gourmet scene BACK ON TOP The latest culinary offerings in Paris are hitting all the right notes, be they nouveau casual addresses or classic gastronomic menus By Alexander Lobrano MARIE-LINE SINA, BENOIT LINERO Stéphanie Le Quellec’s La Scène proffers technically impressive and creative dishes Facing page: high dining in the Eiffel Tower’s Le Jules Verne restaurant Paris has always been a famously delicious destination, but today it’s more delectable than ever. A new generation of spectacularly talented chefs has introduced a host of new addresses that, for the most part, eschew formality in favour of conviviality, while the haute cuisine temples remain deserving of all the attention they get, and a set of glam-forward fixtures has enraptured the creative classes. As for what’s on the tables, a strong local penchant for healthy eating is reflected by the fact that vegetables get star billing on the menus of many new Parisian restaurants today, and most chefs are also favouring sustainable produce on their menus, too, which means razor shell clams, mussels and mackerel instead of wild sea bass or industrially raised salmon. Coddled egg starters are everywhere, and there is an increased appreciation of cosmopolitan flair (fairly new to the French), which means spices once confined to baking – nutmeg and mace, for example – are adding unexpected dash to savoury dishes all over town. Restaurateur Stéphane Manigold is one of the best examples of the new culinary wave. After the success of Substance in the 16th arrondissement, his first eatery, which has one of the best champagne lists in Paris, Manigold recently opened CONTRASTE (contraste.paris), an intimate table near the Place de la Madeleine in the heart of the city with beautiful 18th-century mouldings and NetJets 61
