checkout Five of the best places to drink in Paris

Read our round up of 5 great Parisian wine bars, cocktail lounges and coffee bars and discover where to find the best house-roast cafés du lait, kir royales and small-batch wines in the French capital

Little Red Door

The team at this cosy bar has recently launched an Evocative Menu; customers are asked to take a leap of faith and choose a cocktail not by preferred ingredients but by image. Appropriately, the Little Red Door is set in the backstreets of Paris’ arty Enfants-Rouge district (in the 3rd arrondissement, the area takes its name from a covered market, Paris’ oldest, which is itself named after an orphanage that once stood on the site) and eleven artists, from tattoo artists to fashion designers and painters, were invited in for cocktails and asked to create a visual representation of the feelings each cocktail evoked. Those collected images now work as an alternative drinks menu, or an interactive picture book for adults if you like, complete with pull-out lists of ingredients if you really don’t like surprises. Sink into a chair on the bar’s more private mezzanine level, or pull up a blue velvet barstool and be seduced by this charismatic, apron-clad team.

facebook.com/lrdparis/





Ten Belles

Ten Belles is worth heading to just to mooch along the charming neighbourhood street it’s set along. Pop into Bleuet Coquelicot, a teeny convent-turned-florist where greenery, flowers and tropical plants have colonised the building’s 17th-century tiling and murals. Then continue two doors down, to the trendy Ten Belles coffee shop, and perch on one of the funkily painted wooden stools that pepper the pavement outside this narrow, open-fronted café. Enjoy excellent Guatemalan and Honduran coffee, blended at owner Thomas’ own roastery, Brulerie Belleville, with a sausage roll, cheese toastie or a savoury bun studded with cheese and chorizo. 

tenbelles.com

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Les Enfant Perdus

An elegant neighbourhood bistro whose vintage wooden bar is lined with liqueurs and a gigantic coffee machine, this is a great place for an aperitif (we’re fans of a Kir Royal), a cocktail (they specialize in juleps) or a leisurely glass of wine (you can also buy bottles to take home from the wine shop across the road). It’s real pull, however, is weekend brunch. Sink into squishy white cushions in the bistro’s conservatory room and enjoy an excellent value (£27 for three courses) brunch menu. Platters of classic goat’s cheese salad, perhaps, or olive and cheese muffins, eggs cocotte, tiny parcels of cheese- and herb-filled pasta and thinly sliced duck breast. Mini viennoiseries, generous baskets of fresh bread and condiments, fruit juice and the house hot chocolate fill any gaps left.

les-enfants-perdus.com

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Frenchie bar à vins

During his time at Fifteen restaurant, Nantes-born chef Greg Marchand was nicknamed ‘Frenchie’ by Jamie Oliver. When he set up his own bistro in Paris that was the obvious name for it. Now, having taken the city by storm, Marchand has launched a bar à vins, a Frenchie-to-go spot and a new restaurant Frenchie back in London’s Covent Garden. Our preferred choice is the bar à vins (think wine bar): perch on a bar stool at one of its high wooden tables nestled into exposed-brick alcoves and pair French and international small-batch wines with artisan British cheeses from Neal’s Yard Dairy (yes, Greg has given a big fat nod of approval to the British cheese industry!). 

frenchie-restaurant.com

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Eurostar Terminal, Gare du Nord

If you want to continue your premium drinking experience right until the end of your trip, book a business Eurostar class ticket back to London and relax in the terminal’s business lounge while you wait to board your train. Our tipple of choice? Unlikely as it sounds, Raymond Blanc (who is the culinary director of Business Premier for Eurostar) has launched a dry gin, Toujours 21, in celebration of the train operator’s 21st birthday and it’s available in the company’s business lounges as well as on board. Made by Silent Pool distillery the gin combines a mix of French and British botanicals ­– think Provencal lavender, honey, and British angelica – it’s a perfect Anglo-French way to toast the end of your trip.

eurostar.com
Written by Alex Crossley, May 2016