There are some openings that fly under the radar and yet deserve all the attention they get. Such is the case with La Baignoire, a bistronomic restaurant that opened discreetly last year in the Sentier district of Paris. At the crossroads of two lanes, a stone's throw from the church of Notre-Dame de Bonne Nouvelle and the small park opposite, stands this excellent table opened by Paul Ottavioli.
His training as a landscape architect has given him a desire to do things himself. If this was already the case with his first address, the Encore Là bar not far from La Baignoire, he's back at it with his restaurant, which he personally designed and whose decoration he imagined down to the smallest detail, like the 8,000-tile mosaic he created from scratch on the doorstep.
Named after the restaurant owned by the aforementioned proprietor's mother, La Baignoire welcomes gourmets in a delicately chic atmosphere, with its white-tablecloth tables, silverware laid out to perfection, candelabras lit in the evening, small bouquets of wild flowers and antique crockery with gold edging.
An intimate, refined atmosphere in a pocket-sized format on the first floor, and an even more discreet ambience in the basement, in the privatized dining room where a large table takes pride of place, seating up to 16 guests and offering two menus for the whole table (65€ or 85€). Also under the vaulted ceiling, the restaurant's wine cellar, featuring small-scale winemakers and natural wines that can be sipped with food and wine pairings.
Of course, what would a good restaurant be without a good chef? At La Baignoire, chef Cécile Lévy gracefully executes a French cuisine tinged with Mediterranean, Middle Eastern andEast Asian inspirations. After an international career, the chef made a name for herself by taking part in the Israeli equivalent of Top Chef, where she was spotted by Michelin-starred chef Assaf Granit. On her return to Paris, she became Executive Chef of Tekés.
On the strength of this experience, the chef now cooks beautiful, good and well-sourced food - right down to the brioche bread, homemade every morning - at La Baignoire. The no-frills menu, which changes twice a season, is straight to the point, with just two starters, two main courses and two desserts. At lunchtime, the starter/main course or main course/dessert menu costs €27, while the full menu costs €31 - it's hard to beat that. For dinner, you can opt for a tasting menu in three (65€), five (85€) or seven courses (105€).
While it is possible to share plates between guests - an exception that has become the norm in Parisian restaurants - in our experience, portions are designed to satisfy a single appetite, both in terms of their structure (recipes are full of little details that don't make sharing easy) and their size, which is tailor-made for one guest.
La Baignoire already has some classics you won't want to miss: white asparagus (18€), cashew cream, beurre blanc, wild garlic and black sesame; the stunning thinly sliced red tuna (14€), apricot, shifka aioli and lime; the just-rose ribeye (28€), accompanied by a zucchini flower garnished with labneh, caramelized onions and a wild strawberry jus ; and to round off this infinitely delicate lunch, the matcha dessert (10€), white chocolate, pine nut crumble, crunchy meringue and expressive lime gel.
A discreet address that nonetheless deserves every accolade.
Location
La Baignoire
7 Rue Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle
75002 Paris 2
Official website
labaignoirerestaurant.com
