Café Perdu, pleasure found! The founders of La Cave de Bacchus, Suzanne Bora and Benoît Yon, are brightening up Normandy’s capital with their chic and shocking bistro with vintage furniture. They’ve created a beautiful atmosphere tucked into a corner house with a timbered frame, where jazzy tunes float over dishes stitched together by Jordan Fouchet (ex-Manoir de Surville) and served with plenty of good humor by his sidekick Jimmy Verdure. What should you expect? Locally sourced ingredients, a lot of vegetables, quite a bit of seafood and a little bit of meat, from time to time. Take the day we went for lunch as an example: a titillating cauliflower cream with haddock and preserved lemon; a stunning pink potato and red cabbage salad served warm, paired with raw yellow pollack; before a heartening moist almond sponge cake, served with clementines and faisselle cheese. At night, you can nibble with friends on things like oeufs mayo, grilled leeks, steak and beetroot tartare or even scallops with raw cream and sunchokes. // Henri Depecker

FEELING THIRSTY? A wave of naturalist pleasures: a Burgundy red from the Domaine Ami (€4 a glass), a Beaujo primeur from Sylvère Trichard (€6), an Hérault white from Olivier Cohen (€24.50 a bottle)…
PRICE: Set menus €18.50 to €22 (lunch), small plates €6-19 (dinner).