Il Caffè Momus del secondo atto de La Bohème di Puccini é certamente uno dei ristoranti più famosi dell'opera lirica. In breve, é la vigilia di Natale al Quartiere Latino di Parigi. Rodolfo, Marcello, Colline e Schaunard quattro artisti spiritualmente elevati ma poveri in canna sono in giro per la città. Rodolfo ha condotto con sé la sua nuova fiamma Mimì (il cui vero nome, ovviamente, é Lucia). In un movimentato contesto di monelli, venditori di giocattoli e bande musicali, i cinque si godono la piacevole serata seduti al loro caffè "di marciapiedi" favorito, animata dal fortuito incontro con Musetta, una vecchia fiamma di Marcello in compagnia dell'attuale "paparino" Alcindoro. La serata si conclude trionfalmente con i nostri eroi che rifilano il conto ad Alcindoro. Così, sollevato il nostro spirito, siamo nella condizione giusta per ricordarci di quest'opera e dell'incontro con la povertà, le discordie domestiche e la tubercolosi polmonare.
L'intero atto si svolge proprio fuori il Caffè Momus. In molte produzioni, il posto é un "caffè da marciapiedi", così da permettere venditori di strada, bande di palcoscenico, e altri personaggi che vanno e che vengono a seconda della creatività dei vari registi. Avviene di tutto nel corso dei venticinque minuti dell'atto.
I melomani potrebbero osservare che vi é un altro ristorante nell'opera. Il terzo atto, infatti, alla "Porte d'Enfer", ha luogo all'esterno di una non meglio identificata taverna dove Marcello sta dipingendo un murale. Comunque, quando si parla di ristoranti e di Bohème, si parla del Caffè Momus.
The Café Momus is a bustling little enterprise in the artistic Latin Quarter with tables spreading out onto the sidewalk and positively bursting with ambiance. It seems this should be a mixed blessing in the restaurant business, however, since all sorts of street peddlers flog a variety of foodstuffs right up to the tables. Oranges, dates, hot chestnuts, toffees, whipped cream, fruit pies, nougat, coconut milk, and plums from Tours are all available without buying them from the restaurant. In the theatre we usually see tasteful decor and obsequious waiters following the Parisian stereotype.
We do not have a complete idea of the menu at Momus, but the fare is rather middle of the road to upscale. We hear some customers ordering beer and coffee, which is modest enough, and Colline shouts for sausage, presumably as an appetizer. For the main course, the fellows ask for roast venison, turkey, and dressed lobster, along with rhenish and table wines. Mimi settles for créme caramel (ain't she sweet). Marcello somehow seems to have acquired a plate of stew by the time Musetta starts to throw a tantrum for his benefit.
It is interesting to compare the operatic restaurant to the original model in Henry Murger's Scènes de la vie de Bohème. The amazing thing is how closely Puccini recreated the atmosphere of Murger's novel in the opera. However, there are differences in detail.
To begin with, Murger's heroes prefer an upstairs room where their boisterous behaviour often chases out the paying customers. They are regular and barely welcome guests and the landlord only reluctantly provides food, in the hope that for once they have some money. Whereas Puccini's party is basically having a boys' night out (along with Mimi), Murger has an outing of couples. Rodolfe and Mimi, Marcel and Musette, Shaunard and Phemie (who does not appear in the opera), and Colline being the only solo. Murger's characters, in honour of the occasion, insist on having the ladies order. For drinks Musette wants champagne (it makes a noise) and Phemie goes for parfait amour (good for the stomach). As for Mimi, she wants Beaune (in a basket). When Rodolfe asks if she has lost her senses, she astounds him by saying 'no, but I want to lose them'. This is not quite Puccini's Mimi! As for food, Mimi starts off with ham, Musette with sardines with bread and butter, and Phemie with radishes with some meat with them.
For the next couple of hours the waiter tramps up and down stairs bringing food and drink. Musette eats English fashion, changing her fork after every mouthful. Mimi drinks every type of wine from every type of glass. Schaunard had a quenchless Sahara in his throat. The final bill is for twenty five francs and three quarters, which of course they could not pay. Instead of Puccini's Alcindoro, Murger has our friends rescued by a wealthy patron who has been watching them all evening and considers the cost of the bill good entertainment value.

How does the Restaurant fit into the Opera

The Café Momus in Puccini's La Bohème is one of those rare settings without which the opera is inconceivable. The restaurant itself describes for us the artistic and social environment in which the characters live and in which the drama unfolds. Here we learn who the characters are and how they react to one another. Finally, in this restaurant we are put in good spirits and our sympathies joined with these attractive characters, so as to properly prepared for the pathos later in the melodrama.