Bar De Vie opens in Paris
Bar De Vie has officially opened in Paris in a limestone cave under fine dining restaurant Comptoir De Vie. The bar shares the restaurant’s sustainable and seasonal ethos, and co-founder Barney O’Kane guides Amelie Maurice-Jones through what to expect on the drinks menu.
Comptoir De Vie, the intimate fine dining space helmed by executive chef Adam Purcell, launched in March earlier this year, with the former team behind Little Red Door heading up the cocktail offering. Now, the team has launched two new spaces, which offer more laid-back à la carte drinks and retail experiences rooted in the same sustainable and seasonal philosophy as the restaurant.
Tucked in a quintessentially Parisian limestone cave basement beneath Comptoir, the Bar De Vie will serve up an à la carte cocktail list that shows off the team’s network of French farms, growers and producers. Sustainability and minimising waste will be key pillars of the establishment’s philosophy, and the drinks will champion natural flavour and high-quality produce.
The venue’s co-founder, Barney O’Kane, said that while Comptoir was the most immersive way to bring guests into their vision, with dining and drinks celebrating French produce, Bar De Vie offers a more approachable space where punters can stop by for a quick drink.
“We see consumers pushed between two main choices,” he told the drinks business, “either fast, approachable and accessible, or experience-led eating and drinking. Our aim is to create something which allows us to cater to both.”
The bar, situated at 22-24 Rue Saint-Sauveur, will also house the Pantry, the venue’s store of homemade herbs, spices, ferments and fruit wines, and the Library – an archive of byproducts – experiments in reducing waste.
Its drinks list will change regularly, reflecting the shifting of the seasons. The menu currently features an eclectic mix of ingredients sourced from local French farms, ranging from rhubarb, which are turned into wines, liqueurs and spirits in-house, forming the base of each cocktail, O’Kane told db.
And the cocktail menu also strongly focuses on French spirits, with brands like Calvados, Fine and Marc having time to shine.
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Cocktail and retail dreams
“Our aspiration has always been to offer a diverse array of experiences which would allow our guests to interact with our brand through different offerings and spaces,” added the other co-founder, Alex Francis.
Speaking to db, O’Kane added: “All of our spaces are designed with one focal point central to each space. In Cave it’s a large sharing and tasting table, in Comptoir, it’s our chefs and bartenders counter where chefs can dine with us, or Bar, where everyone sits around one bar station, creating a more communal environment.
“Our drinks are all batched, so during service we remain as free as possible to host and serve.”
And that’s also the thinking behind Cave De Vie. According to Francis, the team had been toying with the retail space, after a pop-up during the 2024 Paris Olympics sparked lots of interest. At ground level, to the right of Comptoir, the Cave will sell an array of French products.
Centred around a large sharing-friendly table, the space also serves as a casual meeting space for drinks throughout the day into the evening.
Championing French terroir
“Bringing back the retail concept allows us to give an additional platform to the amazing independent French products we aim to champion in the venue every day, and allows guests to bring part of our world, and their experience, home with them,” Francis added.
Comptoir serves up a six-step tasting menu that changes day-by-day on a seasonal basis. Purcell, whose career has taken him across the UK, Ireland, France, Denmark and Mexico, strives for minimal waste in the kitchen: he uses a nose-to-tail approach for animal dishes, and strives to source produce ethically.
A drinks pairing is curated by the Bar De Vie team, featuring a selection of cocktails and sustainably made house drinks such as fruit wines and digestifs upcycling waste ingredients from the kitchen and bar.
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