From Paella to Purely Paris

International Herald Tribune

PARIS - The welcome is warm, the rice delicious, the Spanish fare a great change of pace. For the last year, the owners Pierre Ruffin and Alberto Herraiz have offered Parisians a totally authentic Spanish experience, complete with giant platters of varied paella, a medley of excellent tapas - tiny plates of starters - good desserts and excellent wines. All this comes at a very decent price, with warm and friendly service and a pleasant setting across from the charming park of Saint Julien le Pauvre Church on Paris's Left Bank.

This pocket-size restaurant is bathed in warm shades of ocher, and for the good tapas starters, the menu may include the famed Spanish pata negra ham; filling red peppers stuffed with shredded bull's tail (poivrons farcis à la queue de toro); delicious, spinach-rich tortillas, and tender baby squid bathed in their ink (chipirons à l'encre). There are some six different versions of paella, all of which bear no resemblance to the watered-down versions we are most familiar with today. The rice - all Spanish rice from the Ebro delta, where the grains are larger and more strongly flavored - is the main element in all the paella dishes, with flavorings that vary from a jet-black version made with squid ink to a Valencia version seasoned with chicken, rabbit, vegetables and snails.

The paella is served in the pan in which it is cooked, and diners eat right out of the pan, which is perched on a stand at the table.

Desserts vary from a soothing sheep's milk yogurt to irresistible hot melted chocolate in a beautiful white bowl, served with state-of-the-art churros, a kind of fritter. The wine list offers some true discoveries and bargains, including the Gran Corona Torres from the Penedes area of Catalonia, a mix of cabernet and the aromatic tempranillo grape.

On two recent visits the restaurant was embarrassingly empty, and the background music varies from cheery marching tunes to abrasive Spanish sounds.

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Old-Fashioned Bistro

French critics like to call Au Moulin a Vent-Chez Henri the L'Ami Louis of the Left Bank. Although there is no succulent roasted lamb or chicken to compare with what one finds at L'Ami Louis, Chez Henri does the job when you are looking for a busy, old-fashioned, purely Parisian bistro. This is the place to go with a crowd when you're in the mood for red meat and Beaujolais.

With a barely legible menu in purple ink, a jovial patron and sausages hanging from the ceiling, this is one rare spot to find authentic boeuf a la ficelle, top-quality fillet of beef that is tied with a string, then cooked quickly in boiling water. The boiling technique seals the outside of the meat, making for a beef that's perfectly rare and without a trace of fat. (Don't be turned off by the unappetizing gray appearance of the meat - the inside will be gloriously red and appetizing.) Another star is the entrecôte, the rib eye, with shallots, earthy pan-seared beef that is literally pasted with finely minced shallots so they cook to a fragrant, golden crispness. Almost everything here comes with cubes of sautéed potatoes, perhaps the best version of that bistro classic I have ever tasted.

Other dishes worth trying - if they're on the menu that day - include a refreshing salad of mushrooms and green beans, another of perfectly cooked, thinly sliced artichoke bottoms and a classic sole meuniere. The magret de canard, fatted duck breast, can be dry and tough. The Beaujolais Fleurie goes down very easily, and the bread is dry and dreadful.

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Fogon Saint-Julien, 10 Rue Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, Paris 5; tel: 01-43-54-31-33. Closed Sunday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Credit card: Visa. 120-franc ($21.50) lunch menu (including wine and coffee), 160-franc menu. A la carte, 200 francs, including service and wine.

Au Moulin a Vent-Chez Henri, 20 Rue des Fosses Saint-Bernard, Paris 5; tel: 01-43-54-99-37. Closed Sunday, Monday, holidays and August. Credit card: Visa, MasterCard. A la carte, 280 to 320 francs ($50 to $57).

Around the Tables of Australia

The following is a list of the best restaurants visited during a monthlong tour, with notes on some favorite dishes.

PERTH

The Loose Box Restaurant, 6825 Great Eastern Highway, Mundaring. Tel: (61-8) 9295-1787.

If Michelin gave stars in Australia, Alain Fabregues's The Loose Box would have three. It is the epitome of French perfection and attention to detail. I loved the colorful goat cheese, truffle, mushroom, eggplant, tomato and capsicum terrine for its brilliant flavors and welcoming texture.

Fraser's, Fraser Avenue, King's Park, West Perth. Tel: (8) 9481-7100.

Chris Taylor of the welcoming Fraser's, in the center of a lovely park, offers honest fare. Such dishes as his char-grilled dhufish fillet with lemon, extra virgin olive oil and parsley show how the chef wisely allows perfectly chosen ingredients to speak for themselves.

ADELAIDE

Universal Wine Bar, 285 Rundle St., Adelaide. Tel: (8) 8232-5000; fax: (8) 8232-5757; e-mail: universal@ portal.net.au

A fine, casual wine bar for sampling the nation's best wines. Try anything the waiter suggests, or, if they are on the list that day, go for one of those big Rhone-style reds, such as the powerful RBJ Theologicum mourvedre grenache or Charles Melton's Nine Popes, starting with a lovely light Lenswood sauvignon blanc.

Charlick's Feed Store, Ebenezer Place, East End, Adelaide. Tel: (8) 8223-7566; fax: (8) 8223-7065.

This new, casual dining spot is owned by Maggie and Colin Beer, modern pioneers of the Australian food world. Try the smoked tommy ruffs (sardine-size fish) with green olive and pickled lemon dressing, and sample alongside it a glass of the refreshing white Chapel Hill McLaren Vale verdelho, made from the Portuguese verdelho grape with overtones of honeysuckle and tropical fruits.

