L’Improbable is definitely not the kind of place that springs to mind when one thinks of Paris café culture. The building in the Marais was formerly a garage — and still, to a large extent, is. Re-purposed for hospitality by owners Bien Fait, the space may have been cleaned of all the oil and spanners, but it still houses a vehicle in the shape of a vintage food truck that doubles as L’Improbable’s service hub.

Things don’t get any more straightforward when consulting the menu — unless you have an uncommon knowledge of Belgian baking tradition. The menu talks of les pistolets (guns) containing various hot and cold fillings; les pistolet is a nickname for a particular kind of bread roll from the low countries characterised by a crispy crust and a fluffy middle (the name is thought to signify the original cost of the bun — one pistole coin). If all that wasn’t enough to get your head around, there’s the extraordinarily eclectic décor. Walls plastered with newspaper clippings and clad with planters fashioned from wooden pallets; ’50s tropicana prints; Tolix stools; vintage signs; gilt frames and packing crates. L’Improbable indeed.

Photography courtesy, L’Improbable