Café de l'Usine
In October 2024 Café de l'Usine served fish rillettes rolled in chard leaves and woken up with a subtly sharp lemon condiment.1
Why go
Alice Arnoux cooked at Noma, at La Marine and at Le Mermoz before she opened this bistro in the autumn of 2024.6 It sits in the courtyard off passage Piver, in the old canteen of the Spring Court sneaker factory.1 She told Au Coeur du CHR that October what she was after: I want to cook very simple food that is above all easy to read. I want it fresh every day, all the time
(J'ai envie de proposer une cuisine très simple et surtout, très lisible. Je veux que cela soit frais tous les jours, tout le temps
).5
Antoine Besse of Time Out gave it five stars that month for plates of reassuring rusticity but with the precision of a German machine tool
(des assiettes à la rassurante rusticité mais à la précision de machine-outil germanique
).1 Time Out then named it Best Bistro at its Food & Drink Awards 2025.2 Le Fooding took longer to come round, writing in February 2025: After a rather lackluster initial visit to Le Café de l'Usine, things have taken a turn.
3
In 2025 the menu changed every week, with one set menu at dinner and two choices at lunch drawn from it.64 Lindsey Tramuta of The Infatuation told readers in April 2025 which to choose: Lunch is a good deal for €25 but dinner, with five dishes for €45, is the better one, so book a table in the second-floor loft to dine beneath the skylights as the sun sets over Paris.
4
Order this / avoid
- Order: the veal, if it's on. Le Fooding, February 2025:
blushing veal fillet alongside a well-balanced potato purée with a roasted onion, exceptional homemade fermented mustard and a jus de viande so glossy you could practically see your own reflection in it.
3 - Avoid: the Swedish waffle with house whipped cream. Antoine Besse, Time Out, October 2024, found it
less convincing
(convainc moins
).1
Good to know
- Price: lunch cost 25 euros for two courses and 30 for three in February 2026, and the five-course dinner 55.7 Dinner had cost 45 euros in 2025.3
- When: in February 2026 it served dinner Tuesday to Saturday and lunch Wednesday to Saturday. Those hours were approximate and have moved since the 2024 opening, so check them when you book.75
- Booking: book online through cafedelusine.fr.4
- MICHELIN: in the selection from 2025, with no star or Bib Gourmand.6
Verdict
should-visit — Go for the five-plate dinner by a cook who came from Noma, and sit upstairs under the glass roof. Time Out crowned it the city's bistro of 2025, and Le Fooding warmed to it after a flat first meal. Dinner was 55 euros in February 2026.