Translated by Bethszabee Garner

Armani Ristorante, for ethical gourmet dining

While Italian cuisine is booming in the capital, high-end transalpine gastronomy remains rare. This undoubtedly explains the success of Armani Ristorante.

Massimo Tringali proclaims his native Italy to the world through his accent, his cuisine, and his generosity. The Michelin-starred chef at Armani Ristorante points out the following distinction: "There are many Italian chefs in France, but few offer authentic Italian cuisine. Often, they serve Mediterranean cuisine instead. I really work with the cuisine of my country."

In this elegant restaurant located in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, close to the Brasserie Lipp and opposite the famous Café de Flore, you can enjoy authentic transalpine specialties with just a slight twist. The five-course menu includes a starter of Parmigiana melanzane, a delicious eggplant croquette stuffed with buffalo mozzarella and parmigiano, of course, served on a bed of tomato compote. And on the side, to refresh a dish that is relatively salty due to the cheeses, exceptionally delicious cherry tomatoes, uniquely sweet and flavorful, finely peeled.

Before the more substantial first course, Massimo slips you a few small “moretto” artichokes in vinegar, which are to die for. They would make any pepper from our region pale in comparison... Then he proudly brings out one of his signature dishes, incredible smoked spaghettoni with chanterelle mushrooms. The pasta is homemade with high-quality eggs, the chanterelles are sautéed to perfection, and the sauce is enhanced with 36-month-old Parmesan cheese. A pure delight. No fuss, nothing superficial, Massimo focuses on three priorities: taste, taste, and taste!

Next comes a small plate of seafood ravioli on a surprising bed of burnt spring onions. Then the chef grabs you with his veal fillet like a cowboy with his lasso. The vitello is rolled in Tyrolean speck (a variety of red ham) and stuffed with aromatic herbs, accompanied by a potato mille-feuille. Melt-in-the-mouth like a dessert, tasty like a surf and turf, pretty as a cannelloni.

Unrivalled fruttini

All products are sourced with sustainability in mind: fruit and vegetables are grown using sustainable farming methods, are seasonal, and are sourced directly or via short supply chains; seafood comes from passive fishing; as for meat, the farmers are certified High Environmental Value or organic. The restaurant has been awarded 3 “ecotables,” the label's highest distinction.

After such a feast, the perfect dessert is undoubtedly Fruttini di Baronissi. Often imitated, never equaled. It is simply fruit filled with its own sorbet. Frosted pear, walnut, chestnut, mandarin... “I prefer to order them from the artisan who created these sorbets in Italy, in the small village of Baronissi, in Campania,” says Massimo Tringali. Others make them here, but it's not the same." We agree!

Another light and refreshing finale, this time concocted in-house, is the Fragoline di bosco al balsamico. No need to translate, the words speak for themselves. Armani Ristorante is one of the few Italian restaurants in Paris with a Michelin star, and it's clear that it richly deserves it. Finally, it should be noted that the five-course menu at €150, served at lunchtime and in the evening, rises to €230 with a wine pairing, which is still reasonable for a restaurant of this quality.

Armani Ristorante, 149 Bd Saint-Germain, Paris 6e

Au Mouton blanc, Normandy in Paris

For a “traditional” restaurant that exudes the charm of the French provinces, there's no doubt that you should visit one of the Durant family's restaurants. Why not try L'Auberge, Le Mouton Blanc, in the 16th arrondissement, a Normandy-style restaurant that is sorely lacking in the capital.

The setting is exactly what you would expect from this type of establishment: warm and welcoming, with a slightly roguish bistro atmosphere. The service is professional while playing with the rules, and above all, the cuisine is uncompromising. The dishes are well executed and generous, with carefully selected ingredients. For starters, you can enjoy, among other things, good old herring in oil with sliced onions and carrot rounds. Or an equally classic sausage and butter.

Nothing crazy, and yet... The mussels with cream and fries are some of the best we've tasted in Paris. The shellfish are fresh and just the right size, neither frustratingly small nor sickeningly large, and above all, the cream! Mamma mia! A delicacy from Borniambuc, which also supplies the cheese.

As for the fries, they are authentic, thinly cut homemade fries with a strong potato flavor. A pot filled to the brim that you finish with a tablespoon so as not to leave a drop of sauce.

Having seen the Vallée d'Auge chicken, the Normandy-style veal escalope and the rib steak with Chausey green sauce go by, we can safely say that all these recipes seem to have been mastered and that the results deserve a second tasting.

As for desserts, the maître d'hôtel highly recommends the rice pudding, provided you still have a little appetite left at this stage of the meal. But if you want to finish with a sweet digestive treat, you might as well stay in Normandy with the lemon sorbet drizzled with calvados.

Le Mouton Blanc, 40, rue d'Auteuil, Paris 16th arrondissement, allow €50 per person

Spiti Sou, chic Greek

Greek restaurants with gastronomic pretensions are not exactly commonplace in Paris. So simply dining at Spiti Sou is an experience in itself.

At first glance, it's clear that the culinary intention is reflected in the decor: contemporary furniture but traditional Greek color codes, the inseparable blue and white combination.

