La Traboule, a pocket bistronomic restaurant full of good ideas

La Traboule restaurant takes its name, obviously, from a traboule, the Lyonnais term for a narrow passage through the courtyards of buildings, but also from its pocket format, which allows 22 covers for lunch and dinner, no more, no less. Hence the importance of booking in advance, or, if you're unsuccessful, turning to the establishment's little brother, Comptoir de la Traboule, a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower.

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New Year's Eve menu 2025 at La Traboule
145€/person, 195€ with wine and food pairings

Welcome glass of champagne

La Traboule amuse-bouche

Mi-cuit of foie gras, smoked eel

Cabbage stuffed with scallops
Roasted sea urchin emulsion

Turbot pavé, cime di rappa and racines d'antan
Brown juice with hazelnut butter

Back of venison with black pepper essence
Mille-feuilles of truffled cardoons

Mignardise chocolate

Lychee and rose entremets
Lychee sorbet

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This sought-after restaurant in the Miromesnil district has everything to please, from its small terrace, which opens its doors in fine weather, to its open kitchen, where the brigade works tirelessly, and its attractive prices - and we mean attractive for this corner of Paris, close to the Champs-Elysées, and above all for this quality.

Recently appointed head chef, John Figueroa (former second-in-command at Substance, who also worked at the Michelin-starred Mavrommatis) humbly announces: while at lunchtime, the cuisine is bistronomic and changes daily, so as never to tire the neighborhood's workers, in the evening, the menu moves towards a more gastronomic and even more creative cuisine.

And yet, during our visit, there were plenty of surprises and good ideas on the plate, even at lunchtime! With lunch menus available at €35 starter/main course or main course/dessert and €45 starter/main course/dessert, we enjoyed the wonderful melting gnocchi and oyster mushrooms under a saffron sabayon, and blue crab and butternut ravioli (+€6) under a powerfully bitter coffee emulsion.

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Then there's cod, spring onion, broccoli and gray shrimp sauce - a real feat of skill in the use of sauces and condiments, which add a rocky touch to each dish - and sweetbreads (+7€), which already existed in the days of former chef Fransesco Fezza, and whose recipe has been kept as it is, zested with combawa.

A nice quenelle of black sesame ice cream to finish, turbinated on the spot, and we're off on new culinary adventures... With a promise to return to test the Traboule after dark!