We arrived in Paris after almost a full day of travel and decided to go out for a drink after a…read morelazy hotel dinner. I found Danico Bar on one of those World's 50 Best Bars lists, and as it was walk-in only and like half a mile from our hotel, we decided to stroll over and try our luck.
It was around 10:30 on a Wednesday night, and there were only a few people waiting ahead of us. Every guest we saw was an obvious tourist like us--many with shopping bags and actual luggage--who'd probably found Danico on the same World's 50 Best list. We got in after a short, comfortable wait, maybe ten minutes, all of them spent sitting down.
The bar was dark and glamorous, a speakeasy-style spot in the back of an Italian restaurant. We got a table, which was great. The space was loud and busy, but we had our little perch. Table service was polite and efficient. We hung out until midnight and got in a couple of rounds.
There was a thick book of a menu, with thirty cocktails celebrating Danico's tenth anniversary--three definitive drinks from each year. More than half of these were, unfortunately, sold out (it looked like a lot of them were pre-made in finite batches). We did well with what was left, though, including a few signatures available in unlimited quantities. All four of our cocktails were delicious.
The Mirror Selfie was the lightest of the bunch, a fizzy highball with Citadelle gin, sweet vermouth, grapefruit, sakura tea, and bergamot perfume. The Sakura was a stronger drink, also with Citadelle gin and sakura, a Negroni variation rounded out with sweet vermouth, Campari, and umeshu. The Sado Miso was an Asian dessert of a cocktail, nutty and creamy but not sweet, made with Pierre Ferrand 1840 cognac rye whiskey, brown butter miso, anko, black sesame, egg, and rice and tofu milk. Then there was the Krakatoa, a wild milk punch with peanut butter distillate, Planteray 3 Stars rum, palm sugar, mango, pineapple, cucumber, sweet potato, lime, and soy milk. I was curious what it would taste like and didn't even know while I was drinking it, but it was fantastic.
We had a a lovely time at Danico. The drinks were creative and the vibe was fun, while still easy enough for two elder millennials to enjoy with travel exhaustion. I'd recommend this place if you want interesting cocktails and don't mind drinking among (other) tourists.
