Top 5 bars in… Paris

Craft cocktails and quality food join forces in an all-day, all-night dining revolution on the streets of the French capital, as BarChick finds

Try ordering a glass of white wine with your steak or tucking into your cheese course after your dessert, and chances are you’ll be treated to a look of utter disdain by your French hosts.

The Parisian laissez-faire attitude does not extend to dining customs. Meals are enjoyed at specific times (lunch and dinner), leaving a hungry no man’s land between three and seven in the afternoon and throughout the night. And proper cocktails – which have already had their own renaissance in recent years – are the domain of velvet-curtained speakeasies or lush hotel bars with only a few light bites to potentially accompany them. But thankfully for those of us who like a boozy brunch at 11am or a delicious meal with our Martini, these rules are starting to relax, and it is the spate of multi-personality café-bar-restaurants that are at the forefront of this change.

The most notable of these is the super sexy Candelaria, which opened up in 2011. With a secret cocktail bar in the back, the tiny front area was set up as a taqueria which – gasp – served food from 12.30pm straight through till close at midnight. “There’s now an openness to drinking well-made cocktails in more of a restaurant environment,” says Joshua Fontaine, one of the founding owners. Notably, the food and the cocktails were of equal importance in their vision. “Real, quality Mexican was missing in Paris, so that was always as big a part of the concept as the cocktails.”

After the success of Candelaria, they soon opened Le Mary Celeste in the Marais, which has a pared-down style and daily changing menu of small, seasonal sharing dishes served alongside craft cocktails. “We originally conceived of it as a bar with food, but with the great job the guys have been doing in the kitchen, it’s become much more of a food destination than we intended. Now people come as much for the food as for the drinks. The kitchen has even won awards for its work.”

Another bar at the forefront of this trend for small plates and craft cocktails is south Pigalle’s Artisan, which beautifully straddles the restaurant-bar divide. With a far more impressive cocktail list than their wine selection, each concoction is designed to go with their ever-changing food menu, something once unthinkable in a country where wine’s place at the dinner table is sacrosanct. “I think the model of dining is enlarging to include cocktails,” says Arash Hajianpour, operations manager with Quixotic Projects. “Restaurant owners are making the decision to have a cocktail programme.”

This trend, of course, has already swept through London and New York, and customs like all-day drinking and boozy brunches are British-American favourites. Some people rally against this as the “hipsterfication” of Paris, complaining these relaxed customs equate to a loss of original French charm. But multipurpose venues serve to offset the negative impact the recession has had across the hospitality industry by maximizing opportunities for revenue. The Candelaria gang may all be international, but they use their experience to find a gap in the market and make their venues unique, to be enjoyed by the French as much as expats.

With backgrounds in nightclubs and coffee, and a few stints in Australia and London, the Lehoux brothers have taken this multipurpose approach with Lockwood, one of the hot openings of early 2014. Starting the day off early, they serve artisan coffee and a banging breakfast, which easily turns into lunch. Then as the shadows grow long, out come cocktails and dinner. Deceptively large, the front area feels like a laidback cafe, but head downstairs to the cocktail cave located in 16th century vaults and it’s another world serving food until 2am. The many faces of this space is another example of how businesses are mixing up the game, and frankly we think it’s great.

While the Parisian bistros with their checkered tablecloths, carafe of table wine and no nonsense hosts will always represent a quintessential Parisian dining experience, the fact you can now eat and drink very well – whether it’s 4pm or 1am – must be a cause for celebration, or at least a cocktail or two.

Flick through the next few pages to discover the best bars in Paris.

For more global bar recommendations, visit BarChick.

Dirty Dick

10, rue Frochot

Think Tony Montana-style tropical wallpaper, tiki gods, tiki shirts, tiger heads and rum – 65 rums in total if you’re counting. Settle in to taste them all, and you’ll be here for the long haul. Cocktails range in price from €7 to €14 and you can also grab a punchbowl for €25, which is pretty damn good value. The American owner, Scotty Schuder, has created a great overall tiki atmosphere with friendly, happy customers and good time vibes.

Lockwood

73 rue d’Aboukir; lockwoodparis.com

Owned by the guys from Silencio and Ten Belles, they’ve brought together the best of both worlds. Serving artisan coffee and excellent food in the morning, they turn to the fabulous cocktails and food long into the early hours, making this one stop shop an absolute must. Head down into the cocktail cave (no joke) for real atmosphere with exposed brick, candelabras and epic fun times.

Le Mary Celeste

1 Rue Commines; lemaryceleste.com

Younger sibling to Candeleria and Glass, this vaguely nautically themed bar is bright and breezy with massive windows, fabulous cocktails and great eats. Look out for oysters when in season, and the super cool “one night only” pop ups. Night time brings the lights down low, making it a perfect date spot to sit, sip and watch the world go by. Having opened in early 2013, it hit the nail on the head straight away.

Sherry Butt

20 Rue Beautreillis; sherrybuttparis.com

The cocktail list in this New York loft-style bar rotates regularly, and is superb. With cocktails that will blow your mind, save room for their incredible whisky list. It’s all very clever, cool and laid back. They also have DJs on the weekends, giving it a fun house party vibe, while still keeping it totally together. The owners are ex-ECC, so you know they’ve done their homework.

Little Red Door

60 Rue Charlot, lrdparis.com

Using an exclusive key to gain access through a little red door from which the bar gets its name is just the beginning of the experience at this speakeasy-style gem. Drinks are intricate and sumptuous, and include numerous house-made syrups and fresh botanicals – which you’d expect from an ex-ECC and Park Hyatt team. Tapas-style food is available for the puckish drinker, and the décor is stylishly comfortable, with a mezzanine from which you can watch the Haut Marais locals at play.