Bambou

At the heart of the Sentier district, a few minutes' walk from the Grands Boulevards and the Grévin Museum, the restaurant occupies a 500m2 site previously home to dressmaking workshops. But the space is anything but overwhelming and anonymous: it is made up of a succession of intimate rooms, each with a distinct yet equally refined décor. The guiding thread is the Asia of the colonial era, into which we are transported by old photographs, giant fans, bird cages, rattan chairs, velvet meridians, Chinese lanterns, etc.

Special mention goes to the cabinet of curiosities bathed in a soft half-light; the billiard room and its easy chairs; and the smoking room, which recreates the ambiance of a 19th-century opium den. The food is not to be sniffed at either, with a team of serious professionals at the helm, revisiting Thai cuisine French-style, or vice versa: roasted scallops, mushrooms and grilled sesame oil; clams with green curry, Thai basil and kaffir lime; Pad Thaï with shrimp, tofu and lime; and, for dessert, sticky rice with mango and coconut milk… Quite the voyage!