The Grange, Hilton International, Victoria Square, Adelaide. Tel: (8) 8217-2000.

If you have time for only one meal in Australia, head for the Grange to sample Malaysian-born Chinese chef Cheong Liew's shark's-fin pouch in venison consommé, spiced with tarragon, a dish that is filled with bravery and brilliance, or his red roasted barramundi with green chilies, coriander, snow-pea shoots and calamari shavings, a dish with such genius you won't want to finish it, for all you'll have left is the memory.

Petaluma Bridgewater Mill, Mount Barker Road, Bridgewater. Tel: (8) 8339-3422.

This trendy spot just outside Adelaide is run by the Petaluma winery and showcases its wines. Try the Croser champagne, as well the fried salt-and-pepper quail with lime and ginger relish, or the roasted duck breast with bok choy, kumquats and cinnamon glaze.

SYDNEY

Cicada, 29 Challis Ave., Potts Point, Sydney. Tel: (61-2) 9358-1255.

Peter Doyle has reached the pinnacle of modern Australian cooking. His food is seamless, unconventional, balanced and sensible; I fell in love with his perfect jewel box of a package: avocado, crab, mint and coriander, a starter that was like a soothing bath for the palate.

Tetsuya's, 729 Darling St., Rozelle, Sydney. Tel: (2) 9555-1017.

Tetsuya Wakuda is a leader of Australia's fine fusion cuisine, merging the best of Japanese philosophy and classical French technique. In a most unassuming setting, plan on sampling his signature confit of ocean trout with ocean-trout roe, braised red capsicum, leeks, konbu seaweed, capers and parsley oil. Think texture, color, flavor, essence.

Bistro Moncur, the Woollahra Hotel, 116 Queen St., Woollahra, Sydney. Tel: (2) 9363-2782.

Damien Pignolet offers great Australian-style French bistro classics in an embracing, warm setting in one of Sydney's most chic neighborhoods. Try the vegetable couscous.

MG Garage. 490 Crown St., Surry Hills, New South Wales. Tel: (2) 9383-9383.

The new trendy spot, with the Greek-born chef Janni Kyritsis, is actually in an MG car showroom. Specialties include guinea fowl baked in clay with pancetta, mushrooms and barley pilaf, as well as many dishes with a fine, Middle Eastern touch.

BRISBANE

Two Small Rooms, 517 Milton Road, Toowong, Brisbane. Tel: (61-7) 3371-5251.

One of the best bets in Brisbane. This warm and charming spot run by Michael Conrad and the chef David Pugh offers lovely, simple fare. Try their outstanding mud-crab omelette with stir-fried vegetables and spicy prawn sauce.

This is one place where I was able to get a simple roasted rack of lamb without the trimmings that camouflage the delicate flavor. Their Mandalong lambs are slaughtered at 9 months: They are weaned at 3 months and fattened on grain for better texture and flavor.

E'cco, 100 Boundary St., Brisbane. Tel: (7) 3831-8344.

Philip Johnson offers no-nonsense food in a lovely setting. He uses all the clichés in the book, but his creations manage to taste original and appealing.

Try the Moreton Bay bugs, a type of shellfish, with pine nuts and aioli; roast chicken with couscous, yogurt, artichokes and asparagus, or sand crabs with chilies and lemon oil. Save room for the Venetian espresso cake with coconut ice cream and shavings of fresh coconut.

Pier Nine Oyster Bar & Seafood Grill, Eagle Street Pier, 1 Eagle St., Brisbane. Tel: (7) 3229-2194.

This is a beautiful waterside setting for great oysters and such specials as king prawns with garlic hollandaise or Victoria black-lip mussels with ginger, chili, sweet curry leaves and lime juice.

MELBOURNE

Flower Drum, 17 Market Lane, Melbourne. Tel: (61-3) 9662-3655.

For Chinese food like you have never had before, depend on the owner Gilbert Lau to wow you with such specialties as tender baby abalone the size of an oyster, bathed in vinegar, ginger and soy. The dish was a gastronomic revelation.

Richmond Hill Café & Larder, 48-50 Bridge Road, Richmond. Tel: (3) 9421-2808; fax: (3) 9421-2818.

Stephanie Alexander, one of Australia's top restaurateurs and food personalities, has opened this casual café with an exquisite cheese room, great wines and a modern menu that includes pastas, such traditional fare as boeuf à la mode and cheese plates with fruits, nuts and breads. Sunday nights are reserved for a variety of functions, such as cabaret nights and wine dinners.

Will Paris Embrace This U.K. Invasion?

PARIS - A diner at my table offered her unsolicited response to the abrasive, deafening, dinner-time noise and clatter that filled the gigantic new Left Bank brasserie, Alcazar: ''If I come back, it will be just the two of us, my husband and I. We have been married for 50 years, so if we can't talk to one another for two hours, its O.K.''

The French have been invaded by the British, and only time will tell if Parisians will embrace it. Sir Terence Conran of design fame has bravely and boldly expanded his London dining empire to Paris with his bright, airy, smart and bustling 200-seat brasserie Alcazar. All red, white, black and modern, this brilliantly designed spot is just the sort of injection Conran and others think Paris needs. (Others might argue that the restaurant is little more than a continued internationalization and dumbing down of cuisine, with a Euro-Asian-fusion menu that could be served anywhere in the world.)

