Madrediosa

Welcome to Montpellier’s delicious LGBTQIA+ safe space! Audrey Simon (the chef) and Sabrina L’Hermitte (the bartender), friends from the Barbara Butch activist family (who cut their teeth by running a restaurant / nightlife spot in Montpellier), opened a cocktail and event bar during the pandemic (DJ sets, readings, drag nights and flash tattoo evenings). Ever since, politically active young people have flocked to the Madrediosa terrace in the Beaux-Arts neighborhood, or filled the Berlin-inspired room decked out with black walls and wallpaper made by the artist Aurélie Piau, untreated wooden tables and distorted representations of the Madonna, who has become a fourth-wave feminist icon. And to quench your thirst, there are a few locally-made bottles (Les Collines, a faugères from Ollier Taillefer at €22), along with a dozen types of beer (a red ale from Brasserie du Lez or a Bacchus Framboise from Van Honsebrouck at €4.50 for a half-pint, and €9 for a pint – €8 during happy hour; a NEIPA Bali from Brasserie Primz for €5), some lovely cocktails and mocktails, which change depending on the bartender’s mood (Whisky Pomme Châtaigne with whiskey, chestnut cream, apple juice, speculoos spice syrup, fresh lime juice and dry hard apple cider for €9; Tonka Bergamote with lemon juice, homemade tonka bean syrup, bergamot syrup and lemonade at €5). And if you want something reasonably priced to snack on, there are tapas to sponge everything up (homemade fries and panisses, halal chicken tenders and pimientos, €2-11), along with some mouthwatering pizzas and futuristic street food options, like the vegan kebab or vegan steak-frites sandwich (€8-10). // Nour Passages