Paris • Cocktails • Bars

4 Elements

In search of something positive from last Wednesday’s Cocktail Adventures, I’m posting on our follow up bar to Hotel du Nord. After our hasty and coerced departure, we followed Jodie to a place recently opened by friends of hers.

Not surprisingly, considering one of our group knows the owners, the atmosphere at 4 Elements was more welcoming and the bar staff friendlier. Even better – they seemed to be upbeat and friendly with all of the clientele, friends or not. The deco at 4 Elements is affordable-modern stippled with brightly colored illuminated plastic bits and pieces & video screens. I had a potently drinkable ti punch. While not the best of the cocktails I’ve sampled in Paris, their drinks are acceptable and affordable at 8 – 9 Euros/drink. In addition to the drinks, 4 Elements has a few offerings which might be of interest to Parisian barflys.

The concept here is – not surprisingly – the four elements. We were given a tour of the place and shown each section corresponding with an element. “Fire” is represented by the main part of the bar, where DJ’s play different types of music each night, hot dogs are occasionally served (but not this night), and a small bar is lined with what appeared to be friendly regulars. Presumably things get hot here. Beyond the bar, you enter a calm, cool and quiet room with comfy chairs with a spot to rest your drink. This is the “Earth” space and serves as their “chill out” room. If this bar got a bit too hectic, I’d happily kick back in this space and enjoy the zen atmosphere. Water was represented by the restrooms, but the only really outstanding part about this “element” was the communal wash basin. And, finally, which may be of some interest to a few, we checked out “Air.” Since the smoking ban, 4 Elements is one of the few bars in Paris which has an actual authorized indoor smoking area. This small space is decorated in light blues and invokes a bit of a fairy tale feeling. For a smoking space, it wasn’t overwhelmingly smokey, however with only a handful of people in there, it was hard to know what it’s like when it gets busier.

Overall, the drinks were average at around 8 – 9 Euros a piece. However, the chill out space & the smoking area do give 4 Elements a bit of a something extra over the average Paris bar. If you’re thinking about stopping by, you might want to check out what music night it is beforehand. I probably wouldn’t make a trip back here for just the drinks, but I think this nice bunch deserves a shout out for their interesting concept and friendly vibe.