Exciting things are happening over in Boulogne! After a thorough examination via our pupils, taste buds and other senses, we’re prepared to give a very good grade to Bonnotte, a spiffy little bistro (parquet floors, blonde wood tables, immaculate walls) which takes its name from a type of Noirmoutier potato. And that’s where chef Antoine Guichard (ex-Oiseau Blanc and Taillevent) grew up as well, who works front-of-house here, while Manon Negretti-Guichard (ex-Café Ineko, Semilla and Lasserre) casts her spell on the cuisine, depending on her mood and what’s fresh and in season. The day we went, all of the following made for an exhilarating lunch: Fontainebleau cheese that was so light it would have flown away if it wasn’t weighed down by a Parmesan crumble and thin slices of crunchy radish; Aubrac flank steak with a diabolically good sauce diable, paired with some comforting mashed potatoes like grandma used to make; before an admirable walnut brownie with chunks of dark chocolate and fleur de sel, lounging atop crème anglaise. At night, the plates (and the prices) get taken up a notch: scallops and pale-leaf woodland sunflower prepared with lardo di Colonnata, sole meunière with capers, hazelnut lava cake with oranges in a honey syrup… // Albert Gredinbar
FEELING THIRSTY? A very conventional wine list (a Crozes-Hermitage from the Domaine des Entrefaux at €51 a bottle; Les Grands Terroirs, a Chablis produced by Samuel Billaud at €69…), with a few natural wine exceptions – like this Riesling from the Domaine Weinbach at €11 a glass.
PRICE: Set menus €29-38 (lunch), à la carte €59-88 (dinner).
