#le rubis

Le Rubis (Ruby) by Alphonse Mucha

Bar 228 at Le Meurice + Le Rubis, Paris

Shopping can be sooooo tiring.  All that fighting through the crowds in Colette or trying on sneakers you can't afford in Lanvin - it takes it out of you.   With the certain knowledge that by about 5 o'clock in the afternoon I'll be desperate for a glass of wine (or two), I usually contrive the whole of my Paris day so that I'm in or around the 1st arrondissement by the time my patience with even the chicest shops has run dry.  Then, depending on my mood (and, indeed, how battered my credit cards are) I can either do high life or low life.

If I've been good and deserve a treat, or have been thwarted in my search for something new to wear that evening, my favorite place for a late afternoon tipple is the Bar 228 at Hotel Le Meurice on Rue de Rivoli.  Turn left as you go into the lobby and walk through the Restaurant Le Dali (a rather stiff place with an ugly painted canvas on the ceiling) and then left again into the opulent but cosy bar.  Redesigned with commendable restraint by Phillipe Starck in 2007, the small room has the feel of a gentleman's club but with a definite Gallic flair.  Quirky swan-armed chairs and mahogany tables crowd around a glass cabinet filled with candles (which apparently references Salvador Dali who spent one month every year at the hotel) and huge tassels hang from the curtains.  It's decadent and glamorous but surprisingly friendly, with helpful staff recommending wine by the glass or cocktails.  Best of all, they bring you the best cheese straws and snacks to go with your drinks.  It's hard to tear yourself away.

If however I'm a bit strapped for cash or just simply fancy an unpretentious but totally Parisian wine-fuelled experience,  I head over to Le Rubis on the Rue du Marché Saint-Honoré.   If the weather is nice, you can lean up against one of the barrels outside, or otherwise grab a seat indoors where upturned glasses sit on the tiny tables, ready for you to choose a wine.  I don't think the place has changed in fifty years (or even painted in that time) and the guy behind the zinc bar looks like he's seen the world through the bottom of a wine glass but for a taste of authentic Paris, it's hard to beat.  Famous for Beaujolais, it offers plenty of wines by the glass, mostly for a few euros, and you can buy a plate of rustic charcuterie served with pain Poilâne to line your stomach as undoubtedly, you'll soon be asking for a second or third Brouilly...

Bar 228 at Hotel Le Meurice 228 Rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris

Tel + +33 1 44 58 10 10

Le Rubis 10, rue Marché St. Honoré 75001 Paris