the Best Cabarets + Shows in Paris

Opened cir­ca 1860 (and first known as « Where the Thieves Meet » or even « The Assas­s­in’s Cabaret »), this is anoth­er place that (lit­er­al­ly) bleeds his­to­ry. Locat­ed in Mont­martre, once a per­fect neigh­bour­hood for strug­gling artists, it has seen (and heard) a lot over the years. Sit down in one of the tables once occu­pied by Picas­so, Modigliani, Baude­laire and Apol­li­naire and try to grasp the true mean­ing of art (when in Rome, you know…), with the accom­pa­ni­ment of musi­cians and poets who per­form tra­di­tion­al French songs, some of them even dat­ing back as far as the 15th cen­tu­ry. Don’t let the pret­ty pink­ish façade fool you though — the place (or maybe more like the neigh­bour­hood) still attracts some ~intense~ pub­lic, so maybe don’t go too heavy on the booze, just in case.

They include with every tick­et, their house-made cher­ry cock­tail to get the jovial, sin­ga­long, vibe rolling. Think Chan­son Fran­caise, old-school folk clas­sics banged out on a piano — almost like a fron­tier cabaret. No wag­ging booty in sight so, while it’s still an ~adult~ envi­ron­ment, expect nei­ther tit­il­la­tion nor provo­ca­tion — as one of my unfor­tu­nate dates found out when he could not secure last-minute tick­ets to the Moulin Rouge and took me here instead; knee-slap­ping the night away to Granny’s favorite clas­sic piano bits was not what he had hoped for. But great if you (keep­ing it) Con­ser­v­a­tive and/or are trav­el­ing with your mother-in-law…