The Palais de Tokyo bar is nothing grand, although definitely kooky, with several TV screens showing bizarre videos, crazily colourful chairs and giant, spaceship-like lights hanging from the ceiling.
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| The Palais de Tokyo bar |
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| Bar in foreground, bit of the restaurant in the background |
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| Quirky chair designs |
It also harbours my all-time favourite cocktail in Paris (that I've tried so far), called 'For Girls Only', although they probably don't enforce that! At a pricey €12 it's one of the most expensive cocktails on the menu, but for what you get it's worth every last centime!
The 'For Girls Only' is made of vodka, lychee, lime, champagne and crushed up, fresh raspberries! The combination is sublime, you can definitely tell it's a strong concoction but at the same time is fruity enough to balance it out. It's also quite a novelty having the crushed raspberries which you can eat with the little spoon, or sometimes you get some coming up the straw too! You can tell that the barman put a lot of effort into it, in fact, you can see them at work behind the bar crushing up the fresh raspberries! Also, it's pretty good vodka and champagne so you do get what you pay for. Personally I love this cocktail because of the fruitiness (but not sickly sweet), the crushed raspberries and the fact that it's so subtly strong; this does make you drink it quite quickly as it's so good! Although it's quite a bit more than what I'd usually pay, it gets me to the same level of tipsy-ness I'd get to if I'd bought 2 average cocktails elsewhere in Paris.
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| For Girls Only (but good enough for you guys too!) |
Another lovely cocktail that I've had there is the 'Smoothie Planteur' (€10) which consists of white rum, 'Imperial Mandarine', passion fruit, banana and pineapple served with a freshly-cut slice of 'pamplemousse', or in English - grapefruit! This one is noticeably stronger than the 'For Girls Only' but still delectably fruity! The first time I came here I had one of each of these 2 cocktails mentioned and I tried to deaden the effects by eating the pretzels and snacks which the barman gave us with the cocktails but I still got fairly inebriated...
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| Smoothie Planteur (Photo isn't so great, it does look more impressive when it's sitting in front of you!) |
One of my friends had a mojito here and that was also really good - fresh ingredients, good quality alcohol and just the right amount of sweetness. There's a few other cocktails available, some usual suspects and some concoctions of the bar. Other drinks available are priced averagely for a nice Parisian bar, such as €5 for a pint. There's also a selection of wine, champagne and other hot and cold beverages.
A random note, the toilets here are unusual and worth checking out. You have to walk through the restaurant area next to the bar and up the spiral staircase (hard after a few cocktails!). The cubicles are huge, with weird pull-out doors which makes you feel you're going into a giant storage container! My favourite feature are the sinks, where you have to pull a lever and then wash your hands under a giant shower-head!
Back to the bar, the atmosphere was nice and relaxing; the interior was quirky which you'd expect from a modern art museum and the service was faultless (one barman gave us a free 'Smoothie Planteur' - can't really complain about that!) In all, this would be a nice place to go as a treat every now and then, when you want to fork out just that little bit more for a well-made, delicious cocktail!
Useful Info
http://www.palaisdetokyo.com
13 Avenue du Président Wilson, Paris
Nearest métro: Iéna
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