Here: a can of Diet Coke snatched from the fridge at the local convenience store or kebab take-out spot.
Paris: a Coca Light savored at at the Nemrod on rue du Cherche Midi. Not just oceans apart, worlds apart. Light years. Universes.
A cube or two of ice, a wedge of lemon, a long spoon. Not to mention a completely different recipe for the beverage itself. Not to mention the setting, people watching, and scanning le Pariscope for movies.
Oh yeah, not to mention price.
Worth it. Every sip.
8 comments:
I bet! I paid 4.40€ for a coca lite near Montmartre.
THANK YOU, Polly for reminding me about Nemrod. I totally forgot, but I love the N-Rod!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo
The Nemrod: there is no other!
The waiter sidles to the table with the Coca Light, places the glass and spoon on the table. With a quick pffffissst flourish, opens the bottle, maybe pours a bit into the glass, depnding. Time to savor, everything.
So different from the end-product feeling of a chilled can of Diet Coke from Walgreen's on the run.
The setting (the chairs in the background) looks so Parisian! I'm a Coke Zero drinker myself but it was hard to find in France.
That's left me thinking about a translation issue - do you translate "Coca Light" as "Diet Coke" when they're actually not the same thing, given that the recipe is different? A puzzle...
Um...and what is the spoon for?
Zhu, Coca Zero is indeed available in France, but in supermarkets and not so much in cafes, I think.
Margaret, this brings up and interesting point. I always assumed that the spoon was for stirring the Coca (Light or otherwise) for folks who don't like so much fizz in their drink. At least that's what I started doing.
Coca Light IS what you aks for if you want a Diet Coke. But in cafes it comes in glass bottles, served in a glass, and the taste is infinitely better than a Diet Coke. Some day I'd love to see side-by-side comparison of the Diet Coke (US) and Coca Light (FR)recipes.
I have a few French friends who don't drink carbonated beverages at all -- never have, in all their decades. They all happen to be super-skinny women. Hmmm. I should ask.
Having coke in style :) The French do everything better don't they?
Thanks for reminding me of special memories sitting outside a bistro, ordering a Coca Lite, thinking "wow, I just paid 5 euros for a Diet Coke", people watching, enjoying a Parisian view, priceless!
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