Petit Cafe du Coin

Grab your beret and your polo neck, we’re going incognito in a French-inspired cafe with jazz club aspirations. The little cafe on the corner has been channelling (geddit?) those continental vibes since 2017, complete with shabby chic enamelled signage and Parisian bistrot bric-a-brac.

There’s regular chanson crooning and gypsy jazz sets, all deliciously authentic when washed down with one of the bieres blondes or pale ales, a Breton cider or two, or a Cafe Brulot liqueur coffee or Parisienne hot chocolate with Grand Marnier and Kahlua. Bien sur, there are plenty of wines to choose from, available both by the bottle or the glass – “classic refreshing Picpoul full of citrus and stone fruit flavours” is one of sommelier Pez’s suggestions on the white front; pink, and how about the aptly named La Vie en Rose: a light, fruity and perfectly balanced delight from the Languedoc in the south, made of 100% Cinsault grapes? Meanwhile, in the red corner, Le Coq Perdu Malbec is a strong contender, and perfect with the cheeseboard, ticking the French box with its creamy Brie and salty Bleu d’Auvergne as part of the selection. There’s also a charcuterie board (disappointingly of mostly Italian and Spanish cured meats), and a “mixte”, for when you fancy a bit of both. Other nibbles come in the form of olives and nuts, a rustic selection merely intended to help soak up the alcohol and the atmosphere.

Cocktails? Don’t mind if we do. Classics include martinis of every colour and the French 75, refreshing and sparkling mix of Tanqueray, lemon, sugar and Prosecco, stolen from Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, hangout of F Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway in the 1920s.

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