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LIFESTYLE
DRINKS
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TANJA DE JAGER opened Dipso because she couldn’t find quality wines in normal bars
Wine bars VINS FINS icon_where 18 rue Münster, Luxembourg-Grund icon_website www.vinsfins.lu DIPSO – THE WINE REPUBLIC icon_where 4 rue de la Loge, Luxembourg-Centre icon_website www.dipso.lu BARRELS icon_where 21 allée Scheffer, Luxembourg-Limpertsberg icon_website www.barrels.lu
Once a month, Dipso hosts a “cuisine des amis” evening, to which she invites locally renowned chefs such as Jan Schneidewind, René Mathieu or Katell Guillou, who create a six- or seven-course menu of small dishes which are served to customers sitting at large communal tables. The clientele features many regulars and is slightly older than the 20-something bar crowd, de Jager admits. And there are always more women than men. “They attract men towards the end of the evening,” she jokes. She deals with some 17 suppliers and enjoys immensely the enviable task of selecting the wines. “I did not want one supplier who will give you a free fridge.” Dipso has a large range of Luxembourg and French wines, but de Jager also makes sure she has Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, South African and South American reds by the glass. “People like robust wines, even in the warm weather. I am surprised not more champagne is being drunk, but maybe people who go to a wine bar want to drink wine rather than bubbly.” As for her own taste, de Jager prefers white Burgundy and a wide variety of reds--Italians, Roussillon and Portuguese are among her current favourites. Gabriel Boisante also enjoys the drinks served at his latest venture, Paname on the place de Paris. He describes Paname as an “all day experience”. It opens at 8 in the morning to serve coffee and breakfast and closes at 1 a.m., by which time cocktail aficionados have flocked to the bar. “We consider ourselves mixologists,” he says. “We work only with fresh ingredients and develop October 2016
our own creations or variations on cocktails. We want originality, whether it is spicy or salty cocktails. Customers want to discover new flavours, especially as people are drinking less and less but are seeking out quality.” Boisante, whose very first job as a student was working in a bar in Paris, says that the trend some years ago for mojitos, followed by the hype surrounding specialist gins, raised expectations and meant that drinkers got used to paying over ten euros for a cocktail. PRECISE MIXING “The game changed three of four years ago. But even so we try to do more. People know that there is something special inside the glass, that the classic London Dry and Schweppes tonic for six euros is over.” The focus is on the purity of the ingredients and the right recipe to provide a positive drinking experience. Boisante explains that the mixologists won’t use decoration that is not necessary. “We work as precisely as possible. It is like making pastry; without precision a drink can be wrecked.” Paname is the fruition of an idea that Boisante has had for several years--a bar that also serves food, light and small portions, but which regularly changes its menu. This is all part of the aim to get diners and drinkers to discover new things. “Clients follow us because they know they will get quality and we don’t want them to get bored. This is the sort of place I like to visit when I go back to Paris or another international city.”
VINOTECA icon_where 6 rue Wiltheim, Luxembourg-Centre icon_website www.vinoteca.lu LA BULLE DE VIN icon_where 24 rue de l’Eau, Luxembourg-Centre icon_website www.labulledevin.com BAR À VIN
icon_where 31 rue des Capucins, Luxembourg-Centre icon_website www.baravin.lu
COCKTAILS PANAME icon_where 50 rue Zithe, Luxembourg-Gare icon_facebook Paname OCTANS icon_where 15 rue du Curé, Luxembourg-Centre icon_website www.octansbar.com MAMACITA icon_where 9 rue des Bains, Luxembourg-Centre icon_website www.mamacita.lu COCO MANGO – SOFITEL LE GRAND DUCAL icon_where 40 boulevard d’Avranches, Luxembourg-Gare icon_facebook Coco Mango music&drinks