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Searching for something different - browse our list of our off-the-wall bars and unique restaurants.
1. Best Bar for a Cool Experience - Ice Kube
Cool in every sense of the word - The Ice Kube bar in the uber-trendy Kube Hotel is perfectly named - this bar is literally a gigantic ice cube. The entire room is carved from ice - walls, ceiling, furnishings and even the cocktail glasses. Lounge around on gigantic ice cubes, sip Grey Goose vodka, and chill to the techno tunes. To provide an even more surrealistic experience, the ice is embedded with thousands of colorful LED lights that pulse to the music.
The room is chilled to a frosty -5 degrees, and the staff will provide you with parkas and gloves. For 30 minutes in the bar, the cost is 38 euros - includes unlimited vodka drinks. Only 20 guests are admitted at a time to this insanely popular bar, so reservations are a must. 1-5, passage Ruelle, 18e.
2. Best Restaurant to Explore Your Senses - Dans le Noir?
At Dans le Noir "the blind leads the blind" - literally. You dine in a pitch black room with blind waiters as your guides. In order to navigate this dining experience, you must rely on your sense of touch, hearing, and smell.
When you arrive, you remove your watch, cell phone and any items that give off light. You are given a brief orientation (e.g., how to pour wine using your finger as a guide so that you don't over pour), and by putting your hands on the shoulders of your blind servers "train style" you enter the pitch black dining room and the fun begins. For the most challenging experience, order the Surprise Menu (39 euros) and try to determine from taste and smell what exactly you are eating. Hint: Add the sense of touch by eating with your fingers. 51, rue Quincampoix, 4e
3. Best Place to Discover the Forbidden Green Fairy - Vert d'Absinthe
Absinthe, also called the Green Fairy for the hallucinations it produced, was the drink of choice in "fin de siecle" France. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and his Impressionists spent most evenings drowning in "their Muse" (Absinthe), and the French, in whole, drank more Absinthe per capita than wine! The main ingredient was Wormwood - an herb believed to drive people insane - Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear due to its influence - so the production of authentic Absinthe was outlawed in Europe until recently. Today, scientists believe the insanity factor was due to the cheap chemicals used in the old production process. It is still illegal in the US.
Absinthe tastes like pastis (licorice), and the traditional drink is made in an intricate process involving a spouted water decanter, a slotted spoon, and sugar cubes. Stop by the boutique Vert d'Absinthe, attend a tasting, and pick up a bottle to go for around 12 euros. 11 rue d'Ormessan, 4e
4. Best Restaurant for Apple Lovers - Pomze
Apples are the theme at Pomze and the chefs take this seriously - every dish and drink served on their extensive, seasonal menu contains fresh apples as an ingredient. Enjoy the subtle apple infused tea and homemade pastries for breakfast in the tearoom. Dine on delicacies such as truffle and apple flavored lobster in the intimate stone-walled dining room decorated with glass cider bottles, or stop at the bar for a cocktail such as the house specialty, Nayade - a blend of fresh-squeezed Granny Smith apple juice and Polish vodka. 109, boulevard Haussmann, 8e. 5. Best Bar to Access Your Inner Child - Le Grimace
For the very young at heart, Le Grimace is the bar for you. In this tiny"hole-in-the-wall" club, rock to 80's tunes, while you suck your drink out of a baby bottle. Strange, but true - all drinks are served in baby bottles, and they're harder to drink than you might think. There is a real art to sucking. To keep with the theme, the drinks have naughty names like "Ejac-Face." 60 rue Mazarine, 6e.
6. Best Restaurant to Reflect on Reality - Le Cristal Room
Imagine dining in a palace, surrounded by mirrors and glass arranged in a dizzying array of reflected light. Light shimmers on tables and chairs made from crystal, glints off crystal mirrored fireplaces - even shines from a crystal chandelier submerged in the aquarium. Le Cristal Room is that place.
The brainchild of the playful designer Phillipe Starck, Le Cristal Room is housed in a luxurious townhouse that serves as a showroom for Baccarat crystal. The food is good (and expensive), but the draw of the Cristal Room is the unique setting. Don't miss the dazzling black crystal chandelier in the private dining room.This restaurant is part of the "seen and be seen" scene in Paris, so reservations are a must. Baccarat Showroom and Museum, 11, place des Etats-Unis, 16e
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