Sporty boyfriend jacket – check, Clunky shoes – check, Polka dot socks peaking through the shoes – check…… And this is how you wear all this years trends together! (Or not).

The French and The Pizza!

So there I was, 2011, a new chapter of my life (one I had dreamed of since childhood) – I moved to Paris. Paris of the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Belle Epoque, Hemmingway, Balzac, Van Gogh, Dali, Proust… Yes, I moved to Paris, bag and baggage with my cheese allergies and red wine allergies and a general dislike for all things sweet. And the past two years have been an interesting culinary adventure since the usual French delicacies are pretty much out of the question. I discovered Turkish kebabs, mussels & fries, violette ice cream, …rediscovered lemon tarts (the only exception to my me-no-like-sweets rule), black black coffee, rare steaks…and, to my surprise, the immense love the French have for Pizzas. They can be found everywhere…in all shapes and sizes…with all kinds of flavors and sauces. Yes, unfortunately they really can be found with all kinds of flavors and sauces. ‘Unfortunately’ because I am an Indian – we do have pizza hut, dominos and Papa John’s but we are very very far away from the classic pizza – Italian or American! We love spice, keema, tomato sauce (ketchup), paneer and lots of onions on our ‘very thick pan’ pizza. We like our pizza very very cooked and God Forbid you do not offer a good vegetarian version or if you do not give us FREE oregano and chilli flakes. All of the above are also reasons why I never liked pizza (especially the tomato sauce). 

Crash and Burn Pizza!

Now, here I am in France surrounded by Pizza at every corner and when I happen to be in the south of France literally every restaurant has pizza on the menu. And what pizzas – with tomato sauce (read Italian but still processed sauce) or cream if u please…a half fried egg (why not)…all kinds of cheeses…mussels too if you like…and they do have a vegetarian one too – margarita! After managing to make me dislike pizza even more than before Paris decided to smile down at me and lo and behold! There was suddenly a Dominos next to my house! I was delighted! Mostly because I was bored of eating McDs or kebab every time I was lazy and did not want to cook, but also because my darling boyfriend loves pizza and I thought well here is a compromise – I can get the safe and time tested pepperoni and cheese pizza :D There was me prancing and dancing my way to Dominos for (finally) a good pizza until the menu hit me like a ton of bricks – there was no pepperoni and cheese! No, there was Indian pizza with curry sauce and some strange Turkish version with chorizos and all kinds of French ones and even a couple vegetarian ones… but no pepperoni and cheese! Sigh! Well here I am again in this mean old town with no sign of relief from the French Pizza!

Grasse - A Personal Discovery ;)

On a bright sunny day we took a long drive up the hills of Cote D’Azur, dog and all, and made our way to Grasse – the little town made famous by it’s historical perfume industry.  Now, I have been to Grasse before and done the whole explore-the-town, perfume museum tours and shopping for perfumes dance. This time round though we went in with a very single minded focus – a sort of self-discovery – we went to Grasse to create our very own custom perfume!

Yep, you heard it right – I now have my very own signature fragrance :D and so does Alex haha. Anyhow, it all started with me doing some random research on what ‘else’ could I do in Grasse other than buy perfume (read: me wanting to invent my own walk around the city :P ). I found a few companies which host perfume making workshops with many many MANY different permutations and combinations of price points and offerings and recalled (rather randomly) that Alex always wanted a unique perfume that no one else had. It being man’s birthday and all during our vacation week I decided that a workshop like this makes for the perfect gift. We picked Galimard, which is the oldest Perfume house in Grasse (started in 1747), offers a complete 2-hour workshop and the noses that work there can speak many languages. At the start of our workshop they gave a set of 9 bottles with no names on them and asked us to choose 2 smell that we liked the most. These two smells served as the base families of our perfumes. From there we went on to pick out heart notes and then finally head notes; with a break in between so as not to get too muddled with all the smells around us. They had around a 100 scents to choose from for both men and women and each of our individual perfumes is made up of 4 base, 6 heart and 5 head notes. So, not just do you get to make your own signature perfume but they also keep the recipe on record so that you can order the perfume again once its over and also order stuff like Eau de Toilette, Soap, Body wash and Body lotion.

Turns out that Alex and I both like very strong, woodsy smells :P Also, I loved the hospitality because not only were they kind enough to accommodate the doggie poo but he actually went into the workshop area and slept blissfully in the cool AC room :) Overall I would say that if you do take the time out to go down to Grasse at any point do make an appointment with Galimard for this workshop (and you can of course buy some of their signature perfumes :P).

The Effect of All the Scents on my poor Nose :P

OOOhhhhhh Perfume Maker Thingies 

Our Perfumes :D

Galimard Website: http://www.galimard.com/