But Conran is not out to lose. He has chosen Guillaume Lutard (formerly of Taillevent) to man the stoves of the glassed-in kitchen that looks out into the bright, two story glass-roofed restaurant in a courtyard off Rue Mazarine. The bread comes from the baker of the moment, Eric Kayser on Rue Monge. And Conran made sure that everyone in town knew he was coming: He papered the press with lavish and colorful advertising; invited everyone in the neighborhood to half-price preopening lunches, and held a series of high-profile ''soft opening'' events before the official start on Nov. 8. Add to that the fact that the restaurant will be open seven days a week, with a brunch on Sundays, and Alcazar is hard to miss.

While the food breaks no new ground, the menu features typical brasserie platters of fresh oysters and shellfish, as well as largely Mediterranean-inspired menu peppered with saffron, arugula, goat cheese, fennel, couscous and artichokes.

Two preopening meals proved uneven, with excellent fresh Guillardeau oysters from Brittany, a fine caramelized puff pastry tart of tomatoes and fresh goat cheese, and a welcoming main course vegetarian platter of braised seasonal vegetables. Far less successful were a misguided puff pastry tart piled high with arugula and rouget and a gigantic, dry chicken breast stuffed with a bland mixture of foie gras and artichokes. The food lacks any definite focus or personality.

The reason to go to Alcazar is that it offers a change of pace from the standard choucroute-and-beer brasserie, with a stunning and modern décor, exquisite service from a well-trained and enthusiastic staff, and a place to hang your hat almost any time of day. An upstairs piano bar offers wine by the glass and a brief menu that includes tastes of sushi, oysters, caviar, smoked salmon and foie gras.

The spot, by the way, is the former Alcazar night club, which closed eight years ago. The site began its life in 1850 as a printing plant.

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Alcazar, 62 Rue Mazarine, Paris 6; tel: 01-53-10-19-99; Fax: 01-53-10-23-23. Open daily until 1 A.M. Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. A la carte, 300 to 400 francs ($53 to $70)

Food for the Moment, And a Belgian Breakfast

PARIS - Sometimes it is good to be proved wrong. When Gilles Ajuelos opened La Bastide Odéon across from the Odéon Theater in 1995, I liked the bistro well enough, but wasn't sure it would have staying power. How wrong I was.

Today the bistro bustles day and night, with hordes of customers being turned away at the door. That's because Ajuelos and his staff know what we want: Food that's modern, light, of the moment and well thought out.

On my last visit I loved the bowl of tiny ravioles de Royans floating in a light broth seasoned with tomatoes, lots of parsley and Parmesan. Equally excellent was the grilled baby chicken - coquelet - served with lemon confit, fennel with saffron and a marvelous sauté of wild mushrooms.

At other times of year you will find such seasonal specialties as warm asparagus with poached egg, grilled bacon and Parmesan cookies; stuffed suckling pig with Parmesan-gratinéed polenta, or porgy in a red-wine sauce with green asparagus, baby onions and baby fava beans.

Desserts included an inventive tarte fine à la rhubarbe as well as a warm financier topped with apricots and a yogurt sorbet, and warm Valrhona chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Good wine choices here include the firm and fruity red Corbières Bastide de la Baronne, and the same wine in white.

How many ways are there to eat breakfast? Le Pain Quotidien - Daily Bread - shows you how.

This Belgian import, with its clean wooden tables, ivory bowls for coffee and chocolate, and fabulous fresh assortment of breads and rolls, offers a stunning view of the new Marché Saint Honoré, with its all-glass building reflecting the charming old structures that surround the square.

Try the substantive, wheaty baguettes à l'ancienne, great rounds of country bread, tiny rye and raisin rolls served with a huge tray filled with honeys, jams and jellies to sweeten the day.

Newspapers are there for the asking. Service is friendly if a bit distracted.

As the day wears on, the menu moves on to a selection of open-face sandwiches, such as mountain ham; beef, basil and Parmesan; country terrine; a mix of goat cheese and honey, or delicate fromage blanc, radishes and onions.

Of course Le Pain Quotidien is also a full-fledged bakery, so stop in for a loaf any time of the day.

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La Bastide Odéon, 7 Rue Corneille, Paris 6. Tel: 01 43 26 03 65. Fax: 01 44 07 28 93. Closed Sunday, Monday, the first three weeks in August and Christmas week. Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. Menus at 150 and 190 francs. A la carte, 250 francs.

Le Pain Quotidien, 18 Place du Marché Saint Honore, Paris 1. Tel: 01 42 96 31 70. Open Daily, 7 A.M. to 7 P.M.

In Paris, 2 Unique Restaurants

PARIS - Ever since I first sampled Marcel Baudis's authentic, honest and full-flavored food in 1987, I knew he was a chef I would want to know for a long, long time. Starting at his handkerchief-sized dining room in the Marais and moving to the ''new world'' of Bercy in 1991, he never faltered or left us with anything but food filled with character and modern sensibility.

His road has not been easy, for the Bercy neighborhood has taken a long time to develop. But today his patience and talents at L'Oulette are being rewarded by a mostly full dining room for lunch and dinner. Baudis, a native of Montauban in the southwest, draws deeply on his culinary roots with a menu that boasts tiny calamari, generous mounds of haricots blancs frais, foie gras, goat cheese and all the wonderful, little-known wines of that region.

