Restaurant David Toutain
Hannah Brandler of Business Traveller began her 2022 dinner at David Toutain on salsify
camouflaged amongst twigs and paired with a bowl of peanut-dusted cream.1
Why go
David Toutain, a farmers' grandson from Normandy, started in Bernard Loiseau's kitchen and made his name at Alain Passard's Arpège and at Agapé Substance.2 He opened his own restaurant on rue Surcouf at the end of 2013, won a MICHELIN star in 2015 and a second in 2019.7 Meg Zimbeck of Paris by Mouth came back for a fifth lunch in 2022 and wrote: David Toutain is fulfilling his mentor Alain Passard's promise in a way that Arpège is now failing to do.
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Toutain serves only surprise menus. The house writes: The menus come alive with the seasons and each bears the name of a plant, one of the markers of the chef's cooking, along with acidity and bitterness
(Les Menus prennent vie au fil des saisons et portent le nom d'un végétal, un des marqueurs de la cuisine du chef, avec l'acidité et l'amertume
).5 The house told the MICHELIN Guide: Nature is our main source of inspiration.
It said it places its produce orders according to future bookings in order to minimise waste.
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Gault&Millau's critic ate there in June 2025 and found one of the most imaginative kitchens in Paris today.
4 The three hidden menus run to four, six or eight courses, with the €198 median providing an excellent approach.
The sweetbreads were incredibly melting and reminiscent of brains.
The critic's one complaint was the size of each bite: the pleasure, sometimes a little frustrating by the miniaturization of each mouthful.
4 Pierre Gagnaire, who first won three MICHELIN stars in 1993, named Toutain for the MICHELIN Guide in 2024: He inhabits his very own culinary world – to be explored at the earliest opportunity.
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Order this / avoid
The menus are set and shown only as the plates arrive, so these are dishes the kitchen has sent.
- On the menu: the opening bites. Gault&Millau, 2025, called them
coherent and astonishing starters: raspberry and oyster tube, beet and yellowtail ravioli, bear's garlic in tempura.
4 - On the menu: a cod medallion on three coulis. Gault&Millau, 2025:
perfectly prepared and cooked, of great delicacy, pearly, melting because candied.
4 - Drink: the wine list. The MICHELIN inspectors, 2025:
The terrific wine list features a number of reasonably priced bottles.
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What locals & experts say
- Hannah Brandler, Business Traveller, 2022:
Dining at David Toutain is an adventure into creative gastronomy which manages to feel luxurious without seeming pretentious.
1 - The MICHELIN inspectors, 2025:
The desserts by pastry chef Émilie Gérardi deserve a special mention.
2 Gault&Millau named Victoire Ollivier as the pastry chef in June 2025.4 - supertaster Mel, a food blogger, after an eight-course lunch in 2024:
To me, this was a 3 star meal for sure.
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Good to know
- Price: in September 2026 lunch ran to four menus at 108, 168, 198 and 258 euros, and dinner was the 258-euro menu only. Wine pairings cost 88 to 238 euros, and the house also pours a non-alcoholic pairing.5
- Days: lunch Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, dinner Monday to Friday, shut at weekends, as of June 2025.4
- Booking: call +33 1 45 50 11 10 and ask for the main room downstairs. Meg Zimbeck warned in 2022:
They've recently added a number of small tables in a cramped and airless room upstairs near the bathroom.
3 Give dietary restrictions when you book.5
Verdict
should-visit — Book David Toutain for a surprise menu built on plants, acidity and bitterness, from a cook Alain Passard trained. The 198-euro lunch is the way in, and every mouthful is small.