Vivant has changed hands over the years, but its dedication to great food and natural wines has remained. Today, however, diners and Parisian gourmands are happily losing their collective minds over the chef. Chef Pierre Touitou is a wunderkind. Young, to be sure, but this twenty-something has more talent that you can shake a spatula at; he was already garnering acclaim back at culinary school. Since then he’s worked at the laudable Plaza Athénée in Paris and Oxfordshire’s Michelin-starred Sir Charles Napier. And now he’s bringing his formidable skills to bear at Vivant.

The space is intimate in a charmingly Parisian way; a few tables, shelves of wine, a large sweeping marble counter. The playlist’s are becoming popular with the punters in an almost cult-like way to boot. There’s light flooding in and happy chatter week-round as diners tuck into little plates of raw sea bream, pasta with Sicilian-inspired pesto, cheese. The menu won’t you give you that much of a clue as to the details, only listing ingredients and sparsely at that, but it pays to trust at Vivant.

Same goes for the wine list. The sommelier, Clément Jeannin, is a man who knows his wines (and understands Touitou’s vision) so there’s a good chance he’ll introduce you to something new – and, most likely, natural.