Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cooked
à la plancha
and inventive desserts like white-chocolate and wasabi ice cream. Al-
25 rue des Grands Augustins, 6e; lunch menus €29-36, dinner menus €55-62;
noon-2.30pm &
7.30-11pm Tue-Fri, 7.30-11pm Sat;
St-Michel)
('Kitchen Galerie Bis').
MODERN FRENCH
RESTAURANT HÉLÈNE DARROZE
menus from €39/92; 12.30-2.30pm & 7.30-10.30pm Tue-Sat; Sèvres-Babylone)
Female star chefs are a rarity in Paris, but Hélène Darroze is a stellar exception (and the in-
spiration for the character Colette in the winsome animated film
Ratatouille
). These
premises house both her elegant Michelin-starred Salle à Manger restaurant upstairs and re-
laxed downstairs Salon d'Hélène, where multicourse tasting menus reflect Darroze's native
southwestern France, such as wood-grilled foie gras.
GASTRONOMIC
L'ATELIER DE JOËL ROBUCHON
€38-79; 11.30am-3.30pm & 6.30pm-midnight; Rue du Bac)
Celebrity chef Joël Robuchon takes diners on a mind-blowing culinary tour of French gast-
ronomy's finer ingredients, lobster, sardines, foie gras and milk-fed lamb included. Dining is
stool-style around a communal U-shaped black-lacquer bar (ideal for solo diners) in a
Japanese-accented dining room with bamboo in glass vases. Robuchon recently opened an-
other atelier inside the Champs-Élysées' Publicis Drugstore.
TEAROOM
LA JACOBINE
34; 5-11.30pm Mon, from noon Tue-Sun; Odéon)
Olde-worlde tearoom/busy lunch spot La Jacobine is packed to the rafters by noon for its
homemade tarts, giant-size salads and crêpes. Its lovely location inside glass-covered pas-
sageway the Cour du Commerce St-André makes it all the more romantic.
ITALIAN
LE CHERCHE MIDI
€12-17; noon-3pm & 7.30-11.15pm; Sèvres-Babylone)
This popular restaurant with red awning and classic interior buzzes all the more at weekends
when Saturday shoppers and Sunday strollers make a beeline for its small, sunlit pavement
