See why foodies are flocking to the city's eastern fringe
Much of the culinary mojo in Paris is coming from the eastern fringe of town, where talented chefs are striking out on their own with high style, reasonable prices, and a laid-back atmosphere.
Provençal chef and Top Chef judge Flora Mikula is back on the Paris scene, having shuttered a straitlaced venue on the Avenue Georges V to open Auberge Flora, a guesthouse and restaurant in the bohemian-bourgeois 11th arrondissement. The restaurant offers breakfast all morning, a lunch market menu and dinners (either tapas-style or a 42-euro prix fixe), all of which change daily. Recent offerings included a roasted rack of suckling pig with fava beans, John Dory in broth with fennel and saffron, and Mikula's signature dessert, fennel roasted in honey with apple-ginger sorbet.
Septime's name alone—a reference to a character played by the late comic actor Louis de Funès—makes French film buffs smile. But the reason the restaurant was an instant hit when it opened in the 11th arrondissement last year is that chef Bertrand Grébaut, a protégé of Alain Passard, delivers on the promise of good humor with inventive, generously portioned market fare at unbeatable prices. The menu changes daily, but reliably features veal tartare, cod in chicken broth, suckling pig, and a delightful riff on an American favorite that usually stymies French chefs: the cheesecake. An industrial-inflected setting and rustic Scandinavian tables underscore the restaurant's light, laid-back atmosphere.
Chatomat is run by Alice di Cagno and Victor Gaillard, an inspired young couple with serious gastronomic cred (including Le Gavroche in London and L'Arpège in Paris). And it lures foodies to a place they're unlikely to have ventured before: a tiny street in what's euphemistically called an up-and-coming corner of Belleville in the 20th arrondissement. Impeccably sourced produce and dishes such as crab with cucumber gelée or pollack with polenta make this bistronomique table one of the best in town.