The Little Red Door

A cool little cocktail bar in Paris

One of the great things about moving to a new city is discovering the gorgeous places that are a little obscure. Venues you would miss if you didn’t know they were there. Haunts that you have to seek out and research. Well, The Little Red Door,  a  tiny cocktail bar in the Marais district of Paris is such a find! When MLP headed down there with some friends one night we were pleasantly surprised. Here’s our short story, but first..

Imagine, it is very late at night and it is difficult to see without the illuminating benefit of street lamps. You’ve stumbled out of a Paris resto and you have it on good authority that a nearby cocktail bar is pretty cool and worth a visit. You decide to walk, fully reliant on your Google Maps app, which you hope will guide you closer to the blue dot, highlighting your desired destination.

After turning  several corners, and passing many streets with small bars and eateries filled with people, who are chattering and seemingly enjoying their Parisian evening. You finally arrive at the foot of the street, where you are expected to find this supposed hot spot in the city. You can hardly see anything. Virtually lampless, the street in its darkness, is offering no obvious signs of  life! Got it! Right! This is what happened next…

What we discovered

As we walk up this very quiet little ‘rue‘, we could easily have heard a pin drop,it was so quiet. Well almost, if you exclude the sound of our heels hammering the cobbles beneath our feet!. The only clue that there is something interesting to find, is a silhouette illuminated by a dim light which, on closer inspection, we realise, is the shape of a bouncer perched on a high stool, wearing a cap and looking surprisingly friendly, in front of a black door.

He gives us the nod without hesitation and in we go. We are absorbed immediately by the fun but laid back vibe ahead of us – funky bar staff throwing shapes and vodka bottles to cool soulful & pop beats; sumptuous furnishings adorned with easy going, fashionable 30 something peeps from the city. Clearly a chilled but fun-loving crowd.

Cocktail Paris Stylee

Luckily there are three inviting velvet covered stools available at the bar, so we make a dash for them, slipping past the groovy crowd, who are too ensconced in conversation to notice.We are spoilt for choice with the range of cocktails on offer. The barman charms us immediately with a huge smile and endless ideas of what we should try.

He then serves up a veritable feast of mouth-watering concoctions for us to devour (costing around €13), after performing cocktail gymnastics to entertain us during their preparation.

We don’t eat, but there is an appealing mini menu of food, which is handy to know in case we need to soak up any residual alcohol!

The evening goes fast. The ambience is great. The tiny intimate setting that looks as thought it couldn’t hold more than 40 people, is in full swing. There’s a small balconette of seating upstairs but we stay where we are, enjoying the barside chat! We’re having a good time in this stylish little space, and make a point of  clinking our glasses/cups to our new discovery

Even the loo (toilet) is impressive, with the addition of a gramophone! Any bar that celebrates the virtues of vinyl, be it in the toilet or anywhere else will always be appreciated by MLP!

As we leave slightly inebriated at 2am, MLP finally understands how the bar got its name. There before us on the reverse of the entry point is a beautifully painted red door! Love it!

When you wanna just head somewhere new and different, it helps to know where to go right? This little cocktail bar totally suited our needs on this particular night and to be honest, just finding out about it and then going on to explore it, felt like a mini adventure, perfectly rewarded with a cocktail. Parfait! Obviously, we cannot guarantee it will be like that every night, but certainly it is one of those places that we are so glad we took the time to visit.

Love MLP

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Little Red Door 60 Rue Charlot  75003 Paris 6pm – 3pm – 7 days a week. 01 42 71 19 32