Le Petit Pamphlet no longer;now LeCarré des Vosges

[Poppy Quince]

I called the number I had for Le Petit Pamphlet to make a reservation the other night and the man on the other end noted it, said he'd see us that evening, hung up the phone. I didn't pay attention to how he'd answered the phone.

Going out after the thunderstorm I couldn't recall the exact address, but knew it was rue Saint Gilles, only 2 blocks long. After wandering up and down a couple of times we stopped to ask at another restaurant, called Le Carré des Vosges, which turns out to have taken over the space and the phone numberof Le Petit Pamphlet, with little to no fanfare, as far as I can tell.

Luckily it was quite good, with chef Marc Ouvray in the kitchen and his wife running the front of the house. We had risotto with watercress coulis and asparagus, piquillos stuffed with chevre accompanied by jambon de pata negra wrapped around a small herb salad, and three kinds of seafood tartare with a light wasabi cream sauce for our first courses. These were followed by fricasée de volailles with morilles and magret de canard with honey and spices, both good but not quite as interesting as the firsts. We had dessert but can't recall what. A bottle of Minervois, several bottles of water, and a bill around 200 Euros for four.

[John Talbott]

Poppy sent me the coordinates that she thought might be helpful:

15 rue St Gilles, 75003; tel: 01 42 71 22 21; email: lecarredesvosges@yahoo.fr

[John Talbott]

Today's Les Echos sheds a bit more light in an article by Jean Louis Galesne - Marc Ouvray is 30 years old and worked previously for Eric Briffard at the Plaza Athénée – it has a 21 formula, 27 menu and a la carte is about 45 € and is closed Sundays.

[John Talbott]

This is the first review of it I've seen: Emmanuel Rubin, in Figaroscope two hearts.