L'Archestrate, 34 rue de Bourgogne, Paris 7

L’Archestrate is a holy name in the history of 20th century French gastronomy. Specifically, it is the name of the restaurant where the late Alain Sendrens first came to fame. It was located at the corner of the rue de Varenne and the rue de Bourgogne, in the space now occupied by Arpège.

A new restaurant with that name has now emerged (since late 2022) a few hundred meters up the rue de Bourgogne. It is in the small space that had been occupied by Savarin La Table, and the decor remains largely the same as before. Also as with the predecessor restaurant, you enter dining area through the kitchen.

The rest of the room at lunch appeared to be mostly French, fairly well-heeled, and perhaps at lunch from jobs in the area.

The carte at lunch looked very good:

Critical warning: although the carte clearly states that the lunch menu is your choice from each of entrée, plat, dessert listed, unless you specify at the beginning of the meal that you are taking the lunch menu, you will be given a more (overly) generous serving of the main course and will be charged for each course separately. I have never experienced anything like this before. We objected when we were presented with a bill that charged us separately for each course, and the restaurant did change it to charge us for two menus (see last photo), but it is best to avoid the problem in the first place.

The wine list is good with a mix of well-known producers and others that may not be as familiar but also are of quality. We chose an attractive red Saint-Aubin premier cru from Domaine Jean-Claude Bachelet:

The dishes were reflective of the fact that we are well into autumn now (on the calendar, and finally beginning to get that way weather-wise, too).

We both took the velouté of parsnips, mushrooms, chestnuts, roasted pumpkin seeds, and parmesan tuiles:

The was a wonderful dish with intense earthiness from its elements and good precision of flavors.

L took the sautéed girolles (substituting for the cèpes listed on the carte) with squash ravioli, gorgonzola, and bacon:

This, too, was very autumnal in its flavors, which again were intense and precise.

I took the pork chop with creamed corn and fried polenta:

This was a marvelous dish, again evoking the season, with the sweet, creamy corn mixing beautifully with the perfectly-done pork, and an additional intense element added by the juice on top. Every bite was pure pleasure.

For dessert, we both took the vacherin with blueberries and red currants and praliné ice cream. It was light, silky, and flavorful, making for an excellent ending:

The (adjusted) bill:

This was an outstanding lunch and I look forward to going back and experiencing more of the excellent cooking here. I encourage you to try it, too.

L’Archestrate

34 rue de Bourgogne, 75007 Paris

Tél: 09 50 58 42 91

Monday-Friday lunch and dinner

https://restaurant-archestrate.fr/

Métro: Assemblée Nationale, Invalides, Solférino, Varenne