Kigawa

Following a snazzy makeover, Kigawa now has a monochromatic grey color palette with smartly dressed tables (white tablecloths, sparkling glassware, single stem vases) with and a gigantic bouquet of flowers in the center of the room. What should you expect? Cuisine that’s more French than Japanese, executed by Michihiro Kigawa (ex-Maximin in Venice and Ducasse in Monaco) and brought to the table rather ceremoniously by the waitstaff. The day we went for lunch, we had all of the following: chilled squash-melon soup with delicately fried pollack as the impeccable prologue to the meal; tuna tartare atop an avocado cream placed in the middle of a composition of alternating Ananas and Roma tomatoes with pepper coulis and black lime zest; whiting filet cooked to golden perfection and paired with a cheeky chanterelle risotto drizzled in a full-bodied white wine sauce and green oil; a rosy veal chop paired with crisp late summer broad beans and white beans in a red wine reduction; before a fromage blanc ice cream shaking up a delicate mint jelly along with strawberries, blueberries and slivered grapefruit. On the dinner menu, things get even fancier: foie gras terrine, pan-fried bass, roasted venison… // Pica Bidon

FEELING THIRSTY? Organic and even natural wines: a Hautes-Côtes-de-Nuit white by the Domaine de l’Arlot (€12 a glass), an Anjou red from Patrick Baudouin (€59 a bottle), an Alsatian white from Antoine Kreydenweiss (€69) or, to heat things up a bit, a Pouilly-Fuissé produced by Jules Desjourneys (€142). Not to mention the selection of sakes (€15-19 for 60 ml).

PRICE: Prix-fixe menus €45 (lunch) and €85 (dinner).