Les Etages (CLOSED)

This unassuming bar in the heart of the Marais wins over romantics every time. Designed over several floors of a town house, you push through the front door into a small reception room with a bar decorated with candles and coloured lanterns, surrounded by comfortable armchairs. There are two further floors, each an intimate small room full of armchairs set in cosy corners, with the electro-pop soundtrack kept at a discreet volume.

It’s the ideal spot for a romantic tête-à-tête, perhaps over a Vertige de l’Amour cocktail (elderflower, agave, cucumber, chilli and bitters) or a Dahlia Rose (rum, raspberry, lemon, rosehip syrup, soda water and mint). For more dramatic moods, there’s the SkyFall (cognac, green chartreuse, dark chocolate Mozart liqueur, jasmine tea and Aztec chocolate bitters). The mixes come in at around €11, fairly standard for the Marais – though classic mojitos, margaritas and so on are €5.50 during happy hour (6pm-8pm), also the price of Cardinale beer on tap. There’s a shorter cocktail menu on weekends, when the place gets full to bursting.