Before you visit Le Syndicat, you’ll hear a lot about its facade. Not for them the vine-arched Deco of Bar Nouveau or the eponymous entryway to Little Red Door. Instead, you’ll find ‘the Organisation’ behind a faux-abandoned shopfront and a mildly disturbing quilted curtain. But no, it is not home to a Bond-era antagonist, the Organisation is for the defence of French spirits. For Le Syndicat isn’t just a bar, it is a vanguard. Reclaiming the back bar for the obscure Pastis, prune eau de vie, and green tomato liqueurs of La Grande Nation. As a result, it is not uncommon to find itinerant British bartenders perched on stools at the chipped counter looking for a little je ne sais quoi to run back on the Eurostar. Sure, they’ll trade bonhomie with the bar staff, but really they’ll be angling for where to get their hands on the next name in French gin, or the French agave spirit of which they have heard so much. The menu? Ça tourne. With fresh ingredients brought in to match the season. Bulle de Printemps will see spring herbs or autumnal sage with Armagnac, coconut oil and Champagne, and comes topped with a sugar-oyster equivalent of itself. La Vrille (calvados, syrup and porcini mushrooms) is a boozy apple juice with forest-floor depth. The ingredients may appear foreign, but balance is everything and you can trust in the menu, the wisdom of the staff and a jar of duck rillettes on sourdough if you need fortifying. Elsewhere under the cork and coin ceiling, politics students will ferment the next revolution over Lil’ Wine (rancio sec, Pineau des Charentes, dry vermouth and Feuille de figuier). From the barricades outside, tattered posters from the recent election turn in the breeze. Inside, patriotism is alive, well and actively encouraged. (51 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, Paris, 75010, @lesyndicat). Read more Bar Tabs here.