After two government-mandated closures rocked the French restaurant industry in 2020 and 2021, the recovery of dining out in the French capital has been dramatic. Restaurant meals are the anchor of many Parisians’ social lives, and once the shackles were removed, the city’s restaurant scene began to boom. Here are our favorite new places to eat in Paris right now.

Auberge Nicolas Flamel

Young chef Grégory Garimbay recently won a deserved Michelin star for his suave contemporary cooking at the oldest restaurant in Paris. (The existence of this auberge was first recorded in 1407.) Garimbay worked for Alain Ducasse at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée, and his cooking displays the rigor and precision typical of the great chef’s style. What makes it different, however, are the gastronomic nods Garimbay makes to his native region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Seated at a bare wooden table in one of the two pleasantly minimalist dining rooms here, we enjoyed a fine lunch that began with green asparagus with black quinoa, lemon and ramps and scallops sautéed with myrtle liqueur and garnished with sorrel and buckwheat. Next came pan-roasted chicken with spelt, seaweed and horseradish and a fillet of John Dory in blood-orange sauce with puntarella (a kind of bitter chicory). Both dishes were exceptionally imaginative and delicious, as was a chocolate dessert with the surprising garnish of wild mushrooms that we shared.

Auberge Nicolas Flamel
51 Rue de Montmorency. Tel. (33) 1-42-71-77-78