Go, and order his now-classic escabèche de calamars, the tiniest, tenderest squid cut into fine threads, sizzled in olive oil, deglazed with white wine, then infused with a whole pantry of spices that include anise and curry. Equally memorable is his millefeuille de sardines, a warm and welcoming layered affair made up of raw, marinated sardine filets, Moroccan brick pastry, tomatoes and Parmesan.

Main courses include a variation on a Morrocan tajine of lamb with olives and lemon confit, and a lovely aioli, with poached cod and an array of steamed vegetables ready for seasoning with a golden, garlic-rich mayonnaise.

On my last visit, I added three new wines to my love-list: a dry and refreshing vin de pays de Saint-Sardos; a floral and dry Jurançon sec Domaine Bellegarde, and a sweet Sainte-Croix du Mont Chateau du Pavillion, a neighbor of Sauternes, and bargain-priced.

Dessert lovers should not miss the chef's spicy fingers of French toast, served with a cooling cinnamon ice cream. In good weather, eat on the terrace and listen to the chimes of the Notre Dame de la Nativité de Bercy. And if you can't figure out what to order, the dining room's able director, Alain Fontaine, will steer you in the right direction.

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Those looking for a unique neighborhood restaurant should try Le Petit Plat, a small spot on the lovely, tree-lined Avenue Emile Zola. The food here is creatively composed and carefully prepared, service is casual but efficient and the wine list offers pleasant surprises.

Jean and Victor Lampreia have been here since 1994, when they moved from their tiny restaurant in the 5th arrondissement. Highlights of my last visit included a refreshing summer salad of thinly sliced artichoke hearts layered with thin green beans; perfectly cooked pigeon on a bed of couscous; a whole porgy (dorade) beautifully prepared with generous portions of fresh, sweet fava beans, and warm pound cake, or quatre-quarts, sliced and layered with fresh strawberries.

Wines to sample here include the lush red Cotes-du-Rhone Domaine Saint Claude from Vaison-la-Romaine, and the superlative Gran Corona from the Torres family in Spain. This wine from the Penedes is made of 85 percent Cabernet and 15 percent Tempranillo, a grape that adds extraordinary fragrance and depth to a wine well worth seeking out.

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L'Oulette, 15 Place Lachambeaudie, Paris 12. Tel: 01-40-02-02-12. Fax: 01-40-02-04-77. Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. Menus at 165 (not including wine) and 250 francs (including wine). A la carte, 225 to 350 francs (not including wine).

Le Petit Plat, 49 Avenue Emile Zola, Paris 15. Tel: 01-45-78-24-20. Closed Sunday and Monday. Credit card: Visa. 135-franc menu (not including wine). A la carte, 180 to 240 francs (including wine).

An Aftertaste of Summer In Two Romantic Bistros

PARIS - While the city's Indian summer lasts, take advantage of the few choice outdoor spots that add a certain air of romance and a real spirit of vacation, even if it is no more than a break from a long workday.

If like me, you are a hopeless romantic who loves those perfectly ironed, faded red-checkered tablecloths, lace curtains and sturdy oak bistro doors, and waiters who refuse to pick up a plate until you have finished every last morsel, then La Fontaine de Mars is for you.

On a sunny day I know fewer better spots in Paris for enjoying simple bistro fare, from an earthy salade quercynoise (a tossed green salad with warm sautéed duck gizzards and hearts) to a bright piperade aux oeufs pochés ( a sauté of peppers, tomatoes and onions with poached eggs) or boudin aux pommes fruits (blood sausage with apples).

On my last visit, I devoured the fresh fricassée of chicken with wild morels in cream; sautéed calf's liver in sherry vinegar sauce; great crisp sautéed cubes of potatoes, and excellent house Beaujolais à l'ancienne.

In warm weather, desserts should fit your mood, such as a delightful fresh peach soup (soupe aux peches) or a cooling orange and grapefruit soup (soupe aux agrumes). Coffee comes with an excellent square of Valrhona bittersweet chocolate. If you get the right table, you will even be able to gaze up at the tip of the Eiffel Tower.

On the subject of romance, one of the city's most historic and romantic sites remains La Closerie des Lilas. The place that Hemingway made so famous has been revived, thanks to its new director, Jean-Jacques Caimant, last seen managing Joel Robuchon's dining rooms. La Closerie's lovely outdoor terrace beneath the shimmering plane trees is more welcoming than it has been for a long time and the clientele as chic Left Bank as ever.

And now we have the freshest of oysters, excellent whole grilled bar (on my last visit just a touch overcooked) and a staff that is willing to help you with your choices.

The wine list is expensive, but count on Monsieur Caimant or the sommelier Evo Jacobozzi to steer you toward a good buy of the moment, such as a little-known white from the Gers. The brasserie awaits those who want less fuss and fanfare, and offers quality oysters, such classics as herring and steak tartare and changing daily specials.

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La Fontaine de Mars, 129 Rue Saint-Dominique, Paris 7. Tel: 01-47-05-46-44. Open daily. Credit card: American Express, Visa. A la carte, 250 to 300 francs.

La Closerie des Lilas, 171 Boulevard du Montparnasse, Paris 6. Tel: 01-40-51-34-50. Fax: 01-43-29-99-94. Open daily. Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. 250-franc lunch menu (including wine and coffee). A la carte, 400 to 450 francs.

Provencal Chef's Ode to Melons

CAVAILLON, France - Would that 100 regional chefs in France had the same passion for produce as Jean-Jacques Prevot. Anyone familiar with this Provencal capital of the European cantaloupe, could suspect that the famed ''melon de Cavaillon'' would fall into his range of obsession, and so it does.

