Auberge de Monceaux

After falling into disuse, this old coaching inn along the main road between Beauvais and Grandvilliers is now living its best life under new management – the previous owner’s daughters, Manon and Marie Ibert, along with Tom Truy-Courties (ex-Bloempot) and Valentin Gautier, their partners who have more than a few tricks up their sleeve. The space? Light wood, white tablecloths and bouquets of dried flowers, for a Scandi ambiance in which Tom cooks up naturalist beauties – some of which come from their garden, others from nearby farms. The day we went for lunch, the unbeatable lunchtime set menu included: a combination of zucchini, homemade taramasalata and mussels marinière topped with a cucumber-lovage granita; trout from Val du Sillet paired with some decadent smoked cream, haricots verts, capers and lemony edible flowers; before a newfangled pear baked Alaska stuffed with raspberry, tarragon and elderberry sorbet, then covered in a thick coat of barely cooked meringue, charred with a blowtorch. Otherwise, served à la carte: a giant raviolo filled with beef from the Ferme du Pré d’Esky; yellow pollack with sabayon and taramasalata; rhubarb and lemon verbena pavlova… // Jean Pascal 

FEELING THIRSTY? : A selection of often organic beverages: Le P’tit Vaillant, a Loire wine available in red and white (€8 a glass), slow-fermented hard ciders and pear ciders from Cyprien Lireux (€16-20 a bottle), a Saint-Estèphe from the Château Haut-Beauséjour (€68)… 
PRICE: : Set menus €28 (weekday lunch), €75 (dinner and weekends), à la carte €50-80.