La Commune: A Convivial New Punch Bar from Le Syndicat

Even with a centuries long pedigree, punch has quietly endured less popular periods as well as stalwartly suffered abuse from the collage crowd. Fortunately, over the past decade, Punch has resurfaced (with a capital “P”!) to regain a position as a serious drinks category and serve as a source of inspiration on the cocktail scene. It’s been so inspirational as a style, that the team behind Le Syndicat recently opened a dedicated Punch bar, La Commune. La Commune’s menu offers 10 punches, divided into 5 regions: India, Africa, Antilles, “Five Oceans” and Belleville (the neighborhood where it’s located). Punches serve from 2 to 10 people, so this is a place to go in groups. Prices range from 10 to 13 Euros per person for a punchbowl. Like their big sister bar, they use all French ingredients (with a few small exceptions like Indian red tea, which makes sense within the bigger context of the location and menu.) The Citronelle N.5 is made with Indian lemon grass, fresh pineapple juice, ginger lemonade, Indian peppers, lemon juice, Corsican cedrat liqueur and Cognac (and was my preferred of the two I tried).  It is an impressive balance of strong, sweet and spicy that [...]