Until the end of the month this enthusiastic, committed chef is offering a lively all-melon menu, in which he features every part of the fragrant, sweet and juicy fruit.

From the seeds, or pepins, he concocts a luscious, puree-like sauce. The flesh just beneath the rind is turned into a slippery pickle. A gelatin-like sauce adorns the local banana shallot, or echalote de Simiane, which is cooked ever so slowly in red wine sauce.

Perfect slices of melon are sauteed in butter and olive oil, anointed with a touch of balsamic vinegar, and turned into a rosette-like offering, twisting the melon slices with smooth and mild slices of wild boar ham. The accompanying pickles form a perfect foil. Monkfish is stuffed with nuggets of melon, the fish is cooked slightly, then teamed up with a iodine-rich sauce based on the delicate langoustines, or Dublin Bay prawn.

His nougat glace is laced with a confiture of melon, and of course the house aperitif is a refreshing, melon-tinged drink that includes an infusion of dozens of local herbs. He will show you the melon can be eaten raw or cooked, sweet or
salty, hot, cold, or spiced, as an entree or a dessert.

Prevot - whose family has been in the restaurant business in France for several generations - continues to dig deeper and deeper, working with melon growers to create a super-sweet and juicy Cavaillon melon whose sweetness level is inspected with a syringe.

The small restaurant in the center of this old-fashioned farming town is decorated with what must be the world's largest collection of melon memorabilia, including Art Deco forks for spearing cubes of melon, melon artwork, pottery,
posters, and trompe l'oeil works.

At the end of the season Prevot does not close up shop. He turns his attention to scallops, for his mother once ran a restaurant in Brittany where coquilles Saint-Jacques were the specialty.

In the winter, Prevot offers an all-truffle menu. All this would be a lot of trickery if Prevot's passions were not built on the complete understanding of his ingredient, and a willingness to capture the best qualities of each.

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Prevot, 353 Avenue de Verdun, 84300 Cavaillon.

Tel: 04-90-71-32-43. Fax: 04-90-71-97-05.

Credit cards: American Express, Visa.

Closed Sunday dinner and Monday. Open for Sunday lunch from September to July.

All-melon menu from 295 to 360 francs, including service but not wine. A la carte, 280 to 360 francs.

One's Memorable, Another's Just Dull

PARIS - La Zygotissoire, a small rotisserie restaurant at the edge of the trendy Bastille neighborhood, is perhaps the city's best buy today. Where else can you have a delicious, can't-finish-it-all three-course meal, with coffee, for 80 francs? And the food is not just O.K., it is memorable and inventive.

On the 80-franc ($13) menu, one might begin with a chicken-wing salad, made up of a quartet of moist, beautifully roasted chicken wings set on a bed of greens; move on to a faux filet cooked on the rotisserie, and sauced with shallots, then top it off with a dessert of homemade ice cream or sorbet. A la carte starters include the brochettes de legumes anchoiade, excellent brochettes of zucchini, tomatoes and eggplant, with a delicately flavored anchovy sauce and a small green salad alongside. Good main courses include a filet of sea bass grilled on the rotisserie, or a filet of bar, on a bed of Swiss chard greens, served with a round gratin of the celery-like whites of chard.

The wine list offers some offbeat surprises, such as the rarely seen Ladoix, a worthy red from the northernmost village of the Cote de Beaune, and almost always a bargain.

The restaurant shares ownership with the popular 12th arrondissement bistro, Les Zygomates. - It has been a long time since I had a meal in Paris as boring as the one I had the other night at the trendy, and generally good-buy,
Campagne et Provence: The welcome was as chilly as a day in December, the food dull as dishwater and the service amateurish.

Walk in with a reservation, suggest you might be seated at that nice sunny table in the window and the head greeter shrugs, suggesting that when he puts people there they always ask to be seated elsewhere. (So when the restaurant is half empty, why not let the customer choose?) Everyone on the staff (including the chef) seemed to want to be elsewhere.

A salad advertised as mesclun was nothing other than a tangle of mixed greens - no herbs, no verve, a few shavings of Parmesan and strips of ham. Equally unimpressive was saffroned rabbit with a ''risotto'' of epeautre, or ''poor man's wheat'' - a dish that sounded promising but turned out to be something that might have come from a packaged TV dinner.

Only the wine list - with Alain Brumont's robust 1994 Madiran Meinjarre - and the wholesome sourdough bread from l'Epi Gaulois in the 14th arrondissement saved the evening.

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La Zygotissoire, 101 Rue de Charonne, Paris 11.

Tel: 01-40-09-93-05; fax: 01-44-73-46-63.

Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Credit card: Visa.

80-franc menu. A la carte, 130 to 160 francs,
including service but not wine.

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Campagne et Provence, 25, Quai de la Tournelle, Paris 5; Tel: 01-43-54-05-17; fax: 01-43-29-74-93.

Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday, and Monday lunch. Credit card: Visa.

120-franc lunch menu and 180-franc and 215-franc dinner menus including service but not wine.

Shades of Lyon in a Paris Bistro

PARIS - Francoise Petit promised herself four things: She would never marry a chef; she would never own a restaurant; she would never live in Paris, and she would never have a daughter who was a Virgo.

Well, now the 34-year-old Francoise Constantin has all four, and she is as giddy as a schoolgirl.

