The Paris Hit List, Fall 2021 Edition: Café Compagnon, Ama Siam, Mokoloco, and More

There are restaurant trends that flourish and fade naturally, and then there are beloved traditions that simply require a little resurrecting. That’s how to interpret the success of Bouillon République, the new little sister to Bouillon Pigalle which opened in 2018. As a format, the bouillon predated the explosion of the Parisian bistro in the 19th century and was known largely for its spacious dining room, hearty, simple and very inexpensive dishes, and rapid service for working-class diners. By the early 1900s, however, tastes leaned more upscale, and the bouillon fizzled out.

With bistronomy swinging the dining scene towards a more modern direction over the last 10 years, it was only a matter of time before young restaurateurs saw the potential to revive more traditional spaces—including the bouillon. After the concept got a reboot in Pigalle, a second, even larger location followed this year, just steps from the Place de la République. Spanning two floors and a capacity of nearly 450 in what was formerly Chez Jenny, an old school Alsatian institution, Bouillon République upholds a tried-and-true formula: plush banquettes and wood bistro chairs, original Art Nouveau wood panelling and marquetry designed by Charles Spindler, a multigenerational crowd dining elbow-to-elbow, feel-good classics such as oeufs mayonnaise, veal blanquette, boeuf bourguignon, and a to-die-for baba au rhum served non-stop 7/7, noon to midnight.

Everything you might want to drink, from soft drinks to wine, is available by the glass, bottle, magnum or even jeroboam, and the vibe is lively and legitimately fun. But the sweetest part is the bill that clocks in, on average, at under 30 euros for two, including wine.

No reservations. More info here, or call +33 1 42 59 69 31.

As a global capital, Paris has always been spoiled for choice when it comes to non-French restaurants — Chinese, Southeast Asian, North and West African, Italian, Greek, and even Balkan cuisines are the marker and measure of the city’s dining landscape. Rarely has that included Indian food, which has long been relegated to the neighborhood nicknamed Little India in the shadow of the Gare du Nord. Until recently. Now chef Manoj Sharma has filled in the gap with Jugaad, a cliché-free contemporary homage to his favorite recipes remixed with French produce, located a few blocks from the Opéra Garnier.

The vibrant colors and fabrics of Sharma’s soaring space are as welcome a change to Parisian dining as the brightness of his cooking. The meal might kick off with spiced lamb tartare with vegetables, a black lentil dal worth telling your friends about, or malai makhani marinated broccoli; continue with the white fish du moment in a mustard marinade, cooked and served in a banana leaf and a side of rice (or one of four different types of homemade naan); and finish with the cardamom-saffron churros with a spiced chocolate sauce. If you’re drinking, don’t miss the Maharaja Tonic, a house-made spice and curry twist on the classic G&T.

Reservations available online here.

One of the pioneers of the bistronomy movement in Paris, chef Stéphane Jégo has turned this erstwhile Basque rugby pub from the 1930s into a world-renowned destination bistro. The communal-style dining, distressed red leather banquettes, tiled floors and sliver of a kitchen of the original space have been lovingly preserved but that’s where the devotion to the past ends: Jégo’s cooking is fresh and modern, high in the technicity of a Michelin-starred kitchen but delivered with the boisterous energy of a tightly-packed old-timey bistro.

Dishes vary throughout the seasons but might include roasted pigeon with thyme and garlic; belly strips of ikejime tuna with marinated melon; pork belly and lentils, and the non-optional rice pudding which puts all others, everywhere else in the world, to shame.

Make reservations online here, or call +33 1 47 05 86 89.

In a neighborhood packed to the brim with neobistros, there’s something particularly special about sommelier Daniela Lavadenz’s interpretation of the format. She kept a few touches from the space’s previous iteration as a neighborhood dive bar, including the formica bar, the ’50s-era mirrors, and the speckled floor, added some vintage wood furnishings and forest green leather banquettes, and dreamed up a superb natural wine list (that’s in addition to the 400 bottles she’s aging in the cellar at any given time) which is reason enough to book a table.

But after that sublime glass of Olivier Horiot Champagne (pro tip: order the Métisse cuvée)  or a bottle of the house IPA (courtesy of Paris-area brewer Deck & Donohue; co-owner Thomas Deck is a partner in the restaurant), you’re going to want to linger over chef Christopher Edwards’ menu that runs heavy on vegetables and escapes easy classification:  there’s the fig pesto, manchego, fennel and marinated sardine tartine, the grilled broccoli with salsa macha, squash seeds, and lentils on a sope base, or the ricotta gnocchi served with binchotan grilled eggplant (not to worry, there’s line-caught fish and a meat dish for those who can’t go without). It’s all a perfect example of modern French dining today.

Make reservations online here, or call +33 6 49 75 27 90.

At first glance, you might file Café Compagnon under “quintessential Parisian café”. It’s got rattan chairs and marble bistro tables in serried ranks on the outdoor terrace; heated lamps for dining al fresco throughout the colder months; and all-day service. But that would be limiting to the role that its owner, Charles Compagnon, has played in the modernization of the Parisian brasserie and the democratization of quality ingredients, sourced directly from farmers, at accessible prices.

As a longtime champion of bistronomy, Compagnon has struck the perfect balance in each of his establishments — Le Richer, Le 52, and now his namesake spot — with a mix of contemporary, seasonal dishes (at opening, the roasted and spiced cauliflower topped with crunchy hazelnuts and set atop a smooth salsa verde and the roasted squash in green curry with sorrel and coconut milk spelt risotto were particular standouts), predominantly biodynamic and organic wines, specialty coffee he roasts himself at his countryside home each week, and sharply designed, Scandi-leaning interiors dreamed up by his wife Gesa Hansen.

