Jutting out onto the corner where the lovely cobblestone Rue de l’Annonciation (the street leading to the Passy Market) and Rue de Passy meet, this café-bar-restaurant is actually part of the cozy little Aéro Hotel. The inside of the brasserie is a bit quirky—all mirrors, shiny poles, and interesting lights on the ceiling—and gets hopping at lunchtime. But in the evenings, it’s the terrace that draws me in every time.
Here, not only do you get very good coffee, but you get even better people watching. The crossroads location means everybody in Passy passes by Aéro, be it on their way to the La Muette metro station, to the fresh produce market, or to do some shopping in the boutiques along the street. Thanks to the heated patio, you can sit outside in both summer and winter and observe the idiosyncrasies of the locals.
The neighborhood is made up of an eclectic group of perpetually chic parisiens, frazzled mothers pushing poussettes, and retirees walking their dogs and stopping to chat with fellow dog owners. Apparently, there’s also a notorious sweet tooth in the area who walks by and grabs the sugar packets still lingering on empty tables. She then proceeds to swallow all the sugar right then and there! Strangely, I have yet to see her, but she’s well-known to the servers who ensure she gets her sugar fix even if the tables have already been cleared.
The staff is patient and allows you to linger on the terrace, unless, of course, it gets really busy at lunchtime. You can while away a couple of hours just watching the world go by. And if that isn’t what Paris is all about, then I don’t know what is!
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