A few weeks ago, while getting ready for a press trip to France, I realized that I was going to…read morehave to get over my insane fear of being in France despite not speaking any French. I learned how to say, "I'm sorry, I don't speak French, do you speak English?" by practicing daily. I was landing in Toulouse on a Saturday morning but my trip didn't start until Sunday evening. Good thing I did this because the turbulence during the first hour of my transatlantic flight was so bad (how bad was it, Nancy?) that drinks were flying and even the flight attendants looked shaken. Needless to say, I didn't sleep a wink. Despite the rest of the flight being smooth, any time there was the slightest sound I was wide awake.
But you don't care about my flight. So a few days before leaving I find The Dispensary on Yelp and say to myself, "You have to eat there." I mean, this place is literally the stuff of my fantasies. Dark but awesome decorations, a killer menu, and dark but awesome decorations! So I take a little liquid courage and call. A woman answers speaking French to which I go through, for the first time with an actual French-speaking person, my "Sorry, I don't speak French, do you speak English?" routine and she tells me (in French) that I do speak French and then switches to English. We have a good laugh and I make a reservation.
I was pretty excited to head over on Saturday after meeting my host for the evening, unpacking some essentials, and crashing for a delicious post-flight/post ridiculously long travel day.
The Dispensary has a nice outdoor seating area in front that was full of people. My reservation was for 7 but I arrived a bit early so that I could have a cocktail first. When I walked in and was greeted in French I launched into my go to phrase (I was a pro at this point!) and she immediately switched to English in a British accent. *Most* of the staff were ex-pats - I'm not sure how they all found each other but I was completely fascinated by their ability to switch between languages so seamlessly. I'm always fascinated by people who are bilingual.
I ordered a Cry Baby Collins: tanqueray, raspberry puree, lemon juice, homemade dried candied ginger, soda water. It was freaking delicious. It was also very pretty. Next to me sat a perfectly behaved dog (this is a French thing we need to embrace, like the cheese course). People were in and out of the bar - a variety of ages and I saw what appeared to be groups of friends, couples and even a few families. This is a place that is so very welcoming I really wasn't surprised at the diversity of the crowd.
The bar is decorated with pure kitsch tucked into the built-in shelves but doesn't come across as cluttered. There are dolls, a working model ferris wheel and lights of all sorts. Also some great taxidermy - pretty sure it was real but whether or not it was real it was pretty darn cool.
Around 7:30 I moved over to the restaurant where I enjoyed my dinner. I had two glasses of wine (Graves and Minervois) and their signature dish: the Death Star burger. It is a *lot* of food. A lot of very good food. And I was hungry since I hadn't had anything to eat since very early that morning.
As I enjoyed the artwork and vibe in the restaurant part I also noticed the board with activities (bands, trivia night) and the huge influx of people - this is definitely the place to be on a Saturday night. While I would have loved to stay and hang out for the music I was feeling the pull of bed. Before settling up, though, I was sent over a shot by the woman who had helped me at the bar. It was delicious. I think they saw me fangirling on Instagram. She also let me know as I left that her grandmother's name was Nancy and that had caused her to think of her late grandma (a good thing). Very sweet.
It's easy to say: When I'm in X I'm coming here again. I say that a lot. But with The Dispensary I definitely see myself coming back, with Kris, because this is totally the type of place where we'd spend a night drinking and laughing. And beating everyone at Trivia. Well, unless it's in French.
**Je suis désolé, je ne parle pas français. Parlez vous anglais?**
