La Cantoche Paname Bar / Bistro

Bastille / Oberkampf - 11eme, Paris –

The puckish air of a playroom meets serious food and drink at La Cantoche Paname, a hip Parisian bistro featuring walls covered in nostalgic kitsch, from mounted Nutella jars to the smiling visage of Kermit the Frog.

Patrons can reminisce about grade school as they hopscotch in – yes, there’s a course drawn on the floor just beyond the door – and then scan the menu scrawled in pink and yellow before settling in at a school desk table.

Menu headings written in reverse on chalkboards add to the playful vibe, though that’s already well supported by shelves filled with action figures and LEGOs, multicolored coat hooks, and a life-size photo of students with the faces removed so guests can pose behind it.

That’s not to suggest the food isn’t all grown up, as diners will find camembert cheese plates and bass filet mixed in with the popular double cheeseburgers and caramel sundaes, not to mention the extensive menu of wine and heavy-handed cocktails.

Festive locals, giggling girls on a night out, and office mates looking to obliterate work from their memory show up to chat and laugh over bottles of small-production vino or house specials like apple mojitos or the Paname (champagne and vodka).

Though it’s never a raging party, La Cantoche Paname caters well to the young and young at heart, easily placing it at the top of its class – with nary a mean schoolteacher to confiscate the next round.