LE POTAGER DU ROCH 1st
28, rue Saint-Roch. Tel. 01 73 04 59 09. www.leroch-hotel.com/restaurant-bar
• Open 12pm to 2:30pm and 8pm to 10pm • Closed Sunday and Monday • Average price €75.
The charm of the countryside in Paris is the promise made, this season, by the Roch Hotel & Spa with its Potager (Kitchen Garden) nestled under its suspended terrace. This bucolic setting, planted with aromatic herbs, vegetables, and summer flowers, was designed by the visual artist Cyprien Chabert, who places plants at the heart of his work. He claims, like the chef of Roch, Serge Jouanin, Auvergnat origins even if his own are also Ivorian on his mother’s side. Cradled by the trickling of the fountain and the singing of birds, guests will appreciate a decidedly green menu in total harmony with the landscaping of the Potager. Vegetables, aromatic plants, and cereals are among the main inspirations of Serge Jouanin, who offers a simple and authentic, convivial and elegant cuisine. As a start, he suggests a herb shortbread, diced octopus and summer vegetables, or peas, brousse (a type of cheese), and lavender. The main courses, grilled sea bream fillets and plancha-cooked poultry, are served with three sides that vary according to arrivals and the chef’s mood! Vegetarians will opt for tasty grilled zucchini, herb puree, and orange juice. And the summer meal ends with Fruttini by Mo’s ice cream desserts or a strawberry and verbena tartlet. Lunch menu at €35 and €41.
ALFRED 1st
8, rue du Mont Thabor. Tel. 01 40 26 46 27. www.alfred-paris.com
• 12:30pm to 1:45pm and 7:30pm to 9:30pm • Closed Sunday and Monday • Average price: €50.
This restaurant was launched by a quartet of catering professionals. We enjoy the decor – a monochrome of beige tints, walls fitted with colored panels, beige stone and ochre carpet flooring, tables in pale wood, velvet banquettes and vintage 90s style seats that make for an appealing, warm ambiance. The menu by Chefs Paul Vidal and Camille Renouard includes Mimosa eggs, chives, bread crumble, Tatin tart of cherry tomatoes, grilled feta. Among the main courses on offer, we can choose between the Risotto of fresh peas, kale and green oil or the rack of lamb, artichokes, parsley purée, yoghurt sauce accompanied by appetizing, chunky house fries. Cointreau creme brulee or chocolate fondant, hazelnuts, Madagascar vanilla ice cream provide a fine gourmet conclusion to the dinner.
NHOME 1st
41, rue de Montpensier. Tel. 0189334843. www.nhomeparis.com
• 7pm to 9:30pm • Closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday • Average price: €105.
Boasting an impressive résumé (Frenchie, Saturne, le Cinq …), Matan Zaken took the plunge into event gastronomy in 2019 when he launched Nhomade, an elite, traveling delicatessen. A great success, it gave him the time and inclination to open his own restaurant. Nhome is particularly original: the 19-cover establishment is only open four evenings a week! In the exposed stone dining room is a single, large, welcoming table, big enough for diners to enjoy a certain discretion. There is also an alcove opposite the open kitchen at the entrance to the restaurant which can seat six or seven persons. On the bill of fare is a single ninth-course menu listing succulent dishes (€115). They range from appetizers to bite-sized desserts, all served directly at your table by a team led by talented chef Estelle Pascal. From the exquisite oysters served on the shell with ‘crème brûlée’, pomegranate water and lovage leaves, to the choco fluff of Peruvian smoked chocolate with marshmallow, via the sublime, very lightly smoked pigeon cooked to perfection and accompanied by preserved leg, black rice sautéed with sorrel sprouts and beetroot pickles and purée, everything we tasted is a model of haute cuisine, perfectly complemented by a wine from Clément Collet selected to complement the fare (€65 or €85). This is an extraordinary, unmissable restaurant !
DUNE 2nd
35, rue des Jeuneurs. Tel. 01 83 64 00 13. www.dune.paris
• Noon to 2pm and 7:30pm to 10pm • Closed Sunday and Monday • Average price: €45.
Chef Youssef Gastli, who trained at the Institut Paul Bocuse and has worked in the kitchens of Le Meurice and Lucas Carton, opened his own restaurant in the Sentier district, riding the wave of Mediterranean cuisine with a twist of flavors from his native Tunisia. The setting is perfectly in tune with the times, featuring a long, inviting dining room with arched mirrors set against the walls that recall traditional Tunisian architecture, tables with thick pale wood tops, encircled by quilted bench seat and chairs upholstered with artisanally crafted fabric. The menu is a skillful play on four themes: land, sea, plants and desserts, for you to compose joyful lunches and dinners around sunny dishes served as plates to share. We enjoyed a delicious swordfish kabkabou with fennel (€12), an octopus chakchouka (€14), bottarga lablebi (€11), an excellent stuffed artichoke and farik tabouleh (€15). Be sure to save some room to try the succulent lamb (€55) slow-cooked in a gargoulette (an earthenware pot) and presented in such generous portions it could serve as a main dish for 3 guests. Those with a sweet tooth will also appreciate the original pistachio cream with fresh figs (€9). Special mention for the fantastic homemade harissa, as well as the nice wine list that gives pride of place to the Mediterranean basin.
ANNA 3rd
13, rue du Vertbois. Tel. 09 73 88 96 06.
• 6pm to 11pm • Closed Sunday • Average price: €50.
Praise for the deliberate modesty of this new location in the “Quartier Libre Vertbois”, which calls itself a simple wine bar, but is also (and especially!) an excellent trattoria. Its facade and walls of asymmetrical
