Frasca

Lacking in restaurants capable of exciting visitors from the surrounding five-star hotels, it’s here on the providential Rue de Florence that Éric Lécuyer (Trattoria Maccheroni) and Karima Mathonet, returning to the Low Lands after setting up a vineyard in Italy, opened up Frasca – a fine foods store, enoteca and pasta workshop all rolled into one, decked out in wood and bare brick walls. On the menu, which a multi-César award-winning director sitting opposite a nepo baby was perusing the table over: a crunchy slice of roasted pancetta garnished with oven-baked winter vegetables; a gluttonous plate of maccheroni all’amatriciana, not so Roman nor very Catholic; and chocolate mousse to reawaken your taste for life. Before you go, don’t forget to grab some irresistible pistachio torrone from the shelves. // Toni Negroni

FEELING THIRSTY? A natural wine list that puffs out its chest: Semplicemente Bellotti, a rock ‘n’ roll Piedmont bianco from Cascina degli Ulivi (€37 a bottle), Cloé, a fiery Sicilian rosé from Abbazia San Giorgio (€50) or an extravagant vintage for the Kardashians of Waterloo, an Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 1990 at… €440, and the wine of the day served by the glass at €7.

PRICE: Antipasti €18-22, pasta €20-21, dessert €9.