Spring 2026 report
Plus most anticipated new restaurants
Welcome to the FOUND Paris Spring Report. Ahead: our favorite Paris restaurants, cultural finds, and getaways of the first few months of 2026 — plus our most anticipated restaurants for the season ahead.
Paid subscribers, keep your eyes open for links to Spring Reports from our other cities in this week’s newsletter.
RESTAURANTS • FOUND Favorites
Favorite restaurants we visited during winter/early spring ‘26:
→ LE CANARD SAUVAGE (10th arr, above), chef Jack Baker Bosco’s new spot on the Boulevard de Strasbourg for a rotating cast of game and natural wine, book
→ CYPSÈLE (4th arr), on Île Saint-Louis, a promising restaurant with the potential to become one of the city’s best modern French tables, book
→ MARNES BLEUS (19th arr), wine shop by day, oyster counter with small plates by night, everything speaks of land and terroir, walk-ins only or DM for parties of 6+
→ TARÁNTULA (11th arr), chef and Mexican native Emmanuel Peña shows it doesn’t have to be a small miracle to find good Mexican food in Paris, book
RESTAURANTS • Recent Notables
TRÂM 130 (11th arr) is run by Priscilla Trâm, a lawyer-turned-restaurateur who, for six years before opening in the summer of 2024, led a double life. “Lawyer by day, chef by night,” she told FOUND. “I wanted to be surrounded by the neighbors and fellow shopkeepers I love, and to contribute to the lively, creative fabric of this quartier.” With her set-up, where wafts of fish sauce, sugar, and fresh herbs fill the air around our cozy seats and the 15 or so tables with a bit more elbow room, mission accomplished.
Tucked away on a quiet back street in Menilmontant, behind a quaint, pale-green exterior, MIJO T is a slice of rural France in the 20th arrondissement. Host and owner Isabelle Bouillon opened the intimate restaurant in 2017 and makes time-honored cuisine with unexpected twists, served without pretense.
There are market streets, and then there’s Rue Daguerre. Something sets this street apart; maybe it’s how Agnès Varda captured its everyday rhythm, turning it into poetry in her film Daguerréotypes. Or maybe it’s because two of its storefronts belong to the same family: Chez Joy and OPLA (above). Both establishments turn out the kind of homemade Thai dishes that can quietly fix your day.
BARS • FOUND Favorites
→ ABSTRACT BISTRO (2nd arr, above), sits discreetly on a small street in the Sentier, but doesn’t behave like a neighborhood bar. It’s a carefully imagined cocktail space where all the spirits are distilled in-house. Opened by members of the Drink More Art collective alongside the team behind Bar Nouveau, it feels like a translation of abstract art into liquid form.
→ LE BAR (6th arr), across from Cyril Lignac’s row of restaurants on rue du Dragon in the 6th, this unassuming spot seats no more than 20 people. It’s the kind of place you only notice once you already know it’s there. The cocktails are striking and precise, as in the Chicharito, tequila and mezcal layered with wasabi, cucumber, ginger beer, and lime. It’s bright, savory, and unforgettable.
GOODS & SERVICES • Recent Finds
Between Rue Saint Honoré and Rue De L’Opéra sits CHÂTEAU VOLTAIRE, a refined 31-room hotel offering luxury hospitality without the frills. The basement houses a spa (above), which is booked by reservation only. Encased in white stone walls, the spa feels like an ancient cistern, separate from the hustle and bustle of the city just above. The one-hour reservation time slots ensure total privacy, allowing one to unwind in the small pool, the sauna, or on the heated marble.
Some things don’t need reinventing. That’s the case with the feuilleté au jambon (ham puff) at MAISON VÉROT: white ham, Emmental, béchamel, and a shattering puff pastry. Created by Pierre Vérot and unchanged since, it’s the kind of thing you eat standing up in the kitchen or serve with a green salad (and pretend it’s a meal).
At LA MAISON DU MOCHI, there are the classics: matcha, black sesame, and yuzu, as well as creative combinations like pistachio, rose, almond, and orange blossom. Each one is shaped by hand, dusted in starch like a powdered jewel, and wrapped like a small gift. There’s no artificial anything, no gluten, dairy, or fats, just that authentically tender, springy texture.
ROUTINES • Goods & Services
Select answers to the FOUND Routine query, Which Paris store or service do you always recommend?
→ HANAKO MURAKAMI, artist, researcher, interpreter (above): I often go to Opéra for my Japanese groceries. Kioko is the classic stop. When I want something more refined, I go to Nishikidôri, a beautiful spice shop where you can find 40 different kinds of salt. There’s also iRASSHAi, near the Bourse du Commerce. And once I’m done with groceries, I usually stop by Fromagerie Hisada, a cheese shop run by a Japanese cheesemaker. Her mozzarella wrapped in a sakura leaf is incredible — it smells exactly like cherry blossoms. She’s a magician with alcohol-washed cheeses too: maroilles washed with sake, goat cheese infused with whisky… she creates things you don’t forget.
→ SIMON THISSE, CEO & AD, La Serviette Paris: Drôle de Monsieur, rue de Poitou in the 3rd, is a French menswear brand whose boutique, like their collections, has that certain je ne sais quoi of French chic and retro flair. It’s a kind of French elegance that mixes materials (wood paneling, tapestries, marble) and styles (from Gatsby to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). One of a kind.
→ CHARLOTTE CHENEVIER, co-founder, The Fat Broccoli: Françoise Paris, an online shop offering vintage watches of excellent quality at very competitive prices. I found my Van Cleef & Arpels watch there, and I haven’t taken it off for a year.
GETAWAYS • FOUND Favorites
Not far from the Sorbonne, near the Jardin des Plantes, a new hotel has emerged, quietly turning up the volume on light and space in the oldest neighborhood in Paris. The 5th arrondissement may not have been looking for a hotel this airy, but last summer, LE JARDIN DE VERRE BY LOCKE arrived, and somehow, it feels right at home.
After years spent rooted in Lyon’s culinary scene, Guillaume Montjuré and his wife Chrystel Barnier chose to return to Barnier’s native Vercors, settling into her uncle’s former home and opening the restaurant PALÉGRIÉ. The setting is quietly beautiful, a charming house with a small garden, a field just across the way. At the heart of it all is Guillaume’s open kitchen, dedicated to wood-fire cooking.
In the winsomely pretty little village of Sils Maria in the magnificent Engadin Valley of Switzerland, CHESA MARCHETTA (above) is the latest project of Artfarm, the hospitality company founded in 2014 by Iwan and Manuela Wirth (yes, that Wirth, of global mega-gallery Hauser + Wirth). We were immediately delighted by the Wirth’s signature: art everywhere in the hotel, including the intriguing Louise Bourgeois statue in the hallway near the lifts upstairs. We instantly loved our room as well, an attractive tour de force of traditional Alpine hospitality.
NINE NINES • Distilled Lists of Paris’s Best
RESTAURANTS • Coming Attractions
Restaurants, most anticipated
The new Paris restaurants we’re most looking forward to trying.
Print (20th arr) is a new ephemeral, six-floor, multi-purpose space in Ménilmontant. The restaurant is led by Alexis Bijaoui, and there’s also a club (house, electro-pop), art exhibitions, a pizzeria, a couple of bars with draft beer and crafty classic cocktails, plus a rooftop with some of the best views in east Paris.