This approach is continued on the plate, with varying degrees of success. The melitzano salata, a barbecued eggplant with molasses, sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, is very successful. It's a dish full of paradoxes, sour and sweet, melt-in-the-mouth and crunchy. Or the watermelon salad with blanched cherry tomatoes, manouri cheese, and mint. It's fresh and colorful, reflecting the Peloponnese on your plate.

Less convincing is the carpaccio of large shrimp, fennel, and cucumber vinaigrette. The texture is mushy and the detox flavors aren't particularly appetizing. Fortunately, the kotopoulo gets you back on track! It's simple: barbecue chicken marinated in lemon and oregano. It's tasty, juicy, and joyful, and you almost don't want to share it, even though, according to the established formula, Spiti Sou offers “dishes to share.”

Special mention goes to the dessert, whose name alone takes you on a journey to the Cyclades: portokalopita. Finally, a dessert that puts orange in the spotlight, candied and in cake form, softened by vanilla ice cream.

It's a good idea to accompany this meal with Greek wines and finish it off with a shot of mastika, the clear, herbaceous alcohol that goes so well with a sirtaki at the end of the evening.

Spiti Sou, 53 quai des Grands Augustins, Paris 6th arrondissement, allow around $100 per person

Le Boréal, a hidden treasure in the 18th arrondissement

When reviewing restaurants, there is no greater pleasure than discovering a gem. Le Boréal is one such gem, and a golden one at that.

If the word bistronomy has any meaning, it certainly applies to Le Boréal. At first glance, it's a neighborhood bistro in a remote corner of the 18th arrondissement of Paris. But in the kitchen, the dishes are skillfully prepared, and in the dining room, the service is impeccable, graceful, and elegant.

The five-course menu, called l'Aurore (you can't look for something complicated when your name is Le Boréal...), is well-balanced, so you leave the restaurant without that feeling of extreme fullness that sometimes overwhelms you after a gourmet meal.

We started with starters that demonstrated a masterful handling of iodine: scrambled eggs, sea urchin and spider crab or clams, smoked dashi, eucalyptus. Bold combinations, but not risky ones... Next came a bright, colorful plate of spring vegetable ragù seasoned with wormwood vinegar and fresh wasabi. These condiments enlivened a dish that might otherwise have been too bland. The very friendly chef, Charles Neyers, who works with his wife Philippine Jaillet, likes to build up to a crescendo, as he follows this with gnocchi, shellfish, Paimpol beans, and a marinara emulsion. A pure seafood delight where, once again, the power of the iodine is tempered by the floury texture of the beans.

Before moving on to the sweets, the restaurant had the brilliant idea of creating a (highly) revisited trou normand based on ginger, apple, celery, and Chartreuse elixir that tingles the taste buds. To appreciate a very successful pre-dessert, a crème brûlée tart with yellow wine, Jura cheese ice cream, and morel caramel. Originality, creativity, but always delicious. We can't say the same for the final dessert, a vacherin full of acidity covered with unpleasant wild herbs, which shouldn't make you forget a wonderful meal from the first bite. No doubt a concession to the current trend that could easily be rectified.

Le Boréal, 38, rue Montcalm, Paris 18th

Single tasting menu at €88

Food and wine pairing available

Table Penja, an ode to peppers

At Table Penja, while the bill is relatively steep, the cuisine is peppery. With artistry and subtlety. For that alone, you have to go there as soon as possible!

Once you discover pepper, or rather peppers, you can't do without them. High-quality peppers, such as Kampot pepper from Cambodia, are in a completely different league to the supermarket peppers that some people seem to go to great lengths to buy...

A good pepper is almost enough to invigorate a simple dish such as pasta with butter or fried eggs. La Table Penja (named after a delicious Cameroonian pepper), run by chef Pierre Siewe, born in Douala, is a tribute to this little-known black gold.

In this restaurant, which cheerfully blends French cuisine with African flavors, peppers are everywhere, with multiple aromatic notes, sometimes fresh, sometimes dry. During our visit, we started the meal with crisp green asparagus, creamy stracciatella, and turmeric mayonnaise. Once the surprise effect had worn off, our taste buds rejoiced at this highly original fusion of cuisines. Next, we enjoyed hake cooked in mother-of-pearl with guava condiments, zucchini purée, a famous lobster bisque and, above all, fresh green peppercorns from Penja. They crunch gently under the tooth, spreading their flavor gently in the mouth before fading away softly. A pure marvel.

The chef also cooks meats such as duck, which he seasons with harissa, or lamb with Kankan spices.

Don't miss the rice pudding at the end of the meal, not for its own sake but for the jujube ice cream that accompanies it majestically. This awful fruit, which looks like a tiny dried apple and has almost no taste, delivers unexpected power when used to flavor ice cream. And if you manage to negotiate with the chef for an extra scoop of pepper sorbet, you're in for a real treat...

La Table Penja, 2 rue Sédillot, Paris 7e

An article written by Yves Derai, featured in issue 12 of OniriQ magazine.