A discreet bistro is quietly simmering near the Palais des Congrès! With heavyweight résumés (Taillevent, David Toutain), Japanese chef Kazuaki Aoi and his Korean partner Sungni Lee have set up shop slightly off the radar, inside the former Auberge Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a local institution given a new lease of life. The deliberately old-fashioned decor (a finely crafted bar, time-worn mirrors, candle wall sconces, a retro ceiling fan) sets the mood for bourgeois French classics, executed with whisper-light Japanese precision. Take the day we lunched there, in near-perfect calm: an unforgettable leek vinaigrette with crabmeat and toasted buckwheat, tucked beneath folds of paper-thin turnip with a dazzle of parsley oil; comforting braised beef cheek with mashed potatoes – or masterful poached sea bass fillet, bathed in an addictive white wine sauce, flanked by more potatoes and buttered oak leaf lettuce; followed by an equally poised puff pastry dessert balancing strawberries, Earl Grey-infused cream and a zippy lemon granita. · Lester Grossman

FEELING THIRSTY? Conventional wines properly poured: a chinon from Pierre and Bertrand Couly (€7 a glass), a montagny premier cru from Louis Latour (€71 a bottle) or a Savigny-lès-Beaune from Domaine Simon Bize & Fils (€92). Otherwise, well-chosen soft drinks like Alain Milliat apple juice (€8 for 330 ml).

PRICE: À la carte €48-56.