Where the Chefs Eat: Jackson Boxer's favourite restaurants in Paris (that only the locals know about)

When I first met Jackson Boxer, I was expecting a rock and roll gastronomic character, a sort of looming, wild and booming figure. I imagined him to be a man openly talking of the sobriety he found while still cooking, and of how he manages to juggle the lofty heights of Brunswick House, Orasay, Cowley Manor, Henri and his Selfridges café, all at once. And yet, I was met with a highly articulate, gentle soul who may be a heavyweight on the British food scene but who is nothing if not mild-mannered and utterly lovely in real life.

Jackson is, in his own words, “staunchly a Londoner, born and bred” but he has spent an enormous amount of time in Paris. As a young chef learning his way, he took endless day trips over on the Eurostar, “back when you could get return tickets for about 15 euros. I’d get the 6am train, be there in time for a 9am pastry. I’d then grab an early lunch, spend the afternoon in a wine bar, have an early dinner and be on the 9pm train home again. I always say that London is where I learnt to cook but Paris is where I learnt to eat.”

The Parisian dining scene has had a profound influence on his style of cooking and the unrivalled attention to detail for which is well known. And so, when Experimental Group (with whom he embarked upon a restaurant at Oxfordshire's Cowley Manor) asked him to get into the kitchen of Henri at the Henrietta Hotel in Covent Garden, it seemed the perfect collaboration. “I knew the hotel from when Ollie Dabbous was there, before he opened Hide. Henri was a natural progression but also quite a thrilling evolution from Cowley Manor. It was nice to pay an homage to the Experimental Group and their Parisian roots, where they had opened their first cocktail bar 15 years ago, and particularly as someone who remembers their London bar when it opened a decade or so ago. It was impossibly fun and chic and elegant, but also felt very contemporary, which is kind of how I think of Paris. It’s a city that manages to synthesise a coherent understanding of its past without losing its appetite for creativity.”

Jackson describes Paris as “probably my very favourite city in the world in which to eat” and, though he never formally trained there, its influence on him continues to run deep. “I’ve spent a lot of time in Paris. Back when I was visiting monthly, there was an incredible coterie of chefs moving to Paris because it was cheap, and they wanted to make the most of the incredible produce there. As a city, it has a very clear-sighted refusal to allow its large commercial spaces to be rebuilt in the way London has, where many spaces have been quickly demolished and re-fabricated. Paris manages to stay concurrent with its history while also presenting real innovation and creativity. I do think London would be better if we fostered the same spirit of enterprise as Paris, which retains small characterful spaces that allow small business to operate. I’m a champion of London and I would never leave but I do think that’s one thing Paris does very, very well.” And, of course, when we discuss the time he spent in Paris most recently in his research for Henri, it comes as no surprise that it didn’t take much to convince him to get over there. “When The Experimental Group offered me the opportunity to get behind Henri, it seemed like an amazing way to reacquaint myself with probably my favourite city in the world to go out and eat in. It was really wonderful to go and rediscover the energy of Paris.”

So, as we embark on the 2024 Paris Olympics, Jackson shares with us five of his favourite restaurants in Paris, where his Parisian friends love to eat themselves. “When people go to Paris, they often want know where the best classic restaurant or bistro is, but those are endlessly listed and I want to mention the places where my friends who live in Paris regularly go to eat. I’m not denigrating those places. But I think to go to Paris and only explore the classics is to go to the city and miss a lot of what I think makes it really unique, and to miss so much of its incredibly fertile dining scene.”

Maison

“I always suggest Maison by chef Sota Atsumi first, even though it’s not always that easy to get a table. It’s in an old wine warehouse and it really hones in on his understanding of French technique while also reflecting his Tokyo background. It’s very idiosyncratic in terms of its flavour profile. He was at Clown Bar [before opening Maison], which was massive in Paris, and he’d do things like calves brains in a dashi broth with a spring onion condiment; it was like nothing I’d ever eaten before. Anyway, he left there to open Maison and this is his master work. It’s an absurdly beautiful space and the food is remarkable but there is something incredibly unusual about what Sota is doing. He is a Tokyo born chef who moved to Paris and cooked French food, and there is an inherent rusticity to it that is disarming and beautiful and moving.”

Who comes here?

“Those who know of Sota’s amazing food, those who loved Clown Bar and those who want this sort of incredibly reverent, very humble and slightly rustic expression of dining culture.”

Best table in the restaurant

“I would definitely sit at the counter because you can directly engage with the chefs. They’re so happy and they clearly enjoy themselves so much. You can sit there and watch each item of food being respectfully made and given to you. It would be impossible to imagine this place in most other major capitals in the world. The attention to detail is ruthless and relentless but there’s none of the stuffiness or self- regard you can find with some destination, fine dining restaurants.”

Best time to go

“Lunch is available from Thursdays to Sundays and dinner from Wednesdays to Saturdays so that’s when you need to try and get in but, it isn’t always easy to get a table, so gab what you can.”

