Spanish cave à manger, veggie-friendly canteen, afghan restaurant… Le Fooding is letting you in on all it’s best kept secret spots for a bite to eat in the Batignolles !
Rooster
Original’s chef menu, Neo-bistro
More than €51
Noon to 1:45pm and 7pm to 9:45pm. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
At Rooster (a carefully decorated neo-bistro with a marbled bar, globe light fixtures and shiny salamander grills), Marseille-native Frédéric Duca (ex-Racines in New York) produces some marvelous eats, with an added Mediterranean accent to boot.
137, rue Cardinet, Paris 17 – M° Pont Cardinet
Montijo
Wine bar / Cave à manger, Platters / Cold plates
€16 to €35
Every day from 12pm to 10:30pm (until 3pm for the lunchtime set menu, 4pm on Sunday for brunch).
The Batignolles neighborhood is adopting a Spanish rhythm with the latest hotspot from the very olé-olé Machefert hotel group (1K, Kube, Normandy Le Chantier), which has turned the outdated Maison Eugénie hotel into a cool new spot. And that’s how this Iberian wine bar came to be on the ground floor of the hotel, with its lovely terra cotta tones and named after the Empress Eugénie de Montijo.
167, rue de Rome, Paris 17e- – M° Pont Cardinet
Le Truffaut
Bistro
€16 to €35
Noon to 2pm and 7:30pm to 10:30pm. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
Not only does Jean-Baptiste Jay run the tapas joint, Jourdain, in the 20th arrondissement, but now he’s teamed up with Olivier Retel (who he stole from the motherhouse) for his new restaurant, Le Truffaut, in the heart of the Batignolles neighborhood.
89, rue Truffaut, Paris 17 – M° Pont Cardinet
Salicorne
Neo-bistro, Organic, Market cuisine, Veggie
€16 to €35
Noon to 2pm and 7:30pm to 10pm (Wednesday to Friday). Closed Saturday and Sunday.
Finally, a café worthy of that name in the Batignolles neighborhood! Run by Irish chef Carol Pender, who used to work at Mokonuts, Salicorne (celadon green walls, school chairs, bouquets of dried flowers) keeps the neighborhood well-fed at lunchtime with market cooking centered around seasonal vegetables and briny seafood.
11, rue Brochant, Paris 17 – M° Pont Cardinet
Yansai
Chinese, Japanese, Asian
Less than €15
Noon to 2:30pm and 7pm to 10pm. Closed on Monday.
Yansai ? Saiyan en verlan, nom des guerriers de la saga nippone Dragon Ball ! Derrière ce blaze se cache le mangaphile Thomas Li, qui a repris l’ancien traiteur de maman pour y camper sa cantoche de poche tout de bois vêtue.
47, rue des Moines, Paris 17e – M° Brochant
Buzkashi
Afghan
€16 to €35
7pm to 10:45pm. Closed Sunday.
Buzkashi, the Afghani national sport practiced on horseback, literally means “the game of catching the goat”! Paintings of the sport liven up this Afghani-vore spot (white woodwork, low benches, kilims, crimson cushions) where no goats can be found on Madame Azizian’s menu.
7, rue des Dames, Paris 17 – M° La Fourche
L’Eldorado
Bistro
More than €51
Every day from 8am to 11pm; breakfast from 8am to 10:30am, lunch from 12pm to 3pm, snacks from 3:30pm to 6pm, dinner from 6:30pm to 10:15pm.
On the hunt for the quietest hidden terrace in western Paris? Look no further, your quest ends here at the aptly named L’Eldorado hotel. A lush green paradise of palm trees, ferns, hydrangeas and camellias, where the gravel paths boast around 20 white-linen clad tables, under the patronage of Sophie Richard with Élodie and Pierre Moussié – the trio at the head of Hôtel Providence (among others).
18, rue des Dames, Paris 17 – M° Place de Clichy
Le Cyrano
Bistro
€16 to €35
Every day from 9am (10am Saturday and Sunday) to 2am; kitchen service from noon to 2:30pm and from 7pm to 10:30pm.
A mere skip and a hop away from Place de Clichy, Le Cyrano recites the classics with panache! Dusted off by a young group of friends (Charleyne Valet and Clovis Aupetit, ex-Parigots and Les Gamins, plus Arthur Podetti, who is new to the restaurant game), this iconic dive with spotted mirrors and art nouveau mosaic tile floors – a brothel in a previous life – has been rekindled thanks to the charming plates made by Charleyne, which you can nibble at the marble counter or around one of the tightly packed bistro tables.
3, rue Biot, Paris 17 – M° Place de Clichy
Kokoya
Japanese, Asian
€16 to €35
12pm to 2:30pm and 7pm to 9:45pm (except Monday). Closed Sunday. Upon reservation only.
Inside this tiny Batignolles joint (a mere six tables in a space with no other merits besides a menu written out on the mirror), the small Japanese team is busy at work, walkie-talkies in hand, sending the orders to the kitchen. In the time it takes to boil up an authentic miso soup, the bento of the day sends you on a trip to Japan, all broken down into pretty little compartments and served with chopsticks.
5, rue des Batignolles, Paris 17 – M° Place de Clichy, Rome
Interfabric
Bistro, Market cuisine
€16 to €35
Noon to 2:30pm. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
44, rue Legendre, Paris 17e – M° Pont Cardinet
Janine
Neo-bistro
More than €51
12:15pm to 2:30pm and 7:30pm to 11pm. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
Bare walls, visible vegetable crates and old-fashioned china… You’ll feel right at home at this eatery run by Alexia and Florent Artis, a couple who switched careers in order to serve simple, homemade cuisine. Plus, this neighborhood café is the perfect remedy for indecision, with just two appetizers, two mains, two sandwiches and three desserts a day, all prepared using whatever’s fresh at the market.
90, rue des Dames, Paris 17 – M° Rome