At the age of 17, she began working as a waitress at the quintessential Lyonnais bistro Cafe des Federations. During her 13 years there she and her patron, Raymond Fulchiron, became minor celebrities in the food world, as gastronomes came from far and near to hear their banter and chow down on saucissons chauds, andouillettes, blanquette de veau and platters of weeping Saint-Marcellin cheese, all washed down with tumblers of sturdy Morgon.

In 1994 Francoise left Lyon for Paris and promptly broke her three other promises. Since April she and her husband, the chef Daniel Constantin, have been happily installed at the Auberge Pyrenees-Cevennes, the classic Parisian bistro that was also known as Chez Philippe and run by Philippe Sebource until his death least year. With hams and sausages hanging from the rafters, colorful old tile floors and rustic stone walls, the bistro remains thankfully unchanged.

And while the Constantins have maintained many of the old standbys - platters of sausages and cured meats and cassoulet - they have also added such Lyonnais classics as robust green salads loaded with top-quality cured bacon; a rich and densely flavored pork sausage, and those Saint-Marcellin cow's milk cheeses from Mere Richard in Lyon.

Chef Constantin, who has been at the stove since the age of 14, is a classic French cook - a dying breed of those who have French cooking in their very veins, and it shows in everything that comes from his spotless kitchen.

The food has soul, character and an honesty one rarely sees today in simple bistro fare.

The chef's battery of sturdy copper pots that he brought from the Eiffel Tower after working there for a decade attest to his determination and respect for French cuisine.

''You can't make a Bearnaise in stainless steel,'' he likes to say.

Daily specials here might include thick slices of exquisitely flavorful saddle of lamb seared on an ancient gas grill; a rich and creamy potato gratin, and an impeccably prepared plateful of sauteed girolles mushrooms.

The 43-year-old chef's motto is: ''It is simple to do, but difficult to succeed at.''

Wines all come from small producers and have been selected by Francoise. Try the silky Chiroubles cru Beaujolais Domaine du Clocher from Jean-Noel Melinand, or the fresh and fruity Coteaux du Lyonnais, available by the
glass or the traditional Lyonnais pot.

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Auberge Pyrenees-Cevennes, 106, rue de la Folie-Mericourt, Paris 11

Tel: 01-43-57-33-78.

Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Credit card: Visa. 148-franc ($25) menu. A la carte, 160 to 210 francs.

A Paris Institution Reinvents Its Menu

PARIS - Some city restaurants have an uncanny way of allowing themselves to be reinvented for each generation of diners. Pierre au Palais Royal, situated behind the Comedie Francaise, is one of those endlessly flexible restaurants.

Owners, waiters and waitresses change, but this longtime beacon of true French bourgeois fare remains steadfast. Well, sort of.

The restaurateur Jean-Paul Arabian (formerly of Lille and Ledoyen in Paris) has taken over, giving the cozy restaurant a face-lift and wisely altering the menu to please a broader range of palates while remaining true to the cause.

Fashion has fads so why shouldn't food? And since it's not likely that the world will end its love affair with pasta and rice anytime soon, Arabian offers a bit of each, along with such Pierre favorites as foie gras, organ meats, steak, boeuf a la ficelle, roast duck with peas, and the extraordinary cheeses of Paris's best cheesemonger, Roger Alleosse.

A recent dinner there was close to perfect. It began with a modern and refreshing gazpacho - lots of minutely chopped vegetables in a slightly spicy tomato broth - set off with a tartare of tuna and a flourish of fresh herbs.

Less exciting, and an old-fashioned preparation that might as well be scratched from the books, was an overcooked, soggy portion of white asparagus topped with a needless rectangle of puff pastry, all bathed in a buttery sauce mousseline. Even at its best, I think this dish speaks of days past. Today we like our asparagus a bit less gussied up, and certainly less cooked.

The pastas and rice are a revelation, in that they are FRENCH versions, not Italian. And once the French learn how to cook pasta and rice - Italy, watch out. The spaghetti with palourdes was distinctly French tasting, with a broth that had a rich, substantive base. The clams could have been cleaned a bit better, but the overall effect was truly satisfying. Ditto for the risotto that bound delicious fresh girolles (chanterelles) and another variety of mushroom, mousserons, to the firm grains of rice, bathed in a densely flavored stock.

For the culinary classicists, Pierre offers giant portions of veal tongue, langue de veau, poached and served with a brilliant fricassee of seasonal vegetables. Perhaps the dish most often ordered here is the pan-seared entrecote, a beef rib steak beautifully cooked and served with a green salad and a gargantuan mound of crisp, hand-cut fries.

Desserts were fine but nothing to rave about. The millefeuille a la fraise, or thin squares of puff pastry layered with cream and fresh strawberries, was on the bland side, as was the traditional cherry flan, or clafoutis aux cerises. The wine list is limited but includes a nice selection of Chinon, the fine light red Burgundy Marsannay from Domaine Bruno Clair, the 1994 priced at 195 francs
($32).

On the evening of our visit, smokers were ubiquitous and annoying, so go forewarned.

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Pierre au Palais-Royal, 10, rue de Richelieu, Paris 1

tel: 01-42-06-09-17; fax: 01-42-96-27-17.

Open until midnight. Closed Sunday and in August. Valet
parking, evenings only. Air-conditioned.

