According to Wikipedia, “The rule of three is a principle in English writing that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things.” I recently took a trip to Paris and had a pair of three’s in my sights…
The three restaurants of Constantin Constant: Cafe Constant, Les Cocotte, and Le Violon d’Ingres.
Three of the finest bars run by the same gang: Experimental Cocktail Club, Prescription, and Curio Parlour.
I’ll say this, there was nothing funny about these establishments dedicated to the finest culinary and cocktail experiences. The service across all of them was excellent and in some ways, it was a really enlightening experience. I realised that meals in Paris don’t have to be expensive if you want good food. I realised the service, even to an American on his own without a word of French, can still be first-class. I discovered the vieux carre (more on that in a minute).
The three restaurants of Constantin Constant all reside adjacent to one another along Rue Saint-Dominique in the 7th. Cafe Constant is, as the name implies, significantly less formal. Four of us came for lunch with no reservation and walked away under €20 a head on the prix fixe. That is shockingly good value for Paris. Have a gander at some of the food:
The next night it was off to Les Cocottes. I imagine you might need to make a reservation here, as it was quite busy when I entered. However, I was on my own and you can actually eat at the bar, so I had no trouble getting a seat. Have I mentioned I hate eating alone? I always have to sit there and fiddle with my phone (probably tweeting about the meal) or checking my e-mail, etc…but sitting at the bar, there is no one across from me and I don’t feel uncomfortable in the slightest. I actually enjoyed being alone. Anyways, the food is very reasonably priced and certainly high quality. I think I managed to get away with €40 for starter, main, and dessert with a glass of wine. I started off with a langoustine dish, moved on to the special of the day – a chicken cocotte, and then had the chef’s special divinely chocolatey dessert. For those that don’t know, a cocotte is a dish served in a small fireproof pot. See it in the pictures below:
Lastly, on the high-end, we have Le Violon d’Ingres. I’m a terrible food blogger and didn’t make a note of what I had, so you’ll just have to trust me in saying that it was very nice, but the food was not of such significantly higher quality as to justify the price. Its more about the atmosphere which is much more intimate. I’d suggest going here for a romantic dinner; Les Cocottes is the better choice for entertaining.
On the drinks side, each of the three cocktail clubs I sampled had a completely different atmosphere.
First up was Experiemental Cocktail Club. This was the most mature of the three bars with a staff that ran the place like clockwork. They knew everything about drinks, and could match your tastes, but for a place called Experimental Cocktail Club, I didn’t find them all that experimental. That is not a bad thing. The drinks were innovative and perfected. They knew what works, there was no experiment. The vibe was pretty casual, but this was certainly the place for an intimate evening of fine drinking. My drinks: Tommy’s Margarita and a Ditzy Kitty.
After a couple drinks here, I trotted on down to Prescription. Best vibe of the night — the place was absolutely buzzing. Cool people, dressed cool, all enjoying cool cocktails. I found it so much easier to approach people and strike up conversations…even with the bartnenders who certainly had their hands full. Prescription also introduced me to the vieux carre. Oh, the vieux carre, a beautiful blend of Rittenhouse Rye, Grosperrin VSOP cognac, sweet vermouth, Angostura bitters, Benedictine, and a citrus zest. It was approaching 1am and it was time for me to move on…though I could have spent the entire night drinking vieux carres.
Curio Parlor was my next and final stop of the evening and I promptly found a seat at the bar where I camped out for the evening. It was time to slow things down a bit, move on to some classics, and really soak up my last evening in Paris. It was time for a Manhattan. I think people were sufficiently libated here because I didn’t need to initiate any of the conversations. A steady stream of people seemed to keep coming up to chat — maybe I just looked cool with the Manhattan. Of course, Curio Parlor was open till 4am so my 2 drink limit that I had held so tightly to seemed a bit meaningless, as this was my last stop of the night. I think I probably had 3 or 4 drinks at Curio and they were all delicious. I stuck mostly to classics (ok, manhattans), but I think a threw a surprise in from the menu, just to say I had.
All in all, I was very impressed with all of these spots and I would whole-heartedly recommend them to anyone…
Inherently funny? Hardly, thought I did meet some intersting people along the way.
More satisfying? Drinking at three bars is always more satisfying than one. Tasty food too.
More effective? I definitely feel like I experienced some of Paris’ finest by cramming these places into three days in Paris.