L'Amic, the new friends’ bistro that’s making the 18th arrondissement buzz.

In the Jules Joffrin district, a nouvelle table is turning heads. Named L’Amic (“the friend” in Occitan), this bistrot newly opened embodies the spirit of a restaurant run by friends, where cooking, music and conviviality mingle. At the heart of the project, a gang of five thirty-somethings: Ivan Koutchoumov, Louis Tarrisse (ex-Loupiotes, he also runs the Hydropathe cocktail bar), Adrien Marie in the dining room and behind the cocktails, Pierre Berthier (ex-Vivant) in the cellar, and chef Gabriel Urgese in the kitchen.

With its bistrot-style cuisine blending French tradition and Italian influences, L’Amic embodies a dialogue between Ivan’s path and the culinary identity of Gabriel Urgese, a Milan native. Having trained at several houses in Italy and enriched by a stint with producers across France and Italy, the chef offers a seasonal cuisine built around terroir products and ingredients at their peak.

For lunch, the menu shifts daily, driven by ultra‑affordable value formulas: €16 for the day’s dish, €19 for the starter/main or main/dessert, €22 for the starter/main/dessert. In the evening, the menu revolves around signature dishes: beetroot and celeriac vegetarian tartare, pommade egg with guanciale, cauliflower velouté with smoked haddock, sausage‑purée, Milanese vegetarian risotto vegetarian. Pair it with a cocktail or a glass of natural wine!

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In the dining area and at the bar, Adrien Marie and sommelier Pierre Berthier take charge of quenching guests’ thirst. If the former crafts classic cocktails classiques by the book (Negroni, Margarita, Espresso Martini, Moscow Mule, from €10), the latter, also a winemaker in Alsace, has curated around fifty of his own references.

Calm and bright at lunchtime, L'Amic becomes cozier and audiophile in the evening, with music taking pride of place. And on Sundays, the spirit of sharing is fully expressed around a grand dish to share, renewed each week!