Blackburn Coffee

With smart new coffee shops mushrooming all over Paris these days, it's hard to get too excited about the latest opening. But it would be a shame to overlook Blackburn, whose fresh décor is dotted with humorous references to the latest trends, and whose friendly team deliver fresh fruit juices, healthy high quality cooking, good coffee and home-made pastries with panache. When we visited in March 2014 it had only been open a month and was already rammed, and with good reason.

At lunch, for a dozen euros (or with a drink for €13), you choose between salads, sandwiches and savoury tarts; the recipes change according to what produce is available that day, and the options chalked up on blackboards around the room. On our visit a tuna, avocado and cheddar sandwich, and another with aubergine, tomato and dried beef, each came generously flanked by house coleslaw, green salad and a sample of the salade du jour. It's not sophisticated fare, but filling (and fulfilling). A fine cheesecake (€5.50) and excellent latte (€4) finished things off nicely. Service is swift despite the crowds – in fact the whole outfit seemed very settled. We'd happily have stayed the whole afternoon, watching the world go by from the little nook in the window.