Harry's Bar

For cocktail enthusiasts, Harry's Bar is an icon. A New York-style bar in the middle of Paris, where most of the clientele speak English, Harry's Bar has given the world such famous cocktails as the Bloody Mary, the Sidecar and the White Lady. Being rather into cocktails ourselves, we couldn't leave Paris without at least one trip to the mother ship. The bright neon lights outside announced that we had found the right place - on rue de la Daunude, near the Opera Garnier - and on entering, the barman told us in French and English that there was a piano bar downstairs. We followed his instructions, which turned out to be a good idea as it was much less smoky in the piano bar. A murmur of conversations in French and English could be heard over the sound of the old jazz standards being played on the piano. The menu, which is in English, has a section with cocktails invented by Harry's Bar, as well as the usual suspects. It also contains the rules for being an IBF, or International Bar Fly. It seemed that you had to buy an awful lot of cocktails to be admitted to the "bar", and at 12.50€ a pop I don't think we'll ever be in danger of breaking the IBF rules. Stu and I both ordered a Sidecar, which is mixture of brandy, Cointreau and lemon juice. Anyone can mix different alcohols and juices together to make an alcoholic drink, but the real art of making a great cocktail is to make it taste much more innocuous than it is. This means finding the perfect harmony between alcohol, sweet, and sour tastes. Harry's Bar, as expected, had the equilibrium just right. A good thing, too, because the measures are on the large side. Instead of the usual martini glass, our drinks were served in a small wineglass, almost filled to the brim. Sipping our drinks, we sat back and enjoyed the music, laughing when the piano player turned down an American girl who asked him to play Sweet Caroline for her. We left the bar slightly tipsy, slightly out of pocket but extremely content.