Septime

Septime cooks a surprise menu that changes by the day and leans hard on vegetables, and it holds one MICHELIN Star and a MICHELIN Green Star in the 2026 guide.1 Bertrand Grebaut, who opened it on rue de Charonne in 2011 and cooked it for fifteen years, died on 4 July 2026 at forty-four.2

Why go

Grebaut learned vegetables at Arpege, where he started as an intern under Alain Passard and left as a chef de partie, then followed Passard's old maitre d' Laurent Lapaire to Agape and took the kitchen there. Gault&Millau gave him its Young Talent France trophy in 2009.3 He and Theophile Pourriat named the room after the restaurant in the 1966 Louis de Funes film Le Grand Restaurant, and Grebaut called it "a kind of irreverent homage (...) a certain departure from the codes of French classicism."3 The MICHELIN inspector: "This is cooking that gets straight to the point, unfussy, complex, with character, and always flawlessly seasoned."1 The Green Star is for the buying. The house says it buys its market-garden produce mainly in the Ile-de-France, cooks the whole vegetable to cut waste, and sends its bio-waste to a vermicomposting centre.1 Pourriat said afterwards that he had lost his best friend, his partner and his brother: "J'ai perdu mon meilleur ami, mon associe, mon frere."2

Order this / avoid

You do not order. The menu is a surprise, seven courses at dinner and five at lunch, and it changes every three weeks at the outside.7
The sweetbreads, if they are on. Time Out's critic called grilled veal sweetbreads with harissa and a couscous broth the climax of the meal.4
Take the wine pairing. It runs artisanal sake, natural wine from Arbois, rose from Champagne and Slovenian white. "It may inflate the bill, but it undoubtedly elevates the experience."4
The grilled brioche, if dessert lands there. Brown-butter ice cream over a grilled brioche base, a squiggle of caramel, and black truffle shaved over the top like parmesan.5
If you did not get a booking, The Infatuation says people do get in by asking at the door in the week of their visit, because last-minute cancellations happen.5

What locals & experts say

The MICHELIN inspector, in the 2026 France selection: this iconic spot in eastern Paris, founded by the late Bertrand Grebaut and his partner Theophile Pourriat, embodies the very best of a generation of Parisian haunts that have both style and substance.1
Time Out Paris scored it five out of five in September 2024 and put the decor down to nothing: The decor, with its thick patinated wooden tables, industrial-style light fittings, and polished concrete floor, remains unchanged since its opening in 2011, and has not aged a day.4
The Infatuation's Lindsey Tramuta on what the room did to its arrondissement: After all, they managed to get loyal Left Bankers to cross the river to eat here.5
And her complaint, which is the honest half: it's typically full of English-speaking chef groupies and bucket-list food tourists, and is notoriously challenging to reserve.5
Le Fooding on a five-course lunch: flamboyant roasted ricotta wrapped in a fig leaf with fig-infused oil, paired with a sourdough za'atar cracker; amazing smoked Albacore tuna from Saint-Jean-de-Luz marinated with seaweed, paired with tangy berries (cherries, jostaberries and blackberries) and sour cream.6

Good to know

Book it three weeks ahead. The window opens online at the same hour every morning and The Infatuation says the tables go "in milliseconds."1 5
Prices when Time Out read them in September 2024: 85 euros for the five-course lunch with a 60-euro pairing, 135 for the seven-course dinner with a 75-euro pairing.4
Four rooms came out of this one: Clamato next door, Septime La Cave round the corner, the Perche hamlet D'Une ile in 2018 and the patisserie Tapisserie in 2021.2
Who cooks the menu now is unpublished. Neither obituary names a successor and the guide's write-up does not either.
Hygiene: I have not read a French inspection record for this room, so I have nothing to report either way.

Verdict

must-visit — Book it three weeks out and take the wine pairing. The kitchen decides what you eat, the sweetbreads with harissa and couscous broth are what Time Out came away talking about, and the pairing is worth the second bill. I have found nothing published about who cooks the menu now.