Le Fooding Guide’s Best bar à délices of 2014
Once the afternoon starts to fade, seasoned cocktail lovers rush in to savor the potions whipped up by the Quixotic team – who also runs Candelaria –, seated on wooden barstools around a solid-wood hexagonal bar. You won’t want to miss the dishes crafted by Amandine Sepulcre Huang (ex-Bleu Bao) either: mouthwatering kimchi wontons; intensely flavorful mussels with chili and shiso; or, for something a little less briny, stuffed Pontoise cabbage (adobo pork loin and serrano peppers), as plump as a buoy, and a comforting Castelfranco radicchio, pear, tamarind and ash-coated goat cheese salad. For dessert, there’s a rather naughty cream puff, known as a chou pinou, with plenty of chocolate and a hazelnut-caper praliné. Otherwise, the chef holds a fried chicken party every Friday night, and every day at lunch, Alix Thollet takes the wheel, serving a mouthwatering lunch menu – for example, deviled eggs, grilled hake fillet and mashed potatoes, plus a citrus and almond Fontainebleau for dessert. // Theodora Clermont
FEELING THIRSTY? There are a dozen shaken creations, including an 8:05pm that cleverly combines Bourbon, chocolate, absinthe and cardamom, a Magenta composed of rum, Saint-Raphaël, amaretto and verjus, or even an El Senador made with a mezcal and grenadine base. And almost as many living wines served by the glass, including a French Kiss Kanon Gamay from the Domaine Saint-Cry (€8) and Saveur de Pierre, an Alsatian Pinot gris from Les Vins Pirouettes (€7).
PRICE: Set menus and combo menus €22-25 (lunch), plates €7-17 (dinner).
