KECK'S Café Nature Shop

In Vieux Vichy, on rue d'Allier, KECK'S occupies a 15th-century half-timbered house. The idea behind it: the North American general store, those village shops in Quebec or Vermont where people came as much for a coffee as to do their shopping and chat.

The result is that everything is under one roof. The café first: you settle in for a hot drink, a tartine (open sandwich), a veggie soup or a pastry, with a vaulted room that can be booked for private events and a shaded terrace in fine weather. The delicatessen next: more than 200 organic and fair-trade brands, plus a books-and-gifts corner. Free street parking outside, accessible room and toilets.

The house curiosity: with a Catalan chocolatier, KECK'S co-created the Chocolate a la Piedra and the Choc' Hola Vichy!, a dark chocolate with bits of Vichy pastilles, to drink hot or to bite into.

Our take, honestly: the ideal place to linger for an hour without rushing, at prices that stay reasonable. Expect to leave with a little something.