This Papi is such a chulo! Designed by Neri&Hu (the agency behind the Capo restaurant and the Waterhouse hotel in Shanghai), Etienne Ryckeboer’s new place (who also owns Bulot Bulot) feels like a trendy fort – stripped bare walls, brick columns, light wooden furniture… It’s a beautiful playground for the Japanese chef Akira Sugiura (ex-Combal.Zero in Piedmont, Italy), who puts his spin on Italian classics (in addition to a few carefully crafted irregularities) through a concise dough-focused menu: fresh homemade pasta and pizzas made with yeast from the magical baker Thierry Delabre. For us, the other day at lunch: after some sashiminiature (bluefin tuna prepared using the ikejime method) doused in yuzu kosho (a yuzu and chili paste) and criss-crossed with sea beans, we had a delightful, perfectly bronzed, medium-sized Margherita pizza, then a blissful noodle hybrid, sort of a cross between udon and cacio e pepe, brightened up by a runny egg yolk! All that before an almond panna cotta with fresh figs and a lemon-basil coulis. Another option is the lunch prix-fixe menu served during the week – eg.: butternut squash velouté with hazelnut oil and sage; spaghettoni with mentaiko, nori and watercress; caramel tiramisu with a cacao crumble. // A.A.
FEELING THIRSTY? Naturalist wines: a macerated Alsatian white from Vincent Stoeffler (€7.50 a glass), a Côtes-du-Rhône red from Rémi Pouizin (€35 a bottle), a Tuscan Sangiovese from Fuori Mondo (€87)…
PRICE: Set menus €21-27 (weekday lunch). Pizzas €11-15, pasta €15-22, desserts €9-10.
