At a sharply angled crossroads tucked behind the Rue de Turenne, the streets feel as though they should still be cobbled. From your table, the orange glow of the lamps provides a perfect spot for people, and – and at this late hour – dog watching. It’s not clear whether it is strictly possible to ‘grab a drink’ at Mesures. Instead, you will almost certainly get swept up in an aura of deep contemplative hibernation, yuzu-sesame drink in hand, that can last exactly the length of a Blue Note B-side.
On a recent Tuesday evening, two unleashed retrievers strike confidently down a side street, turning back to enquire of their owners, ‘Are we going this way?’ Inside, the energetic brass-led jazz of Lee Morgan’s Hocus Pocus kept the tempo up, and drinks arrived with little fanfare. The Flying Beagle – named for Himiko Kikucho’s 1987 masterpiece of Japanese Jazz fusion – was all light citric energy; lemon and yuzu with eccentric and fiddly instrumentation: gin, pear eau de vie and mastiha. Across the table, with a view of the bar stocked with bottles (some), records (many) and vintage stereo equipment (plenty), sits Un Singe en Hiver – a mix of Calvados and raspberry-cumin shrub, inspired by the title track of a 1962 French film and its jazz soundtrack. Oriental lute and percussion chime in the form of toasted sesame oil, while a solo harmonica pops up to lord it over soaring sherbet strings.
A local passes by the window, flicking a quick peace sign to the staff. Within ten minutes, he’s back and at the bar, hugging both the ‘tenders. In gruff London-English, he explains he’s just taken his mum home: “She loves to socialise, but she’s got three glasses of wine in her…” For a neighbourhood bar, there may be no better place to while away a slightly tipsy evening. Mesures proves that the French and Japanese share at least one thing in common: the unimpeachable knowledge of how best to curate a slightly melancholic evening, with just a touch of vinyl crackle and sesame oil. (58 Rue de Saintonge, Paris, 75003, @mesures.paris).
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