Riviera Fuga, an Italian-Japanese restaurant floating on the Seine as beautiful as it is delicious

Barely open, the Riviera Fuga floating restaurant is already a firm fixture on the banks of the Seine, with its cuisine combining Italian and Japanese influences.

Riviera Fuga, the new floating restaurant from Pierre Doublet and Quentin Garreau de Labarre, aka the Fuga Family, already behind Laïa and Francette, offers a vacation atmosphere on the water's edge. Moored just a stone's throw from the Alexandre III Bridge, opposite the Grand Palais, the restaurant boasts a breathtaking view of the Seine and the monuments of Paris.

Here, the art of Mediterranean living is at its best. Decorated with great care in a 70s riviera spirit, the barge is the work of Belgian decorator Jean-Philippe Demeyer. Blue and yellow striped fabrics, a gigantic carpet custom-made for the premises, a majestic central bar and a sumptuous glass roof that bathes the restaurant in natural light: it's sure to make you feel at home.

Chef Daniel Ortiz Maldonado's menu impresses with its finesse and mastery. It has to be said that in Paris, restaurants on the banks of the Seine have a harsh reputation for existing solely for the pleasure of the eyes of tourists, who are potentially less discerning about quality and price on arrival.

This is no exception. For starters, prices could not be more affordable for the setting and the neighborhood - for lunch, €29 for a starter/main course or main course/dessert, €35 for a starter/main course/dessert; for dinner, €60 for a 7-course menu. Secondly, because the Brazilian chef's Italian-Japanese cuisine has nothing to do with banal fusion cuisine, a term that has been misused for the past fifteen years.

Having worked in the kitchens of William Ledeuil at Ze Kitchen Galerie and Greg Marchand at Le Frenchie, the chef has retained his iconic specialties and the way he divides his menu into antipasti, primi and secondi. From Japan, he draws techniques, flavors and ingredients with which he transcends his transalpine dishes.

Beef tartare cannoli (8€) is paired with grilled shitake and ume kosho mayonnaise; lean sashimi with tomato ponzu; heirloom tomato salad (11€) with dolce ricotta and rhubarb tosazu; brocoletti (12€) with yuzu kosho and puffed buckwheat.

In the glasses, the happy marriage continues with signature creations in Japanese hues, such as the Mi Amore cocktail (gin, vine peach liqueur, lemon juice, meloncello, prosecco; 16€) and the Matcha Gin Fizz cocktail (house yuzucello, gin, sudachi juice, sugar syrup, matcha tea, sparkling water; 15€). As for wines, the 300 or so references are purely French or Italian.

To accompany these clever beverages, there's nothing like sharing small plates to get things off to a good start, like thespecial Isigny n°2 oyster (8€ for two) with its ume vinaigrette. Otherwise, make way for primi and secondi, including the delicious agnolotti stuffed with squacquerone cheese (16€) topped with an orange sabayon and grated bottarga; cod (23€) and its leek-wasabi sabayon; or the beautiful poultry and its miso eggplant.

Before taking off like James Bond aboard the little boat Riviera Fuga offers for hire for a cruise on the Seine, we'll have a look at the desserts: a babasaké (11€), a delicate reworking of the traditional baba, with sudachi diplomat cream; and a light dessert (12€) with coffee praliné and whisky gel.

A pretty spot on the waves, a menu that makes you travel, Riviera Fuga has it all.

Riviera Fuga, an Italian-Japanese restaurant floating on the Seine as beautiful as it is delicious

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