Grrrrreat news for grill obsessives: an authentic Korean barbecue has fired up in Perpignan! At the helm? Véronique Souloy, former winemaker and restaurateur (ex-3 Journées), who’s tapping into her roots to feed the city something properly smokey, in a setting that’s just as sharp as the seasoning (patterned floor tiles, neon lights, exposed pipes, ceramic tableware by potter Marie Matal). Come lunchtime, perched on old school chairs, we dove into a discovery platter flexing every cut on the barbecue roaster: free-range chicken and pork belly; bellota pork pluma and secreto; Charolais beef raised by Jean-Pierre Tixador, shaped into meatballs or shaved thin for bulgogi; plus three dry-aged beauties from Boucherie du Centre. The lot arrives flanked by a bowl of rice, kimchi, three Korean dipping sauces, crisp salad greens and seasonal vegetables. Also worth shouting about: a proper bingsu –shaved ice dessert drizzled with condensed milk and topped with seasonal fruit – and a lip-smacking lunch menu, featuring good things like free-range chicken soup with vermicelli and shiitake mushrooms, Korean beef curry with rice and a matcha and white chocolate tartlet. · Megan Linar

FEELING THIRSTY? Loirette lager from Brasserie de La Pigeonnelle (€5 for 330 ml), Cass Korean beer (€6), Jinro soju (€13 for 350 ml), a few sakes and a lovely selection of local natural wines: La Luce, a grenache from Le Bout du Monde (€30 a bottle) or Kopin, a Jura chardonnay from Anne and Jean-François Gannevat (€38).

PRICE: Set menu €15-22 (lunch), à la carte €36-77, kids’ menu €15.