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I always feel I have to pump up my personality before I enter this 'bobo' (bohemian-bourgeois) bistro in the grungy 11th, but that's all part of the challenge; it helps if you have artful facial hair and effortfully distressed clothing. Basque-born chef Iņaki Aizpitarte has been called a revolutionary and is something of a celebrity these days, which makes it almost miraculous that he is still cooking at this time-worn local bistro whose spartan decor has remained unchanged for decades.
Lunch is a simpler, more conventional affair than dinner (€40), which is when Aizpitarte really lets his imagination run riot, with smeared avocado sauces, beetroot foams, and everything deconstructed to within an inch of its life. This is the kind of avant-garde cuisine that provokes involuntary gasps when it is placed before diners. Ingredients may come from Japan, Morocco or Spain, but the dishes themselves are grounded in classic French techniques. The wine list is particularly good, with a bottle of Les Vilains from the Spanish border for €27, for example.
Le Chateaubriand: 129 avenue Parmentier, 11th, Paris (00 33 1 43 57 45 95)
See CNTraveller.com's guide to Paris here |
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