Like any good bistro, Compagnon has turned his latest venture (also his largest) into the spot you want to keep returning to, to see how the menu evolves throughout the month, to try his latest single origin coffee, and do everything from hold casual late afternoon chats with friends to host a special event with family in the dining room with its own private entrance.

50 percent of tables reserved for walk-ins. Make reservations online here, or call +33 9 77 09 62 24.

As a refreshing alternative to the overhyped and overwrought current of chef-driven restaurants, Linda Granebring’s cooking is easy to embrace. In the Swedish-born chef’s rustic neobistro a block from the Canal Saint-Martin, there’s none of the pretension and excessive reverence for highly technical cooking and fine dining bona fides that have come to define many of the city’s most talked-about restaurant.

Instead, it’s big on simplicity, a harmony of ingredients and flavors, low-intervention wines that pair beautifully with them, and a certain undefinable extra something that makes Åke the place you want to make your local. It’s where grilled red kuri squash with garlic and rosemary sits atop a bed of lentils, raisins and tahini and comes served on artisanal ceramic dishware; where regulars come back for Granebring’s signature gnocchis done up with whatever’s fresh; and where her seasonal pavlova has been known to inspire special trips across town.  

Make reservations online here, or call +33 9 75 41 07 65.

Omar and Moko, as the regulars know them, have modestly shaped the contemporary bistro palate with Mokonuts, their beloved café-bakery a few blocks over that’s lightly influenced by their Lebanese and Japanese backgrounds, respectively. For their second spot, set up in an old laundromat, the couple brings a high-level sandwich game to draw in the lunch crowd: tuna tartare, tahini, arugula and lemon-soy dressing on Japanese milk bread for the fish lovers, a menchi katsu from organic short rib beef from the French Basque country served on homemade buns with pickles, wilted castelfranco and anchovy dressing, for the carnivores, or a grilled oyster mushroom bun with melted tomme cheese, pesto, and sweet garlic for the vegetarians.

In September, they inaugurated their second chef-in-residence featuring the Filipina chef Erica Paredes who oversees the lunch and brunch menu and cooks a multi-course Filipino tasting menu in the evening (reservations required).

More info here. Call +33 9 51 05 80 88 for reservations.

Thomas Lehoux has been a driving force behind the city’s specialty coffee revolution for the last ten years. But he’s also the son of farmers and is rooted to a deep appreciation for the land and all that it produces. So when he and his partner Farah Laacher set out to launch a new project, he knew it would incorporate far more than excellent roasts.

Billed as a Parisian delicatessen (complete with retro floor tiles and exposed brick and classic bistro tables and chairs), Chanceux is the place for several moments of the day. You go to shop for fresh, local produce, cheese, charcuterie and thoughtfully sourced pantry products; throw back some expertly pulled espresso shots; drop by for lunch (sandwiches such as green-olive tapenade, pistachio mortadella, burrata and arugula; or white beans, cucumber, pickled onion, fresh za’atar-coated goat cheese and roasted hazelnuts on fresh baguette); hot dishes of the day like a cèpe mushroom risotto or sausages with seasonal roasted vegetables); or linger for apéritif, where Lehoux cracks open very rare bottles of Burgundy and Médoc wines and serves by the glass. It’s a neighborhood favorite that has more than a little something for everyone.

57 Rue Saint-Maur, no reservations, no phone.

Since the mid 1980s, Belleville locals have known Lao Siam as a traditional Thai food institution. Now, they’re getting to know the restaurant’s new next-door neighbor, Ama Siam, a more modern canteen opened by the sons of Lao Siam’s owners. Diners sit around distressed wood bistro tables on multicolored plastic stools and dig into the Chinese, Laotian, Vietnamese and Thai recipes the sons grew up eating at home and aren’t necessarily fixtures of most Parisian restaurant menus.

That might include miang kham, a kind of “one-bite” salad wrap using betel leaves and filled with shredded coconut, fresh ginger, peanuts and chile pepper; a cucumber salad with fermented beans, garlic and ginger; or prik pao: caramelized chicken with cashews, yellow pepper, onions and chilli peppers. You can order Laotian beer to go with one of everything you’ll invariably want to order, or do as the owners would and pair your meal with one of their bottles of natural-minded wine — you won’t regret it.

No reservations. More info here or at +33 9 51 66 60 79.

Appearing on a season of French Top Chef may have been Mory Sacko’s first big introduction to the world, but the young chef had been earning attention from the city’s top chefs long before the cameras were rolling. The former sous chef to Thierry Marx, the Michelin-starred chef of the Mandarin Oriental, 29-year-old Sacko opened his first restaurant last September, earning a Michelin star of his own within only a few weeks for his delicate and inventive cooking drawn from a unique trifecta of inspirations: his French-West African origins alongside a profound affection for Japanese produce; culinary techniques; and the legend of Yasuke, an African warrior who became a samurai in 16th century Japan (which ultimately inspired the name of his restaurant).

Don’t be mistaken, this spot in the 14th, done up in all white, light wood, and bamboo, shouldn’t summon the word fusion. Instead, Sacko demonstrates a mastery of harmonious flavor pairings, whether that’s Iberico bacon served with miso, or dark chocolate with wasabi. There’s a more gastronomic twist on the chef’s favorite dish, the chicken yassa, and sole fish seasoned with togarashi shichimi, cooked in a banana leaf and served alongside attiéké, a popular side dish from the Ivory Coast made from fermented cassava pulp (and resembles couscous).  Sacko’s cooking is not only personal but beautiful in presentation, imagination, and technique– and Paris is lucky to have him.

Book reservations online here, or call +33 1 43 20 21 39.