Opened n 2007, Au Caveau Montpensier is on course to be the hot new eatery and bar. The intimate dining room and lounge, housed a few step below street level in one of the capital’s oldest bars, is serviced by an open kitchen run by New York wunderkind Wesley Wobles, who offers a cuisine seldom found in Paris. Gone is the usual gastronomic formality and stuffiness; Wobles’ food is light, innovative, and reasonable (main courses around €15). Appetizers (€9), such as seared foie gras with oxtail and lingonberries, cannot fail to impress with both their ingenuity and fine ingredients. Mains reflect the chef’s light touch with vegetables such as the grilled hangar steak with potato bâtonnets and wild mushrooms—a far cry from the ubiquitous steak frites. Other offerings are pan-seared duck breast with a pain d’épice pancake, lamb shank with rosemary, and coconut-crusted salmon with carrot guava sauce. Desserts really shine here: don’t miss the Chef’s Red Velvet Cake (€9). Cocktails are served in the lounge; the Dragonfruit Martini (€10) is inventive and delicious, and the Absinthe-based Frolicking Frog is a refreshing (if potent) little number. The look is contemporary also as Wobles has restored the restaurant’s stonewalls and wooden beams, adding a sleek metal and glass cocktail bar. A refreshing break from the norm, and a rising star of the Paris restaurant scene. Vive la difference!
Au Caveau Montpensier, 15, rue Montpensier, Paris 1. M° Palais Royal. 01 47 03 33 78