Astair, the Parisian brasserie in the Passage des Panoramas

Three years ago, in the magnificent Passage des Panoramas, the brasserie Astair opened under the impetus of Jean Valfort, Charles Drouhaut and Jean-François Monfort. A "bistrot de passage" with such French charm - the decor is byarchitect Tristan Auer - that you decide to do more than just pass through, and take a seat on one of the red banquettes that run along the walls, taking you back to the heyday of Parisian brasseries.

For gourmets, the Astair menu offers a bevy of French gastronomic classics, which you can discover on the old-fashioned paper placemat. The wine list, meanwhile, showcases the best of France's terroirs, from auteur bottles to exceptional nectars.

At lunchtime on weekdays, Astair offers fairly affordable menus: count €15 for a main course, €20 for a starter/main course or main course/dessert, and €25 for a starter/main course/dessert - it's as simple as that. Among the Franchouillard-style starters are bone marrow, mayo eggs, Burgundy snails and duck foie gras.

As the season dictates, we set our sights on frogs' legs (22€ for 8), an essential dish in French cuisine which, I must say, delighted us. Dipped in a butter sauce, these fleshy legs are quickly devoured. We also opted for one of Astair's specialties - it says so right on the menu - theorganic perfect egg (14€) served with a pan-fried mushroom and forest emulsion; a way of offering the perfect egg, now a true classic of bistronomy, twisted here with a winter sauce .

• To be read
• Babel, hotel and table du monde in Belleville
• Bouche, a very attractive restaurant in the 11th arrondissement
• Da Rosa, the excellent Mediterranean restaurant and grocery store

Next up, the smoked beef tartare (18€), obviously prepared with a knife - the one and only way to do it, in our opinion - and with a generous portion of home fries on the side; and the plantureuse, shall we say, enormous veal chop (28€), cooked in a sauté pan and with forest sautéed potatoes on the side, a dish for one person that could well have satisfied two gourmands.

The dishes are so generously served that it was physically impossible for us to try any of the desserts on the menu. When it comes to desserts, Astair's line remains the same: classic, and that's just as well, since gourmets pass through the door of the brasserie to reminisce about the best of French cuisine. We have to admit that the Belle-Hélène pear spotted on an adjacent table caught our eye, but we were able to resist it!

What could be more French than borrowing the black-and-white flagstone floor of the Passage des Panoramas to feast on dishes from France's culinary heritage at Astair? We don't think so!