L'Air du Temps (bistro)

Once upon a time, San Degeimbre was harvesting juicy tomatoes from his huge vegetable garden (five hectares, no less!), when all of a sudden, the tomato plant spoke, urging him to make the gastronomical world a little less stuffy. “There’s more to life than long menus,” said the vegetable. Being the good student that he was, the chef began to dream about his fantasy bistro, one which would reimagine locavorism and be housed in a wing of a farmhouse. And so, his Michelin-starred restaurant L’Air du Temps was born! While the vast dining room’s interiors have a quasi-shaker, Scandinavian sensibility to them, all attention is on the open kitchen, in which Benjamin Denis (ex-Les Coudes Sur La Table) busies away. And from said kitchen, nothing but good things fly out, like the revisited leeks vinaigrette, cooked in a dashi broth and topped with a tuft of Cantabrian anchovies; much like the following dish that came out of nowhere, an astonishing mixture of sunchokes and smashed potatoes poached in animal fat, all painted with a pickle and dried fruit emulsion, giving the dish a complex bite rather reminiscent of that Belgian classic, fries with piccalilli. For dessert, the black garlic flan only confirmed our hasty but resolute desire to go back again. // Salty Litchi

FEELING THIRSTY? Classic Oude Gueuze 2012 from 3 Fonteinen (€25 for 370 ml) for something fermented, or a white Vino di Sasso for a taste of the Greek islands (€8 a glass). Otherwise, Côt, a spicy Loire wine from Hervé Villemade (€8.50) or a Burgundy pinot noir from Antoine Petitprez (€80 a bottle).

PRICE: Tasting menus €50-83.