This restaurant used to be the Brasserie Baumann (the inventor of seafood choucroute!), before becoming the Pavillon Baltard. Closed for around ten years, it was given a new lease of life by Laurent Fréchet (Pirouette, Zébulon, etc.) and Vincent Sitz (La Villa Corse) who asked designer Sonia Rogalski to revamp the entire place with a more modern look. Mission accomplished, and how! A spacious dining room with high ceilings and a kitchen set up right in the room facing the entrance. The owners also played a good hand by choosing Ewout Vranckx, a young Belgian chef who trained under Jean-François Rouquette at Pur’, to run the kitchen.
Filled with ideas, he gives free rein to his genuine passion for vegetables and graphic plating style. With all of these strong qualities, this new, trendy location hasn’t lost its head when it comes to prices: an affordable special at €22 and prix-fixe menu at €25 for lunch, and prix-fixe menu at €36 or €45 (4 courses) for dinner. So we had every reason to appreciate a vegetarian emulsion of artichoke and warm vegetables with fresh herbs, Saint-Jacques scallops with chestnut confit, and a whisky baba with orange cream and carrot granita.
