L'Auberge du 15

Rising from the ashes of a former "Irish bistro"in the far flung 13th and headed by Nicolas Castelet former chef at (yes) Ralph's is an honest new table offering homestyle cooked dishes designed to be shared around the table with friends.  Despite most recently working for the sinking gastronomic ship in the Left Bank Yankee boutique prized by French yupsters and tourist bloggers,  Castelet cut his teeth with Passard at Arpege, Lesquer at Ledoyen and in Robuchon's establishments, and has been honing his skills professionally since he was 15. Starters such as watercress soup, served in a tureen generous enough for four or five people, was served with fresh cream and roasted pistachios and green asparagus and morel mushrooms with white wine were followed by a superb farm raised organic chicken from the Aubrac region, accompanied by Paris' best aligot. Raspberry sponge cake finished it all off.

So shall I predict? Food Intelligence, Fooding, three stars in the Figaroscope, L'Express, expat bloggers, etc etc, and ze next big thing. So go now before it's impossible to snag a table.

L'Auberge du 15