Classique Café

With its luminous green pharmacy cross, almond green facade, antique polished oak china cabinet and spirits in labeled jars, Classique sure plays up the apothecary card – all the better for sparking the interest of its thirsty patrons. The two head pharmacists, Hugo Combe (ex-Fifty-Fifty) and Benjamin Le Seigneur (ex-Hôtel National des Arts et Métiers), treat your ailments with a striking selection of 11 homemade decoctions. Sip them at the bar or on the tree-lined terrace, including a summery Milk Punch Assemblage #3 (ratafia, Suze, sherry, melon roasted with cacao beans, melon oleo-saccharum – €12), unless you’d rather opt for the placebo effect of a Congratulation – alcohol-free gin, bitters, hazelnut orgeat syrup, almond, cashew, orange blossom and pandan (€9). And if your stomach is grumbling, there are small plates to nibble on (crab rolls, octopus carpaccio… €12-16), served over the counter, while the Sunday brunch is a fabulous hangover cure. // Paul Hackett