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Lockwood
Add: 73 Rue d’Aboukir, 75002 Paris
Tel: +33 1 77 32 97 21
Hours: 8am~2am (closed on Sun)
Website: www.lockwoodparis.com
Price: [coffee] €2.50~5 [pastries] €2~5 [plates] €6~14 [cocktails] €6~10
Visited on: Jan 2014
Lockwood: coffee shop by day, cocktail bar by night. Just opened a month ago in December 2013, this “espresso/aperitivo” spot is a collaboration between three Lehoux brothers (ex-Ten Belle, Silencio, and a few bars in London and Sydney). I visited on a calm Saturday afternoon and was an immediate fan of the decor, the music, the food, and already I can’t wait to come back at a later hour for aperitivo.
But what initially drew me here was AJ (you’ve already read about him here and here), an uber talented classmate from Ferrandi and now the man in Lockwood’s kitchen. He alone whips up all the pastries, lunch plates, and light bites for aperitivo. Good food, guaranteed.
Coffee at Lockwood comes from Belleville Brulerie, a project by one of the Lehoux brothers.
Food and coffee aside, the decor alone is charming enough to lure me back. The style is warm and cozy, threaded with a whimsical cool without trying too hard.
Cappuccino (€4).
Red velvet (€4), loved it for the texture and the perfect cake:cream cheese ratio.
Front: beetroot salad with polenta croutons and herbs (€6.50); back: white bean proscuitto soup (€6.50). Yum and yum. My only complaint to AJ was that the salad needed more polenta croutons, which were so delicious that I finished them half way through the rest of the salad. The table next to us ordered buttermilk biscuit in various forms (served simply with béchamel gravy, or topped with egg and/or sausage and/or bacon) which looked amazing and smelled even better. Must come back for these.
At 6:30pm, the space is transformed into a cocktail bar as the coffee machine turns off and the cocktail menu distributed. Along with the Aperol Spritz and the Negroni comes a spread of light bites (pickles, meats, bruchettas, dips), and these are free.
Free?! Free.
We got a sneak peek of the kitchen and munched a few pieces of these pretty incredible pickles.
Venturing downstairs…
It’s a different world down there, a dungeon-like labyrinth of small spaces, great for intimate parties.
By the way, the light fixtures at Lockwood are just beautiful.
Hello chef! Discover some of his recipes here on his blog American Cook in Paris. Pssst…the buttermilk biscuit receipe just might be on there.
On a last note, a thank you to Hana from Journey into La Ville-Lumière for joining me at Lockwood on this lovely afternoon :)
I see a cocktail in our future :)
Oh definitely! I’ve been told to go on Fridays or Saturdays at 6:30pm, because the spread of cocktail food will be really awesome around that time…let’s do it :)
Great blog post! Your photos turned out great. Wonderful meeting you yesterday at Lockwood. – Sasha
Hi Sasha, likewise! How random but lovely to have met you there. Your buttermilk biscuits looked so good, I’ll really have to go back to Lockwood again soon :)
Those polenta croutons look so amahze! I want to try making my own version at home.
Btw, what’s in those glass bowls attached to the lights?? More feather thingys?
the polenta croutons were so good! i’m sure you can whip up something amazing at home too. do post pictures if you make them :)
i’m not sure what those feathery things are but i’ll be sure to take a closer look next time i’m there…
Love this sum up and your photos! Thank you Cindy! Can’t wait to try those buttermilk biscuits!! :)
Hana
http://www.journeyintolavillelumiere.com
way to go AJ—introducing biscuits and gravy to Paris! congratulations on the success—everything looks wonderful.