by Margaret Magnus
Colette is a water
bar in the basement of an
upscale, trendy retail shop. Frommer's
Paris guide describes Colette as a
"a swank
citadel for a la mode fashion." It has everything from jewelry
to CDs.
 Downstairs is the water bar and restaurant. The
restaurant is modern,
meaning sparse with clean lines, and with a blue
and white color scheme. The
waiters were all good-looking young men,
dressed in jeans and light blue
t-shirts with a fish on them blowing
bubbles and the word, "goodenoughuk" on the
front.
Our server,
Jerome, seemed knowledgeable about fine bottled
waters. When we asked
for a recommendation from the 60 kinds of bottled water
listed on the
menu, he said, "Select your lunch first, and I'll recommend the
water."
That seemed like a good sign.
To go with the melon and Serrano
ham and salmon shish kebob, the waiter brought two waters. Ogo
(Switzerland) at 3,00
Euros is listed on the menu as a "next generation oxygen
water,"
meaning that oxygen had been added to the water. Ogo is either a
sparkling or a still bottled water. The sparkling water opened up a
little the
glass, but kept its sparkle throughout our tasting. Drinking
it was like having
tiny, tiny bubbles floating in your mouth. The water
came in a short
(approximately five-inches high), round plastic bottled
tinted a light, light
blue with bright red lettering and a bright red
cap. The bottle had the
appearance of glass, and I had to feel it to be
sure it was plastic.
Edena (France) at 3,00 or 5,00 Euros
(depending upon size of bottle) is
from the French island de I'ile de
la Reunion and is described on the menu as
having a volcanic
"temperament." It came in a translucent medium blue tinted
plastic
bottle reminiscent of a beer bottle in shape. It had a small fizz that
went slightly flat.
Both the Ogo and Edena sparkling bottled
waters
balanced nicely with the saltiness of the ham, but the bubbles
competed with the
smoother texture of the salmon brochettes.
For dessert, we ordered a
raspberry and fruit tart and chose
Voss bottled water (Norway) at 5,50
Euros. The bottle is beautiful. It's in a frosted,
cylindrical shaped
glass bottle with white printing. According to Voss, "our
design
reflects a contemporary approach to a product living in the modern
world." It is both a still and a sparkling water, and we felt the still
went
well with the dessert. We also
tried Microfluid at
5,00 Euros which is a water enriched with oxygen, and it did
not pair
well with the dessert.
In keeping with the blue water theme,
the waters were poured into cobalt blue water glasses (half size).
Finishing our
meal and water, the waiter asked if we wanted to take the
different bottles
home. We said no, thinking of our packed suitcases.
Now, I wish we had.
213,
rue Saint-Honore
75001 Paris - France
Metro: Tuileries or
Pyramides
Open Monday - Saturday from 11:00
a.m.
to 7:00
p.m.
Tel:
(011) 33
1 55 35 33 90
Fax: (011) 33 1 55 35 33 99
E-mail:
info@colette.tm.fr
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The Water Connoisseur
