AHPÉ

Say goodbye to the Cantine FITZgerald! Long live AHPÉ (an acronym for the four seasons, in French), where you’ll find two lovebirds, Idir Fseil (ex-Bar du Haou in Biarritz) and Claire Visinoni-Gerbet (ex-Baigneuses in the Vieux-Port neighborhood). The spot in question? A space combining wooden banquettes, gold-hued walls, string lights and a small bar, plus a big table on the terrace, and seasonal auteur cuisine. The day we went for lunch, the prix-fixe menu featured: flash-seared line-caught hake perfectly paired with raw tomatoes, steamed broccoli, roasted onions and mustard greens, all sprinkled with black olives and intensified by a green leek-infused mayonnaise; before some delicious cookies with coconut ice cream and siphon coffee. What about the prix-fixe menu? Mussels in a chanterelle, lemongrass and rice vinegar broth with fresh goat cheese and walnuts; slow-roasted beef cheeks cooked in a red wine sauce with onion butter, pan-fried shiitakes and zucchini; spiced polenta (ginger, cinnamon, star anise) that was slightly too sweet, with a mirabelle plum coulis, basil pesto, coconut siphon and a pistachio cookie. // G.R.

FEELING THIRSTY? Natural bottles: Carbo Nono, a Bergerac red from the Domaine de Bonvin (€6.50 a glass), Cosmique, a Madiran white from the Domaine Capmartin (€26 a bottle), an Alsatian Pinot noir from the Kamm (€38)… and Xuri, a beer brewed in Itxassou (€6).
PRICE: Set menu €13.50 to €17.50 (weekday lunch), menu €36, à la carte €38; shared plates €6-12.