Sauvage

As soon as you enter this well-presented cave-cum-restaurant on the Rue du Cherche-Midi, you get an inkling you’re going to eat well. There’s something about all those interesting wine bottles stacked on the walls, the friendly intimacy of the main room (just 15 tables) and the small kitchen nestled at the back that immediately gives a good, homey impression. Sauvage’s relatively small menu comprises a number of appealing dishes, each containing a trio of key flavours like clams with lemon and cider, hake with beetroot and pear, foie gras with rhubarb and celery, and scallops with mélilot (a sweet yellow clover) and brioche. All the plates pack a splendid punch, especially the perfectly creamy foie gras, which is elevated by its excellent seasoning, and the tangy scallops, expertly cooked using a blowtorch, doused in clover-infused butter and served with the sweet, Speculoos-infused brioche. To accompany the mains, our waiter picked out a bottle of La Sorga, a natural white wine from the Hérault, which made for a lush, earthy, buttery complement to pretty much everything on the table.

TRANSLATION: HUW OLIVER