After around 7pm, this popular cocktail bar in the Montorgueil area quickly fills up with a clientele of thirsty thirty-somethings. Its cosy, hodgepodge décor is ‘Friends’ Central Perk for the Pinterest generation. Customers can curl up in comfy wicker chairs, gaze out onto the street through large bay windows and converse in a candle-lit setting with a part Scandinavian, part industrial feel.
AveK’s trend-savvy owners serve a wide range of impressively au fait cocktails with ingredients such as cucumber in the ‘Fresh Time’, absinthe in the ‘Corpse Reviver’ and tea-infused gin in the ‘Pink Tea’. Very reasonably priced at €8 a glass (or €6 before 9pm), all drinks are good value and well executed, but most refreshing of all is the piquant ‘Little Marie’ (vodka, cherry tomatoes, basil, homemade rosemary syrup, spices), which comes served in a pretty little wine glass. If you fancy starting with something slightly less out-there – like a beer, say – a standard pint costs just €5. After that, it’s just a matter of knocking back as many drinks as possible before the end of happy hour.
TRANSLATION: HUW OLIVER