Paris is full of places that serve coffee in the morning and cocktails at night. They’re called cafés. But more often than not the coffee is mediocre at best and the cocktails are sugar-coated catastrophes or essentially juice/coke/tonic with a splash of alcohol.
On top of that, when you take your morning coffee at said ‘corner cafés,’ you’re likely to be seated next to Anglophone tourists or others speaking a language you can’t comprehend, and when happy hour rolls around, it’s that crowd plus the broke French teenagers who’ve never drank any cocktail made with more than two ingredients.
All that will change when you discover Lockwood. Consider it your Parisian saloon à la rock ‘n’ roll that plays the Clark Kent/Superman card in the guise of chill, trendy coffee shop by day and swanky yet relaxed cocktail bar by night. It’s an adrenaline rush followed by a smooth comedown.
Owned by the enterprising Lehoux brothers : Olivier (of Le Silencio), Christophe (of Ten Belles and the Brûlerie de Belleville) and Thomas (who’s opened bars in Australia and London), the place reflects a bit of this down south atmosphere — good service, friendly, laid-back and cool.
If you’re a morning person, take advantage of the Belleville coffee brew accompanied by a solid breakfast spread of cakes, tartines and muesli. The stone and wooden enclave with high-top tables and bar seating provides a welcoming, warm ambiance to start your day off with morning reads, web browsing or a pre-work caffeine fix.
When mid-day stomach rumbling occurs, stop in for a crusty sandwich of Mortadella, comté, tapenade and roquette, a steaming onion soup or a satisfying salad of potatoes, bacon, roquette and mustard dressing.
The third act of the day is l’Apéritivo — the lights flicker down to a dimness that makes the already attractive crowd more appealing, the wine bottles pop like balloons, and the bottles dangling from bungee cords give the place an added original touch. Pick your verre of rosé, rouge or blanc, a handcrafted martini, Aperol Spritz or mulled wine (among many others),  and help yourself to the self-serve buffet of munchies to complement your soif.
By 7:30, you’ll be more than ready to shuffle downstairs for more cocktails and small talk with friends or beautiful strangers in surroundings that echo the wood-stone feel of the floor above but with high ceilings and a more tavern-like setting. Rock music dating from the 50s, 60s and 70s provides just the right backdrop for a chill soirée, and the comprehensive cocktail list goes heavy on high-quality whiskeys but with a swig of everything to appease all tastes.
A dinner menu is currently in the works that will feature homestyle bar food, including fried chicken sandwiches, chickpea sandwiches and pork-marinated quesadillas. Weekenders also have biscuits and gravy and Bloody Mary’s to test out.
Whatever your motivation might be for setting foot onto the Lockwood premises, go there to loosen your boot straps and escape from the Parisian wilderness. Because after all, it’s a wild world out there, and sometimes a good whiskey is just what you need to make it go round.
Lockwood
73 rue d’Aboukir
75002 Paris
Métro : Sentier
Open from 8 am to 2 am Monday through Saturday
Phone : 01 77 32 97 21
Website : www.lockwoodparis.com
Article : Stéphanie Holmes
