FL – New Paris Restaurant Attracting Excellent Reviews
There’s a new restaurant in Paris that has been drawing excellent reviews from French food critics. FL (how the French pronounce Eiffel) is run by rising chef Nicolas Valanchon. It’s located on the Left Bank’s 7th arrondissement on a small side street near the Champs de Mars and Eiffel Tower. Tasty and reasonably-priced FL is at 1 rue Augereau, just 2 minutes walk from the Eiffel Tower. . This small and inviting restaurant specializes in Valanchon’s home region of Picardie, home to excellent dishes that aren’t well known among the Paris foodies.
Valanchon has an enviable cooking resume! He grew up in Amiens, Normandy and worked as a sous-chef at the famous Westminster Hotel in Le Touquet, a luxury hotel and restaurant in this resort town of Normandy. He was a sous chef at the 3-star George V and then at Drouant. Nicolas moved to Australia for two years where he worked under the Tony Bilsan, the godfather of Australian cuisine.
Each menu is designed around the seasons of the year, selecting only the freshest ingredients. His specialty is dishes from Picardie, a lesser known region of France bordering Normandy. They include variations of the famous Ficelle Picard, crepes with ham and duxelle mushrooms. Valanchon’s delicate version uses a Mille Fille pastry, delicate sauce and is delicious. Other dishes are home made foie gras with poached beet roots, roasted chicken breasts with white asparagus and sautéed red onions, fish of the day with white Asparagus, sweet Onions, Lemon and Limoncello butter. For dessert we enjoyed an almond macaron on a chocolate base and a chocolate fondant with marinated orange strips.
The prices are reasonable. Starters range from € 9 to € 12 and main courses from € 17 to € 19.
We had an excellent meal and will be back soon. It’s starting to attract a loyal following of discerning Parisians; we recommend you try it before it becomes impossible to get a table.
FL restaurant
1 bis rue Augereau
75007 Paris
Tél. : 01 45 51 06 04