Le Soleil

One of the many new venues that seem to be constantly sprouting up in the streets behind the Marché d’Aligre, Le Soleil is an elegant L-shaped space, all smooth wood, golden lighting and zinc bar, with a grey-painted exterior so chic it doesn’t even bear its own name. But it’s really a very easy-going wine bar and tapas joint, ideal for casual evenings sipping drinks on the pavement tables in summer, cosy behind the plate glass windows in winter.

From the extensive list, wines by the glass are very reasonable, and the service affable (perhaps a little too affable – our waiter appeared to keep pace with his clients, getting steadily drunker as the evening wore on). The tapas menu offers 6 dishes at €36, more than enough for a light supper for two. Everything we tried delivered – the chunky, juicy prawns, the chorizo flambéed in brandy, the mozzarella and tomato on sticks, the chicken pastilla with ricotta and basil, the manchego and the Serrano ham.

Being greedy, we also went for a coffee with macarons and a crème brûlée – proving that Le Soleil is more than your average tapas bar; a solid all-rounder with a good atmosphere that we’d be more than happy to visit again.