A la carte, 215 to 350 francs ($35 to $55), including service but not wine

A Big Letdown at a Seafood Cathedral

PARIS - Few things are more difficult to cook than fish and shellfish. They are delicate, fragile, frighteningly perishable, sometimes unpredictable and almost always expensive. Overcook a chicken or a lamb chop by a minute or more and usually no one will notice. Breach the limit on an expensive sea bass and you'll be wailing in despair.

I think one would have to be crazy to open a fish restaurant. Not only are you subject to the weather, to fishermen's whims, to skyrocketing prices, you also must be aware of the fact that you are dealing with a constantly limited resource. In France, add to the downside the nation's numerous holidays, when fishermen don't go out, as well as the threat of strikes that hinder transport.

All those reasons aside, fish and shellfish are of course among the greatest of gastronomic pleasures. So we go ahead and buy and cook them and people will always go on finding reasons to open a fish and shellfish restaurant.

Craving all of the above, I returned the other night to the grand Goumard Prunier off the Place de la Madeleine, with memories of sparkling fresh fish that seemed to have jumped from the Atlantic onto my plate, of shellfish that carried like a fine perfume that distinct, refreshing iodine aroma of the sea, of respectful preparations designed to flatter the fish and shellfish with a minimal amount of culinary fan-dancing.

Alas! From start to finish the meal was bland, boring and dull. From the tiny slender fillets of sardines to the last cool mouthful of fromage blanc sorbet I sat in depression. How could Jean-Claude Goumard, who has been able to capture two Michelin stars since he took over the historic fish restaurant in 1992, let his place slip to such depths.

What's worse, all the problems were quite elementary. Sardines, squid, langoustines and sea bass all suffered from similar problems. Where they should have glistened, shimmered, arriving tender but firm, each specimen suffered either from overcooking or from excessive handling.

Langoustines encased in paper-thin pastry and deep fried were flavorless and mushy when they should have sent one swooning with their richness, their scent of the sea breeze.

Encornets were encased in a batter so thick it destroyed the squid's fragility and flexibility, turning them into bands of rubber. The grilled loup, or sea bass, may have been perfect as it left the kitchen, but once placed on a blazing hot plate and sent upstairs the poor Mediterranean star arrived soggy, overcooked. The sole meuniere suffered the same fate. Even the fine Chateau de Meursault 1992, mellow and just slightly nutty, did little to assuage my disappointment.

I guess I'd better return to the stove and depend on my own fish-cooking skills, for I won't be returning soon to Goumard Prunier.

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Goumard Prunier, 9 rue Duphot, Paris 1

tel: 01-42-60-36-07; fax: 01-42-60-04-54.

Closed Sunday and Monday. Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. Lunch menu: 390 francs (about $65), including wine and service. A la carte, 420 to 800 francs, including service but not wine.

At Last, a Table on the Terrace In Reims, a Rare Leap for Seasonal Common Sens

REIMS, France - It was not the sort of comment I expected to hear, even in 1998, in a compact village of 5,000 in rural France: A matronly woman walked into the epicerie and spoke as the French are wont to do to no one in particular and everyone in general. ''I looked through all my cookbooks and couldn't find a recipe for escabeche de sardines. So I found it on the Internet.''

As France modernizes in leaps and bounds, so does the way it looks at food and dining. One area in which it has been slowest to change is in understanding the joys of dining outdoors. Oh, yes, we romantics may take the Impressionist masterworks such as ''Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe'' or ''Le Moulin de la Galette'' as our vision of bucolic outdoor life in France, but more often than not, the reality is the opposite.

I have stopped counting the times I have reserved at a restaurant with an outdoor terrace or garden, only to find that although the day was perfectly gorgeous, diners were shepherded indoors for no explicable reason.

So I was delighted recently when I arrived at the doors of Elyane and Gerard Boyer's Les Crayeres - the Champagne region's finest restaurant and one of the best dining spots in France - to find that the entire dining room had been moved to the chateau's flower-filled terrace. One small step for mankind, one giant step for France. A three-star restaurant serving outdoors? Bravo, les Boyers!

Seated on the terrace of the 18th-century style chateau, overlooking a seven-hectare park of multiple varieties of trees, there is little to do but sip Champagne and peruse Boyer's modern, well-conceived seasonal menu. One will never go wrong with his signature saumon fume a la minute - moist and tender morsels of fresh salmon lightly and delicately smoked - teamed up with new spring potatoes in their skins and bathed in a welcoming caviar cream.

Who could not love a well-executed combination of roasted lobster, delicate risotto and fresh green asparagus points? Or a simple fillet of line-caught bar with crunchy spring vegetables surrounded with a sauce of fresh black truffles and deep green parsley sauce?

Boyer offers the tenderest noisette portion of the lamb chop wrapped in crepinette, or caul fat, and matches them with a rich puree of dates and foie gras. For artichoke lovers, the filet of lamb is ''simply'' crusted with finely minced black truffles then roasted, and offered with a spring ''ragout'' of artichokes, basil, tomatoes, herbs and olive oil.

Desserts are equally unfussy, seasonal and palate-friendly. Try the fresh strawberries set atop an almond macaroon, in a pool of pistachio cream; a soft nougat glace with a honey and apricot sauce, or a low-calorie special - a light ricotta mousse with fruits cooked in red wine and topped with ginger jelly.

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And you can find out more about the Boyers at:

http://www.integra.fr/relaischateaux/crayeres/contact.htm

Les Crayeres, 74 Boulevard Henry Vasnier, 51100 Reims; tel: 03-26-82-80-80; fax: 03-26-82-65-52.

email: crayeres@relaischateaux.fr.

