ChoCho, top chef Thomas Chisholm's (still) excellent restaurant

Since the show went on air, many of the Top Chef contestants have unveiled resolutely exciting restaurants in Paris. One of them is chef Thomas Chisholm, the standout candidate of a colorful season, who opened his first Paris establishment a couple of years ago, on the Strasbourg Saint-Denis side.

Named Chocho, this fabulous eatery offers a cuisine d'auteur raisonnée et de saison . As local gourmets know, Chocho has taken the place of Le Bel Ordinaire in this charming, high-ceilinged restaurant.

Two large tables d'hôtes allow you to enjoy lunch with your group of friends without worrying about space, while comfortable banquettes invite couples to enjoy a more confidential dinner. On the à la carte menu, creative small plates with multiple influences, particularly American, celebrate the chef's origins.

And always with the desire to place beautiful, sustainable produce from small, committed producers at the center of the plate , enhanced by exciting pairings, original condiments and unusual presentations. If our first visit to ChoCho won us over, our second visit, two years later, confirmed our initial impressions.

ChoCho is definitely one of the capital's most exciting restaurants, to be discovered through a 5-course menu (72€), a vegetarian menu (54€), or a trip through the à la carte menu to pick out something to get you going. And always, in every dish, a little creativekick that shouts out loud and clear how much Thomas Chisholm deserves rewards and recognition.

In detail, on our second visit, grilled white asparagus (18€) with a round Parmesan sauce, bottarga for saltiness and homemade kimchi; golden lamb sweetbreads (28€), barbecued green asparagus and olive cream; and a saucer dish, the tenth of its kind (12€), inspired by Atsushi Tanaka's camouflage dish: a graphic array of guacamole-like broccoli purée, smoked raw cream, caramelized onion soubise, pure tarragon chlorophyll that packs a punch, topped with tarragon oil powder and Kalamata olive powder - yes, all that.

If all these small plates are perfectly mastered, emphasizing vegetables, condiments, oils, sauces and ancestral preservation techniques (Thomas Chisholm takes great pleasure in transforming seasonal produce into syrups, vinegars and various lacto-fermentations ), the dish that struck us the most was without doubt the gnocchi of toasted bread, sage cream, poultry juice with rye miso and preserved condiments (14€), little marvels - and we weigh our words.

One of our finest tastings of the year.

• To be read
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• Somewhere, the gourmet marine restaurant of top chef Florian Barbarot
• Halo, top chef Victor Blanchet's excellent restaurant hidden behind a concept store

The desserts are flawless, with a shivering dessert of strawberry sorbet and fior di latte ice cream (12€) and an immensely light dessert of Tahitian vanilla, black lemon, pecans and arlettes (14€). We can't repeat ourselves enough: discover Thomas Chisholm's cuisine at ChoCho!