Le Comptoir Général, Canal Saint-Martin.

Paris's most committed weird bar.

Le Comptoir Général sits in an 1880s warehouse on the Quai de Jemmapes, accessed from a small unmarked passage off the Canal Saint-Martin. The bar opened in 2010 as a cultural project: a non-profit space designed to celebrate post-colonial African and Caribbean heritage in Paris. The bar's 200 square metre interior is divided into three connected rooms, each themed around a different post-colonial Francophone region.

The decor is eccentric in the deliberate way: a 1960s African embassy waiting room theme, with worn velvet chairs, mismatched chandeliers, taxidermy in glass cases, vintage Air Afrique posters, a small library of post-colonial literature, and an indoor banana tree that has grown to ceiling height. The room is wrong in every way that matters and right in every way that doesn't.

Why this matters. Le Comptoir is the rare Paris bar with a coherent post-colonial cultural project that has held its identity through fifteen years of Canal Saint-Martin gentrification. The bar is also a serious cultural venue with a published programme.

The indoor banana tree.

The bar contains a real banana tree, planted in a large concrete pot in the centre of the main room and grown over fifteen years to a height of approximately five metres. The tree extends through a hole in the warehouse's mezzanine and bears occasional small green bananas. The tree is the bar's quiet defining feature.

The bar maintains the tree with grow lights and weekly watering. The bananas have, on three documented occasions, been served to specific regulars in a small fruit salad. The tree is also the bar's organising metaphor for the post-colonial Francophone cultural project: real, unexpected, growing in an unlikely place.

Punch Caribéen, Pastis, Heineken.

• Punch Caribéen: five euros. The bar's house rum punch: white rum, lime, brown sugar, cinnamon, served in a small glass.
• Bissap: four euros. The Senegalese hibiscus drink, with or without rum.
• Pastis: four euros. The Marseille drink, served with a small jug of water.
• Heineken: five euros for 33cl. The bar's standard beer.
• The thing nobody knows: the bar pours a small Cape Verdean grogue at four euros from a bottle on the back shelf. Order "the grogue." The bartender will pour without asking.

Sunday at 4pm. The cultural programme hour.

Le Comptoir Général opens at 6pm on weekdays and 2pm on weekends. Sunday at 4pm is the cultural programme hour: the bar runs a published Sunday programme of African film screenings, post-colonial poetry readings, and small live music sets. Admission to the events is included in your drink purchase.

The peak hour is Friday and Saturday between 9pm and midnight. The Tuesday at 7pm hour is the secret experience: the room is at 40% capacity, the banana tree casts its long shadow across the velvet chairs, and the bar's regulars are reading the post-colonial library.

Weekend afternoons are good for groups. The bar accepts walk-in groups up to ten without reservation.

Why Le Comptoir is more than a bar.

Le Comptoir Général operates a published cultural programme of approximately 60 events per year: African film screenings, Caribbean poetry readings, post-colonial book launches, live music from Francophone African and Caribbean acts, and a quarterly photography exhibition rotating in the small upstairs gallery. The programme is the bar's institutional identity. The bar does not subsidise the events with a cover charge; the programme is funded by drink sales.

The cultural programme has hosted significant Francophone artists. The bar's published 2020 schedule included two days of Aimé Césaire poetry readings in conjunction with a French publisher reissue. Most events are free. Some require advance booking.

For two, thirty euros across an evening.

Plan for twenty-five to forty euros per pair for a three-hour visit. Three Punch Caribéens at five, two Heinekens at five, plus a small tip in coin. A pair of friends drinks for around thirty-five euros total.

Cards are accepted. Cash is preferred. The bar's cultural events are free with a drink purchase.

Canal Saint-Martin regulars, the post-colonial cultural crowd, the design pilgrims.

Le Comptoir draws three populations. The first: Canal Saint-Martin's creative-industry crowd, particularly graphic designers, photographers, and architects. The second: the post-colonial Francophone cultural crowd, including African and Caribbean diaspora regulars and academics. The third: the design pilgrim contingent, often international visitors with copies of architecture magazines.

You will find some Paris tourist crowd, particularly visitors who have read about the bar in international design publications. The bar's cultural identity filters effectively.

How not to be the worst person at Le Comptoir.

• Do not photograph the banana tree obsessively. One quiet photo is fine.
• Do not request specific cocktails. The bar pours from the menu.
• Do not bring a stag party in matching shirts. The cultural programme will not accommodate.
• Do not photograph the African diaspora regulars without consent. The bar enforces.
• Do not pick the bananas from the tree. They belong to the tree.
• Do not order food. The bar serves only small bowls of complimentary peanuts.
• Do not, ever, treat the post-colonial decor as a costume. The bar takes the project seriously.

Le Verre Volé, Le Comptoir, Chez Prune.

The classic Canal Saint-Martin evening: dinner at Le Verre Volé on Rue de Lancry at 7pm, the small natural wine bistro. Walk three blocks east to Le Comptoir Général at 9pm for two Punch Caribéens and a Sunday programme event. End at Chez Prune on Rue Beaurepaire at midnight for one final glass of natural wine.

For more bars in the area, see our Paris city guide, the Paris cocktail bars guide, and the Canal Saint-Martin hidden gems.

Yes. Paris's most committed cultural bar.