Liquid abstraction
Abstract Bistrot (2nd arr)
BARS • First Round
I didn’t know exactly what it was I was walking into when the doors opened at Abstract Bistrot at 4:56 p.m. last Saturday.
From the street, it could have been any good-looking bar in Paris. Large windows, generous ceilings — the kind of space that feels both vintage and contemporary without trying too hard. But then there was the label, a tiny Dymo strip by the door, pressed with the words Abstract Bistrot. That was the first clue someone and something thoughtful is behind this.
Abstract Bistrot sits discreetly on a small street in the Sentier, but doesn’t behave like a neighborhood bar. It’s a carefully imagined cocktail space where all the spirits are distilled in-house. Opened by members of the Drink More Art collective alongside the team behind Bar Nouveau, it feels like a translation of abstract art into liquid form.
That translation begins with the alcohol itself. Upstairs, tucked away, is a room that looks more like a science lab than part of a bar. Through a vacuum distillation process, ingredients are reduced, transformed, and distilled. Flavors are isolated and turned into spirits that recall vodka or tequila, without being either. The process is technical and precise, but the result is unexpectedly right.
The philosophy mirrors abstraction in art. Strip something down. Reinterpret its structure. Keep the essence. These in-house spirits, what they call monochromes, form the base of every drink.
I ordered my usual, a margarita, and what arrived was a quieter, more precise version of the original. Familiar, but refined. Clear and bright, with delicate slices suspended in the glass like punctuation marks. My friend chose a bloody Mary, elevated and restrained, hitting all the right notes of tomato and spice without the excess or bravado the drink often carries. You find yourself wondering how alcohol can taste like this, until you remember the lab upstairs.
The menu is made entirely of colorful Dymo labels, tactile and playful, like notes pinned to a studio wall. The bartender labeled our names and placed them on the table like place cards. Later, they joined the others on the bar wall. A small gesture, but somehow moving.
Why do they open at 4:56? Because it’s abstract, of course. –Sam Brenzel
→ Abstract Bistrot (2nd arr) • 14 Rue St-Sauveur • Daily 16h56 -1h.