Café Brummels, Evian, France

Funky.  The French don’t do funky well.  So Café Le Brummels must be owned by a Belgian then.  Did you spot the Belgian beer influences in the photo?

Brummies?  No Brummels, this is Evian, not Rougeley.

Our day trip to Evian-les-Bains involved drinking more than water.  After a decent lunch at Le Muratore and having scaled the steep hillside up beyond the water company and Grand Hotel we were knackered.  As we had half an hour to kill before the ferry back to Lausanne, Le Brummels hypnotised me and when I awoke, I had apparently ordered 25cl of Savoie Blanc – Chasseloir to be precise which, the owner told me, is a grape that is quite resistant to the cold winters that used to occur in this part of the Alps (until global warming arrived).

Wine and a snack, very Bohemian

The wine was quite sharp and tangy with lots of lemon, pineapple and apricot – tasty in a quaffable way but not refined.  More like a PG Tips than a Twinings Earl Grey perhaps.

Talking of which, the French don’t really get tea either do they?  Le Brummels is the first place I have ever been in France that, when we asked for tea, we were offered a choice!  Quite a wide choice at that.

The bar itself was quite funky and laid back with a modern style and with a good range of Belgian beers.  Add to this an appreciation of tea, and a decent (if basic) wine list, I liked it a lot and would recommend it with a caveat.  If you are English, Belgian, Swiss or Irish you will like this place.  If you are French, American, Spanish or Italian I would stick to the more traditional places along the lake front.

Café Le Brummels, 30 Rue Nationale, 74500 Evian-les-Bains, France.  Tél:  +33 (0) 4 50 75 37 13.

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