After falling in love with a storefront in Romainville (it’s true!), Éric Sagne and Laurie Hernandez, two former Parisians who recently changed careers (he was a former professional poker player, she used to work in communications), hopped across Paris’s ring road and lost themselves in this new panorama – flowery wallpaper, a glass ceiling, a vegetable and herb garden. Now well acclimated to wild wines (Éric) and fiery plates (Laurie), the duo serves their take on bistronomy at a galloping pace! The proof came on the lunch menu that day, when the neo-chef really outdid herself: reinvigorating marinated and grilled zucchini, served crisp and plated atop a comforting smoked ricotta cream with dill; plump roasted eggplant taken to the next level by a heady sambal chili sauce with quinoa and fried onions, plus a shower of fresh herbs; before a less impressive coffee panna cotta, with a nice little chocolate coulis and caramelized peanuts. At night, to go with the bottles picked off the well-stocked shelves, there’s a selection of small plates: fried artichokes, black garlic aioli and salsa verde; wild asparagus, strawberries, peas and ajo blanco; slow-roasted pork belly with homemade ketchup and pickles… // Renaud Fuego

FEELING THIRSTY? : Playing the wine game, Éric never bluffs when it comes to his reds or whites: Émeri, a light red from Éric Chevalier outside of Nantes (€5 a glass), Rendez-vous, a Sarthes chenin from the Maison Gazeau-Baldi (€6), Coume de Maliès, an Aude white blend from the Domaine Balansa (€36, including an €8 corkage fee)…
PRICE: : Set menu €18-22 (weekday lunch), plates €7-14 (dinner and Saturday lunch).