#brasserie-of-light

#brasserie-of-light

The forthcoming restaurant will focus on Provencal cooking and local sourcing with plans to operate as a bakery during the day and dinner destination in the evening.

"Mirazur is in an absolutely magical part of the French Riviera, between the ocean and mountains, straddling Italy and France. It's where I found my kitchen, and myself."

Impala, after all, is a Super 8 restaurant, the group that has, among others, Tomos Parry's Brat in Shoreditch, which has been constantly, unfalteringly brilliant since 2018.

"It's exploding! 253 bouillon restaurants have opened in France in four years," Bernard Boutboul, a restaurant consultant, told AFP.

Being here has definitely made me more precise. Gordon is very decisive - he makes a plan, and then we get on and do it. That's very much my ethos now.

A meal at Ikoyi is an otherworldly experience. From the flavours (phenomenal) to the cost (astronomical), everything at this intimate, intoxicating restaurant will be carved upon your memory.

Chintemani is looking to blend a respect for tradition with a modern approach to Mediterranean food, featuring a menu that leans heavily Turkish.

Henry Harris describes his experience as the head chef and co-owner of Bouchon Racine as 'my most favourite three years of cooking and restaurant ownership.' He emphasizes the importance of creating a space where guests feel 'loved and valued'.

Past a sign for a family waterpark, a door opens onto an homage to fin-de-siècle Paris. Chandeliers are reflected in gilt-edged mirrors; there is a chorus line of lobsters and yards of fromage. Every so often, a waiter in a dinner suit flambées a crepe Suzette with a shock of flames, like a big top fire-eater. This is fine dining as buffet.

A consistently packed bistro along the Seine in the Marais, Le Petit Célestin delivers reliable French classics in a lively atmosphere that values conviviality over culinary ambition. The menu spans traditional bistro territory - tête de veau, veal kidneys, steak frites - with occasional Italian influences like burrata and linguini with bottarga. The cooking is competent rather than inspired. Razor clams arrive properly garlicky, steak shows good char against rare interior, but some dishes lean too sweet.

If there's one thing worse than too much of a good thing, it's too little of it. That was the knock on Ha's Snack Bar, which opened last year to such instantaneous acclaim that word spread the proprietors were immediately looking for a larger second location. The Snack Bar was great, but with two dozen seats, most of them not especially comfortable at that, it could be a treat on the palate and a pain in the ass.

A little more than a year ago, after running a successful pop-up called Ha's Đặc Biệt, the chefs Sadie Mae Burns and Anthony Ha opened Ha's Snack Bar, an itsy-bitsy restaurant on the Lower East Side. The Snack Bar, like the pop-up, served Vietnamese-inspired dishes that were clever, cheffy (and more than a bit French-inflected), and utterly cool without any sort of hauteur.

The streets around the Louvre have improved considerably as a dining destination. It's still true that the neighborhood rewards those who know where to look - the blocks immediately adjacent to the museum are thick with tourist traps - but a short walk in almost any direction opens up genuinely good options.

Chef Masa Ikuta brings serious classical training honed under Bruno Verjus at Table and Stephane Jego at L'Ami Jean to his own tasting menu restaurant in the 11th arrondissement. The cooking is confidently French-Japanese, moving from sardine churros with Cantabrian anchovy cream to veal brain tempura styled after shirako to a perfectly grilled lamb rack with smoky harissa.

Israeli chef Assaf Granit shifts focus from Mediterranean cooking to Eastern European Jewish cuisine at Boubalé, located in the Grand Mazarin hotel steps from BHV. The menu draws on Ashkenazi traditions - borscht, chicken liver, pastrami, and potato-forward preparations inspired by Granit's Polish grandmother. The vast dining room manages warmth through maximalist touches: doilies, colorful glassware, and grandmother-approved murals. Standout dishes include salmon floating in borscht with pickled turnips, Israeli couscous risotto with spinach, and an exceptional chocolate mousse drizzled with olive oil.

The cooking is unpretentious and generous—big flavors, careful balance, no tweezers—at prices that feel increasingly rare in Paris. Standout dishes include a pheasant tourte with Morteau sausage and girolles, roasted beets with smoked eel and horseradish cream, and wild duck with a Porto jus and roasted parsnips.

Live-fire cooking defines Robert et Louise, a Marais institution where beef, lamb, and duck sizzle over an open fireplace in the ground-floor dining room. The wood-fired approach delivers generous portions at moderate prices - most mains stay under 30€, with classic French bistro fare like blood sausage, grilled lamb chops, and charred steak. The main floor centers on a crackling brick fireplace where meat cooks directly over flame.