Lieu, Location
I am often asked how do I find the places I eat or drink at in Paris. The answer is it depends for the most part. I walk an awful lot and stumble across places that I like the look of as is the case here, or someone recommends a place to try or lastly I read about it. Anyway I found La Crèmerie a while ago and had written it down as a place I definitely wanted to have a drink at. Except that it nearly didn’t happen. I planned to get to La Crèmerie for 18h45 and was sure I knew where it was from memory. I didn’t. I am one of those people who still gets lost even with the GPS map flashing blue dot on the Iphone showing the direction to go in. It is shameful but true. After walking in a circle for the third time, I remembered the drink shop as my landmark on the corner of the street where La Crèmerie is located. Aha, I pushed open the door at 19h and felt as if I had been transported to a Provencal French village on a late summer’s evening.
La Crèmerie is a shop selling wine, cheese of course, hams etc with a few wooden tables laid out for aperos. I’ll let the photo do the talking:
Ambiance, Good Vibes
There is a little counter bar and a few wooden tables and chairs dotted around the tiny shop. The chairs are actually very comfortable. The owner was talking to a regular at the bar when I entered and said I was free to sit anywhere I liked. I sat by the window so I could look out onto the dark street from my seat bathed in the warm glow of the shop. I felt as if I was at a friend’s house where you know a good time is guaranteed; drinking, eating and putting the world to rights.
Les boissons, One glass or two
Do you remember the days where “eating is cheating”? I do. The majority of my 20s were spent just drinking with not a crumb of food in sight. Forget lines on the face or the waist line expanding as a sign of growing older. The real sign of getting older is that I now need something to eat before I even contemplate bringing a wine glass to my lips. I could have kissed the owner when he said to me you have to order something to eat if you want to have a drink. He brought me the mini blackboard with the list of the platters I could order. I had decided to order a glass of red wine from a choice of two; a stunning Cote de Rhone and ordered a platter of saucisson to go with it. As I waited I relaxed to the very subtly played background music and the chatter amongst two other regulars who joined the the owner at the counter. The place really did feel like a French version of Cheers – where everyone knows your name and you stop in for that glass before heading home. The platter arrived and the saucisson cut expertly waifer thin. What I loved was that he cut the saucisson to order so as to avoid it hanging around drying out and the rather generous glass of red wine. For the next 55 mins I forgot about; Paris, work, the stresses of the day and just saw, tasted and smelled pleasure. I intend to become a regular!
Where? 9 rue quatre vents, 7006
How? Line 4 metro to Odeon + 5 mins walk
Open when? Mon 16h to 20h, Tues to Weds 17h to 20h and Thurs to Sat 17h to 19h
Pricey? My glass of wine and generous platter came to €17. All platters are €10.
Website: http://www.lacremerie.fr/fr/
Do they do bubbles? If so, next week? 🙂
Yes they do bubbles – are you coming to Paris????