Lovely terrace restaurant set up permanently in the gardens of the Musée Carnavalet

Fabula is dead, replaced by Joli, the now-permanent terrace restaurant at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. An interlude in a magnificent historic and bucolic setting, but lacking in personality on the plate, all at a truly excessive price.

After four years of delighting customers as soon as the sun came out, it's time to say goodbye to Fabula, the Musée Carnavalet'stemporary terrace restaurant, and welcome Joli, the new permanent restaurant at the Musée de l'Histoire de Paris, open not just in summer, but all year round.

Dine Tuesday to Saturday, 7pm to 1am, in the fabulous courtyard with its enchanting French garden. Studio AMV has created a decor that weaves together contemporary art de vivre and the museum's historic setting: monumental murals and a mirrored ceiling on the outside, raw materials and designer furniture on the inside.

Chef Issac Romero is in charge of the savory side of the menu, blending French classics with flavors from around the world, particularly Japan. Vegetables come in the form ofcaramelized eggplant with dark beer and miso (€12), or a salad of white peaches marinated in bay leaves, black radish pickles and kale chips (€14).

The creations are summery and colorful, but the quantities on the plates, given the price, really leave us wondering - the peach salad, for example, is made up of seven thin wedges of the aforementioned fruit.

The Joli restaurant also offers fish from sustainable fisheries (sea bream crudo with sweet and sour raspberry sauce; razor clams with parsley marinated in sake; sea bass with lavender and herb butter), as well as French meats .

Here again, the plates are disappointing: the filet of duckling with orange and annatto seeds (26€) arrives overcooked, while the pork belly simmered at low temperature (22€) is surprisingly unbalanced. The only thing that makes you want to go back is the sauce, which isn't very glazed but is very fragrant (star anise, cinnamon, ginger, pepper, dark beer).

All the more so as the slab of beef seems to stand alone on its large white plate, with side dishes to be ordered in parallel.

There was a choice of roasted pommes grenailles with Provençal herbs and a honey deglaze (6€), which turned out to be really tasty and melt-in-the-mouth, and a bowl of Camargue rice (6€) topped with a green sauce made with spinach and pine nuts that was sorely lacking in sapidity.

For the sweet score, pastry chef Paloma Laguette revisits French classics. These include a chocolate mousse enriched with red miso and garnished with caramelized puffed rice (14€), and a red fruit nage marinated in shiso and lime juice (16€).

At the bar, mixologist Clément Brousset has created a menu of plant-based cocktails and mocktails, with an emphasis on French spirits. Here, for example, we sip a Pink Summer with surprisingly regressive flavors (vodka, rhubarb oleo saccharum, rhubarb essential oil syrup, verjuice and beet powder; €14).

With its subdued lighting and chic yet relaxed atmosphere, Joli is a terrace restaurant whose main asset is its name. The place is certainly pretty, but the enchanting setting doesn't justify the prices.

This test was conducted as part of a professional invitation. If your experience differs from ours, please let us know.