Le Coeur Fou

Les Halles / Rivoli - 1er / 2eme, Paris –

Nestled along a barhopping-friendly stretch of Rue Montmartre, Le Coeur Fou is an unassuming joint that attracts big crowds of twenty-somethings with its basic but solid selection of booze and cozy, low-key atmosphere.

Lit by little more than red, purple, and ivory candles holed into the chipped white walls and scattered around tiny wooden tables, this intimate bar is host to many date nights and after-work cocktail gatherings for the area’s young and invariably hip residents.

A square alcove features a bench and clusters of multicolored pillows that invite friends to huddle over a €20 bottle of wine, while a tall wood bar laced with yellow Christmas lights is well stocked both with liquor and a number of odd trinkets – including a blue motorcycle helmet and a poster ordering hippies to enter in the back (“NO EXCEPTIONS”).

During the evening, smokers zigzag between the tightly-packed interior and the sidewalk patio, checking out the rotating gallery installations as they go, but the space can be hard to navigate come Thursdays when normally hushed conversation escalates to a lively chatter and packs of bobos pile in to start their night.

Frequented by a chic clientele that dresses well with that classic-casual Parisian air, Le Coeur Fou maintains an unpretentious vibe that’s as well-suited to pre-gaming as it is to blissfully chatting long into the night.