Dish to order

“Order the tasting menu. One of the reasons I always think people should go is because Maison could only really operate in Paris, especially at this price point. It’s a tasting menu with only about 40 seats and 10 chefs in the kitchen so it’s a staffing format we expect from three Michelin star restaurants, but this doesn’t have the three-star pricing structure.”

Le Rigmarole

“This is another restaurant that is also very idiosyncratic and it’s not far from Maison, just east of the centre of Paris. It’s also very small – maybe only 20 seats or so – and it is run by Jessica [Yang] and Robert [Compagnon] who are partners. Robert spent a lot of time working in Japan as a young man, learning the romance of the culinary traditions in Japanese food and culture. It’s a mixture of classical French flavours, some Italian pasta notes and then Japanese and South Asian influences mixed with Jessica and Robert’s North American heritage. It’s an extraordinary synthesis of their personal self-expression and love for each other and their craft.”

Who comes here?

“Le Rigmarole is very family friendly, so you’ll find all ages in here, as well as Jessica and Robert’s own children, sometimes. And, as someone with children, I love how the restaurant is very much framed around their other life as parents. For me, as a lifelong slave to this job that I love, there is something amazing about being in a city that allows people to cook this incredible food in this expressive and rewarding way, while also raising children and having real lives. It is amazing and I genuinely think the food is better for it.”

Best table in the restaurant

“Sit at the counter and then wait around to have ice cream at their amazing gelateria folderol afterwards.”

Best time to go

“Wednesday, Thursday or Friday lunch for the tasting menu.”

Dish to order

“Most things come off a little yakitori grill and it’s one of those places you sit down at a table or the counter and you’re best just to ask them to give you what they think is good that day. There’s a sort of ballet in how they execute the food with Robert manning the grill and they serve up a really interesting blend of Japanese yakitori techniques and artful Italianate pastas. There is a restless and life-enhancing deliciousness pervading everything you eat.”

Cuisine

“Cuisine is relatively new and, again, it’s very charming. Cuisine is an Izakaya style restaurant that is run by two chefs, Benoit Simon, who is French, and Takao Inazawa, who is Japanese. This is a really fun expression of hearty French food but, again, with a lot of profound Japanese influences. You’ll get a Vol-au-vent stuffed with bone marrow or a delicious veal blanquette with shiitake mushrooms, so it’s really fun food and another expression of incredibly distinctive and wildly unusual food. I was very charmed by it on my last visit. It’s a very confident expression of a well realised vision and, again, it could only really exist in Paris because of its distinct idiosyncrasies.”

Who comes here?

“Cuisine is located in the 9th, so you’ll find a lot of local residents but word has spread fast across about this restaurant the city.”

Best table in the restaurant

“All the tables in the charmingly designed small room are great.”

Best time to go

“This is a weekday or Friday night spot as it is closed on Saturdays and Sundays.”

Dish to order

“Don't miss the pigeon kareage.”

Cheval D’or

“Cheval D’or is further out east in the city, and it’s run by four friends – Crislaine Brito Medina, Nadim Smair, Luis Andrade, Hanz Gueco who opened it. In this instance, they are cooking a very interesting Parisian Sichuanese cuisine but within a framework of central Asian Sichuan flavours, which I’ve never encountered in Paris before. Paris is not, in my experience, a city with a high tolerance for heat so seeing this thrown into the Parisian culinary landscape is a very exciting development. This places is creative, emboldened and innovative, while being an intimate expression of these four friends and their vision, which I thought was absolutely charming.”

Who comes here?

“It's located in a relatively quiet residential neighbourhood so it’s cosy and very popular amongst locals and those wanting a change from traditional French food.”

Best table in the restaurant

“Try and get a seat against one of the large windows.”

Best time to go

“Cheval D’or is open for dinner only from Monday to Friday.”

Dish to order

“The food is a delicious – go for the roasted duck if you can – but it is a playful reimagining of French bistro staples through a Chinese prism.”

Quinsou

“Quinsou is by Antonin Bonet who, in the greatest tradition of modern bistronomy, follows on from helming the stately and starched Greenhouse in Mayfair with this much more intimate stage for his considerable talent and ability. This is probably the closest I’ve got to traditional classic French dining without any overt international influences. Antonin has returned to Paris to cook in this much more intimate way, and for me, this is redolent of the trend that happened maybe 20 or 30 years ago where chefs from two and three star backgrounds left these enormously demanding restaurants with regimented brigades in the kitchen to start a small bistro. He has brought an incredible technical ability into a much smaller and more intimate environment with one or two people in the kitchen but with the same level of attention to detail and the same care for his craft.”

Who comes here?

“Antonin and the various accolades received by the restaurant make it well known and popular so you’ll get diners from around the world booking in.”

Best table in the restaurant

“The window tables are great for looking out onto things, as the restaurant isn’t far from the Jardin de Luxemburg so it’s a busy, bustling neighbourhood.”

Best time to go

“Lunch is only available on Fridays and Saturdays but that’s a lovely time to go if you can.”

Dish to order

“They do tasting menus featuring some incredible dishes, such as a pollack in champagne sauce with a broccoli puree.”

Henri is now open at 15 Henrietta Street, London, WC2.