The best restaurants in Paris 17

1. Maison Rostang | A two-star gastronomic institution

Founded by chef Michel Rostang, this institution of excellence has been a fixture on the Paris gastronomic scene for 45 years. In a luxurious setting, a succession of private salons, art collections and tableware, presented on immaculate tablecloths, follow in the footsteps of the great French tradition. Today, under the leadership of chef Nicolas Beaumann, the double Michelin-starred restaurant, which has retained all its former prestige, honors the great forgotten classics of gastronomy. Trained at this emblematic table, the chef, who later joined Yannick Alléno's brigade for the opening of Le Meurice -  one of the most beautiful palaces in Paris - returned to his roots at Maison Rostang before becoming the proud owner with his partner, restaurateur Stéphane Manigold.

His technical cuisine, with its meticulous pairings, makes the most of only the finest products, which he selects according to season. These include scallops flambéed with Armagnac, onion confit and beet jus, red mullet cooked au plat, crunchy fennel spiced with lemon and bone jus, and crispy sweetbreads with artichokes, olive and onion condiment and yellow wine jus. For dessert, Ethiopian coffee with praline, coffee ice cream, nutmeg cream and bourbon whisky reduction. As for the cellar, with over 1,500 references, it's full of treasures and grands crus.

Maison Rostang
20 rue Rennequin, 75017 Paris
maisonrostang.com

2. La Scène Thélème | Michelin-starred French-Japanese fusion cuisine

Close to Place de l'Étoile, in the heart of the famous Théâtre de la Scène Thélème, this 17-star Paris restaurant favors minimalist decor to leave room for the plate. At the helm is Japanese chef Yoshitaka Takayanagi, who cut his teeth working with top French chefs including Guy Martin, Yannick Alléno and Alain Ducasse, as well as his predecessor at the Scène Thélème, Yoshitaka Takayanagi. His cuisine, which blends French and Japanese gastronomy, is above all seasonal and respectful of nature, with a focus on good produce from small-scale producers.

The menu, offered in 2 to 7 times at lunchtime and in 5 to 7 times at dinner, sketches out new combinations and discoveries every day, like this chawanmushi (Japanese flan with steamed beaten egg), olive oil pearls and shimeji mushrooms, a gyoza pastry tartlet with carrot purée, Japanese cabbage, Fuji apple and white sesame sauce, or a delicious yellowtail with crispy skin, kabu (Japanese turnip) palate and sweet broth with Chinese cabbage, ginger and shiitake mushrooms. Expert sommelier Félix Manenti, ex-Peninsula Paris, is on hand to provide the perfect food and wine pairing.

La Scène Thélème
18 rue Troyon, 75017 Paris
lascenetheleme.fr

3. Vive, Maison Mer | An iodized table with taste

Opened last year, Stéphanie and David Le Quellec's 17th arrondissement restaurant, dedicated entirely to seafood, is the successor to the Rech institution established on avenue des Ternes since 1925. Designed by Agence Costa, the warm decor is inspired by a rocky seascape, from which the Patagonian granite countertop seems to have emerged. Here, everything is in the detail, right down to the knives by artist Victoire Fontaine, their handles adorned with authentic fishing tackle. An ode to sharing, chef David Le Quellec's cuisine sublimates seafood, shellfish and the freshest fish in all its forms: raw, marinated, matured, grilled, pan-fried, and always with the fine, salty, sparkling seasonings that only he knows the secret of.

As a starter, tarama is creamy and generous, followed by raw red tuna with mint-coriander pistou and mature yellowtail melting with fresh seaweed. The signature dish is a quarter of golden octopus in a harissa broth, before finishing with an ultra-indulgent dessert: a still-burning XXL casserole cookie with pecans and vanilla ice cream. Nearly 300 wine references and a few sakes round out this flawless meal. The plus? Vive, Maison Mer has a fish maturing cabinet, a rarity for a restaurant in Paris, enabling it to make this its specialty.

Vive, Maison Mer
62 avenue des Ternes, 75017 Paris
vive-restaurant.com

4. Fanfan | A gastronomic journey between France and Asia

Near Place de l'Étoile, this modern gourmet restaurant, bathed in natural light from a pleasant glass roof, revisits French cuisine through the prism of Japanese and Thai cultures. A Franco-Asian fusion cuisine from young chef Alexis Bonnard, inspired by his extensive travels in Asia. Renewed daily, the lunch and dinner tasting menus focus on original combinations of flavors, as precise as they are unexpected, with an emphasis on seasonality, the use of excellent local produce and a special focus on plants.

Examples of dishes? Pâté en croûte with duck and pork, pistachio, vegetable pickles, onion confit and mesclun ; a Tom Yam -style salmon steak (spicy, lemony broth), topped with as many intriguing ingredients - black curry powder, shiitake, pak choï, wakame, combawa and coriander - or a Norman pig breast, salted butter purée, onion tempura, frisée, black garlic jus and grape/shallot/mustard seed condiment. To extend the discovery, the sommelier creates atypical food and beverage pairings with a selection of Asian wines, top-of-the-range sakes and even Japanese whiskies.

Fanfan
18 rue Bayen, 75017 Paris
fanfanlarome.com

5. Coretta | Inventive bistronomy

Following the success of her first restaurant, Neva Cuisine, Mexican chef Beatriz Gonzalez decided ten years ago to open a second restaurant in the Clichy-Batignolles district, near the Martin-Luther-King park, with her husband Matthieu Marcant. In this neobistro, with its woody, contemporary harmonies, the chef, who trained at the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon and with great chefs including Pierre Orsi, draws inspiration from traditional French cuisine, which she twists with subtle borrowings from Latin America and her family roots. Her dishes are inventive and refined: melting beet carpaccio and Voatsiperifery pepper cream, beet and pepper sorbet, followed by her signature French sweetbread "crousti-fondant", tomatoes, smoked marrow and eggplants, and for dessert, cinnamon brioche, salted butter caramel and Papantla vanilla ice cream.

Coretta
151 bis, rue Cardinet, 75017 Paris
restaurantcoretta.com