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French students who flock here between library visits for apple pie and custard, weekend brunches, potato wedges and cheese nachos washed down with a pint (€4.50). The pick of the drinks list is the six beers brewed on the premises: Dark de Triomphe, Inseine, Parislytic and so on. Pints are €6 or €4.50 at happy hour (6pm to 8pm Monday to Friday). Free wi-fi, live bands, groove and soul DJs, themed party nights. The enormous Frog at Bercy Village (Map; 01 43 40 70 71; 25 cour St-Émilion, 12e; noon-2am; Cour St-Émilion) is just across the river.

TANDEM Map Wine Bar

01 45 80 38 39; 10 rue de la Butte aux Cailles, 13e; starters €7-8.50, mains €13.50-20; noon-2.30pm & 7.30-11pm Tue-Sat; Corvisart or Place d’Italie

If wine’s your love, make a beeline for this overwhelmingly old-fashioned bar à vins crammed with regulars. The lovechild of two brothers with a fierce oenological passion, Tandem homes in on ‘boutique’ (vins de proprietés) and organic wines as well as those produced by new vignerons (wine-makers). A traditional bistro menu compliments the wine list.

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ALSO RECOMMENDED

Friendly and convivial, Le Merle Moqueur (Map; 11 rue de la Butte aux Cailles, 13e; 5pm-2am; Corvisart) stocks the largest selection of rum punches we’ve seen.

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15E ARRONDISSEMENT

It’s hardly buzzing, but as with every quartier it has a clutch of faithfuls propped up by die-hard regulars.

CHARLIE BIRDY Map Bar

01 48 28 06 06; www.charliebirdy.com, in French; 1 place Étienne Pernet, 15e; 5pm-2am; Commerce

Love it or hate it, this lounge bar – one of three Parisian Charlie Birdies – is the place to sit back, relax and savour a well-earned apéritif after a hard day’s work. Décor is modern; the place splits into part bar, part red-brick-walled restaurant; and live gospel ’n’ soul makes weekend brunch (€17.50) an upbeat affair.

LES VÉLOS À MOËLLE Map Wine Bar

01 45 57 28 28; rue Vasco de Gama, 15e; noon-3pm & 7.30-10.30pm Tue-Sat, noon-4pm & 7.30-10.30pm Sun; Lourmel

Geared as much towards energetic cyclists as wine lovers who are happy to loll at the bar, this wine bar rents out bikes equipped with gourmet picnic hampers (€32). Warming the cockles with a vin chaud (mulled wine) and chunk of pain d’épice (honey spiced bread) around a wine-barrel-turned-table on the pavement outside is a winter delight. Should hunger pains strike, its lunchtime formule à buffet (€22.50) is excellent value.

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MONTMARTRE & PIGALLE

Crowded around the hill side of Montmartre you’ll find an utterly eclectic selection of places to drink. This area offers a strange medley of tourist-trap chanson bars at Sacré Cœur, sleazy sex-shop venues at Pigalle, African outposts at Château Rouge and picturesque Parisian spots around Abbesses.

LA FOURMI Map Bar

01 42 64 70 35; 74 rue des Martyrs, 18e; 8am-2am Mon-Thu, to 4am Fri & Sat, 10am-2am Sun; Pigalle

A Pigalle stayer, ‘The Ant’ hits the mark with its lively yet unpretentious atmosphere. The décor is hip but not overwhelming, the zinc bar is long and inviting and the people are laid-back. The music is mostly rock – quality, well-known tunes that get you going while leaving space in the airways for the rise and fall of unbridled conversation. If you’re hungry, its plat du jour costs €9.

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CAPITAL WINE TASTING

Sorting the good wines from the inferior ones when it comes to serious wine-tasting in Paris is no mean feat. Dozens of courses exist, but few come recommended.

One man in the capital who really knows his stuff is sommelier Juan Sánchez, who holds talks and dégustations (tastings) most Saturday evenings with independent French wine growers he buys from at his wine shop La Dernier Goutte in St-Germain des Prés. Le Pré Verre and Tandem (opposite) are informal, atmospheric places to taste interesting wines by small producers over a meal.

Oenophiles aspiring to headier heights should aim for one of the sporadic tastings held in Paris’ oldest wine shop, Caves Augé (Map; 01 45 22 16 97; 116 blvd