Bars & clubs - Paris e-guide: The Travel Guide with its Own Website - page 127

Centre

10 G3

Le Coeur Fou lovely local
55 rue Montmartre, 2ème • no phone
Open to 2am daily
Small but beautiful, Le Coeur Fou is always packed
with friendly thirtysomethings who hit this place
straight from their graphic design studios/art
galleries/Internet start-ups for several rounds of
apéritifs. You'll find modern art on the walls, a busy
bar, smiley staff and an irrepressibly sociable vibe.

10 F3

Juveniles fine wine bar
47 rue de Richelieu, 1er • 01 42 97 46 49
Open to midnight Mon-Sat
Here, you'll have to pick your way past the haphazardly
stacked crates of great wine - especially the New
World selection - to reach the bar. The staff (who know
their wine but won't patronize you if you don't) and
the loyal hard-drinking hacks from nearby newspaper
offices make this a top place to savour a bottle or two.

2 C4 9 D3

Hemingway Bar Ritzy experience
Ritz Hotel, 15 place Vendôme, 1er • 01 43 16 33 65
www.ritzparis.com Open to 2am Mon-Sat
The first thing you need to know about the Heming-
way Bar is how to find it. This gem of a drinking hole
is expertly concealed (no signs) within the Ritz Hotel,
but the trek past the reception to the back of the
building - taking a right after the overstuffed sofas
and roaring fire, and continuing along the carpeted
corridor - is most definitely worth it.
The Hemingway is a tiny nook of dark-wood panel-
ling, low-lighting, black-and-white photos of Papa
himself, fascinating clientele and superb cocktails. The
place abounds with stories, the most famous being the
tale of Hemingway “liberating” the bar at the end of
WWII. Legend has it that the Old Man deemed the bar
at the Ritz the place to enjoy the first round of “free”
drinks after the Allies arrived. A high accolade indeed,
given that Hemingway drank in earnest and patronized
almost every bar around at the time. For further tales

of glamour, glitz and alcohol, ask head barman Colin
Field, who was voted the world's best bartender for
several consecutive years and is certainly Paris's most
charming host. Colin's mouthwatering cocktail list is
impressively extensive and includes the delicious Ritz
Champagne (a wonderful mixture of apples and fizz),
the Ritz 75 (a heady mix of gin, champagne and citrus
fruits) and the stunning Raspberry Martini (fresh
raspberries macerated in premium vodka).
This clubby den is probably the only place in Paris
where you can listen to scratchy piano music played
on a wind-up gramophone, watch the bartender sabre
a bottle of vintage champagne, sip stunning drinks -
which arrive with a flourish for the gentlemen and a
flower for the ladies - and slip into a timeless reverie.
The captains of industry, trust-fund babes, Lotharios
and cocktail aficionados mingling at the bar aren't
perturbed by the prices, and even more ordinary folk
on tight budgets tend to think it's worth the splurge
for a little slice of bar heaven.