The secret part of Paris Castor Club Review

The bar is in the area of St Germain and Quartier Latin. From the distance, this spot is hidden as it is behind an anonymous façade in the Latin quarter which can easily make miss the Castor Club. According to the rumors, that is part of the appeal. There is an unmarked door with a guard leading you into a hip, intimate and faintly Lynchian cocktail bar housed in an 18th century stone cellar. What with all the wood on the walls there's an air of Twin Peaks to this space, along with a good measure of vintage English gentlemen's club, plenty of deep green velvet and flatteringly low lighting. The cocktails employ inventive flavours, subtle spicing and fresh ingredients. The menu features a number of Prohibition era classics like the Fish House Punch a potent blend of rum, Cognac, apricot brandy, maraschino, lemon, green tea and champagne - served speakeasy-style in a pretty china teacup. A smoky potion of mezcal, Louisiana Hot Sauce and Red Stripe beer is also well worth trying: a drink with a kick. Explore further and you'll find a space for dancing, with a collage of retro hits from the 50s and 60s playing in the background. There are DJ sets on weekends when the place, for all its faux-secrecy, can get pretty packed. All told it's a cool, playful space, catnip to a hip Parisian crowd with better than average drinks and some real creativity evident behind the bar.