Les Funambules

Back in the countryside after a stint at Christopher Coutanceau’s place (La Rochelle) and at the Château Saint-Martin (Vence), Guillaume Besson opened up his gastro pub amongst the climbing roses of the Orangerie neighborhood. In a space with Japanese prints and teak tables, the young chef alchemizes high-born ingredients (vegetables from Marthe Kehern, cul-noir pork from Villé…) on his incredible carte blanche menus (€44-54). The night we went: Breton lobster pampered by a gourmet nectarine and tomato salad; line-caught yellow pollack embraced by a delicious pepper purée and vegetables cooked over embers; Dombes young duck breast with beetroot confit; before an atomic parsley ice cream topped with a Chartreuse Verte jelly. At lunch, the market menu will send shivers down your spine – flame-charred mackerel and a smoked corn mousse; beef with squash beignets; freshly baked chocolate-smoked tea cream puffs… To wash it all down, there are carefully chosen wines by his accomplice Jean-Baptiste Becker: an Alsace from Mathieu Deiss (€7 a glass), a Sylvanner from Jossmeyer (€32 a bottle), or a Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes from Humbert (€84). Set menu €20-24 and €38 (lunch), €44 and €55 (dinner, food and wine pairings €20-26), kids €12. // R.deC.