La Refuge des Fondus

Pass under the elaborate carnivalesque décor that adorns the entrance, and muscle your way through the mass of tightly packed diners to a spare table – from here on, providing you surrender all claims to personal space, you’re set for a highly original dining experience. Things are kept simple and unpretentious: in place of a menu you’re given a binary choice between red or white wine, and cheese or meat fondue (the latter consisting of chunks of raw meat dipped in a boiling broth). Count €21/person for the food, including complimentary antipasti. To circumvent that great outrage to French drinking culture – the tax on wine glasses – all vino is served in baby bottles (€4, with the first drink free), which makes for the strange spectacle of groups of tipsy revellers fervently sucking on plastic teats like the day they were born. It’s all done in a spirit of kitschy fun, and at reasonable prices to boot. Cash only.