Le Vendémiaire, a chic French brasserie a stone's throw from Les Invalides in the 7th arrondissement

Vendémiaire is a chic brasserie just a stone's throw from the Invalides. Here, chef Santiago Guerrero twists the classics to offer gourmet plates that demonstrate fine technique while highlighting French terroir, while pastry chef Asia Goncalves unveils refined pastries for dessert!

A typically French restaurant in a chic part of the capital: that's the challenge facing Vendémiaire, the French brasserie that opened its hushed doors a stone's throw from Les Invalides, under the impetus of Vendémiaire Nadd-Mitterrand. This former lawyer, real estate developer and now restaurateur chose to set up his first restaurant in Chez les Anges, the former restaurant of Jacques Lacipière.

Vendémiaire Nadd-Mitterrand, with little knowledge of the business, enlisted the help of the Black Balloon Agency and his partner Laëtitia Benedetti to renovate and decorate this elegant brasserie in a retro yet contemporary style, and a chef with a proven track record in the past, Santiago Guerrero.

Having worked at the Pré Catelan and the Prince de Galles, this Swiss-Colombian chef got his first chef's job at Biondi, the excellent Argentinean restaurant a stone's throw from the Cirque d'Hiver, before helping to open theMaison Mère hotel and then joining the Terrass' Hotel kitchen. For Vendémiaire, he has teamed up with pastry chef Asia Goncalves, who joins from Lenôtre.

From breakfast to late dinner, Vendémiaire celebrates French gastronomy with a typical brasserie menu that celebrates French terroir. Emphasis is placed on sourcing seasonal produce from carefully selected producers, and on catering to all diets.

Contrary to what you might expect from this kind of address in this kind of neighborhood, Vendémiaire relies on a fairly short menu, synonymous with quality. Here, simple titles reveal refined dishes that are as beautiful as they are good. The menu features recipes that will appeal to a wide range of tastes. Santiago Guerrero can always be counted on to spice up the sins mignons, and that's how the Brasserie Vendémiaire manages to bring together Parisians of today and yesteryear.

A good example isoeuf mayo, a classic French bistro dish that's no joke. Now we're rediscovering it in a new light: organic eggs topped with a creamy parsley mayonnaise spiced up with a hint of cider vinegar, decorated with leaf-shaped spinach chips.

For starters, there's also a Vittello tonnato, a specialty of Piedmont: a plate full of freshness with a French veal quasi cooked at low temperature and cut into thin strips so that the meat melts in the mouth. For the sauce, the tuna is replaced by mackerel, to keep with the French product, and incorporated into the mayonnaise with burnt orange supremes and fried capers to spice things up.

A succession of dishes whose beautiful presentation is not just window dressing. Our favorite, however, is a deconstructed version of the mussel and French fries combo. In a small casserole dish, we discover mussels marinière covered with an airy potato espuma and topped with parsley powder. An original reinterpretation that won't leave us wanting more.

Next, fillet of sea bass with almond pesto and topped with nori potato chips demonstrates that even the simplest dishes, in principle, are approached with passionate reflection. It's also possible to choose a garnish, including an excellent homemade potato mousseline or roasted romanesco cabbage. One of the restaurant's signature dishes, "le champignon dans tous ses états" (mushrooms in all their states), is particularly appealing, as it is a forest recipe that reminds us just how gourmet vegetarians can be.

Here, mushrooms are used in five different ways: a cream of button mushroom soup, three homemade ravioli stuffed with mascarpone and button mushroom, topped with shimeji mushroom pickles for a tangy touch, and pieces of roasted Portobello, also found in chips. It's a great way to juggle textures and savor the technique that the chef brings to this dish.

Finally, for dessert, we give way to pastry chef Asia Goncalves. Only in her early twenties at the time of our visit, she is already showing promising talent, with meticulous, delicate creations that testify to her rigor. We discovered her gluten-free apple-buckwheat dome, composed of an apple compote covering a buckwheat panacotta with an almond and Dulce chocolate crunch. Next to this is a low-sugar buckwheat ganache, counterbalanced by a green apple confit and topped with pieces of fresh apple and puffed buckwheat.

For citrus fans, Asia Goncalves unveils her Paris-Menton, a finger composed of sweet pastry, lemon almond cookie, marmalade, cream, crumble and lemon gel with Italian meringue. She'll even think of incorporating lemon balm, a tangy-tasting shoot. For these two sweet creations, Asia Goncalves cleverly encourages guests to make these desserts their own, with a presentation that allows them to adapt the flavors as they wish.

Good, French food to please Parisian palates and those visiting the capital. And the same tricolore tradition is evident in the glasses, with a selection of French and even Parisian beers, French spirits in the cocktails, and wines selected by master cellarman Thierry Guemas, with the option of pairing food and good wine, and even more original, food and beer. And there's plenty of room for toasting in the 12-person private lounge or on the 60-seat terrace.

This test was conducted as part of a professional invitation. If your experience differs from ours, please let us know.