Closed all day Monday and Tuesday for lunch; closed Dec. 21 through Jan. 11.

Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. Menus: 907 and 1,067 francs, including service and wine. A la carte: 650 to 720 francs, including service but not wine.

Asparagus Addict Attains Nirvana

PARIS - I'll be honest from the start. I am an asparagus addict. From the first sighting of those slender spears during the doldrums of February until their traditional disappearance from the French market on the feast of St. Jean in mid-June, I could savor their dense, mineral-rich flavor morning, noon and night.
So when I discovered that the Michelin two-star chef Michel Rostang was offering an all-asparagus menu, I beat a path to the door of his elegant restaurant in the 17th arrondissement. I admit to falling out of love with Rostang some years back after a few meals that seemed to reflect a man stuck in gastronomic mud and on a road to nowhere.

He has awakened, big time, now a passionate chef whose table reflects a curious mind and an intensely intellectual approach to food. The asparagus meal was full of surprises, void of clichés, a love poem to that admirable vegetable.

I was mildly disappointed that nowhere in the meal did asparagus play the star, but by the end of the meal realized the wisdom of assigning it a supporting role in a number of dishes.

The first course, soupe claire d'asperges vertes de Provence was an eye opener: With Asian overtones, this complex blend of asparagus, coriander, faintly puckery epine-vinette, or highbush cranberries, and cubes of fresh tuna bathed in a clear broth was a perfect tonic. No surprise to know that asparagus were once revered for their health giving properties and used as medicine.

The star of the evening was a simple soft-cooked egg nested in a tulip of crisp phyllo, topped with a generous spoonful of Sevruga caviar. Flanked by pan-seared violet-tipped asparagus from the farms of Jean-Charles Orso in the hills of Cannes, the soothing dish was offset by a rich, heavily reduced, almost caramelized sauce of sweet sherry.

Off the special menu, diners can also regale their palates with roasted green asparagus with spiced crabmeat in a reduced crustacean sauce; rich nuggets of lobster meat paired with asparagus and baby violet artichokes in a delicate anchovy sauce, and farm-fresh guinea hen with an Italian Arborio rice risotto with asparagus butter.

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THE wine list offered a fine discovery, a finely flinty white 1995 Coteaux d'Aix en Provence, from Domaine Hauvette, where Dominique Hauvette crafts a well-made organic wine on the plains of St. Remy de Provence.

Michel Rostang, 20 Rue Rennequin, Paris 17; tel: 01-47-63-40-77; fax: 01-47-63-82-75. Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday and three weeks in August. All major credit cards. 325-franc lunch menu; 745-franc asparagus menu. A la carte, 600 to 800 francs, including service but not wine.

Relaxing With Old Classics Chez Georges For Good Times

PARIS -- Rare is the Parisian bistro that remains solid, steady and satisfying year after year. But for 18 years I've made repeated pilgrimages to the classic 1900s bistro, Chez Georges, and it remains an example of the dream Paris bistro: convivial and relaxed, amidst a controlled murmur of good times.
Every millimeter of the long, narrow dining room Ð with its columns and mirrored walls - is packed, elbow to elbow, with a care-free, carnivorous crowd there as much for the ambiance as the cuisine, as well as the open-armed welcome of the owner, Bertrand Brouillet. The weight-obsessed, the impatient, the person who needs a space of his own should go elsewhere.

Here coats are hung or draped wherever there is room, baskets of freshly sliced country bread from Poilane and baguettes from the nearby boulangerie Lebon need constant refilling, and the chirpy waitresses all but skate across the old tile floors, racing through the room with steaming platters of steak, kidneys, grilled lamb chops, duck, sole and turbot. (That means service can be slow at times, as your hungry eyes follow a steaming platter emerging from the kitchen, destined for another table.)

On a most recent visit, starters were as satisfying as ever: celery root bathed in a mustard-rich mayonnaise; fillets of silken marinated herring floating in oil and herbs; jambon persille as fresh as a day in May; springtime curly endive, or frisee, tossed with crisp chunks of hot bacon and topped with a perfect soft-cooked egg.

never-changing star We may change but the food does not. The bistro star remains the onglet de boeuf, pan-seared skirt steak that needs little more than salt, pepper and shallots to bring out its succulent brilliance. At Chez Georges, this morsel arrives chewy, tender, with a rich, meaty flavor. As custom dictates, the meat is showered (a bit too generously for my palate) with finely minced shallots, which serve to sweeten and heighten the flavors of the beef. Alongside, come traditional French fries, which arrive hot from the kitchen. The steak de canard is as juicy and meaty as ever, served with huge portions of equally meaty cepe mushrooms; and the almost sweet, truly tender coeur de filet - seared beef fillet - comes with a Bearnaise sauce, where the tang of the vinegar and tarragon cut right into the richness of the meat.

Desserts follow suit, with fine profiteroles and a golden tarte Tatin. And the house Brouilly hits the spot, fits the mood and the moment. Who can ask for more?

Chez Georges, 1 Rue de Mail, Paris 2; tel: 01-42-60-07-11. Closed Sunday. Credit cards: American Express, Visa. A la carte, about 250 francs ($42), including service but not wine

Something New and Old On the Paris Riverfront

PARIS - Some addresses seem destined for constant turnover, and 72 Quai de l'Hotel de Ville on the right bank of the Seine is certainly one of them.
In the past 15 years, the spot has hosted any number of successful chefs, at least two of whom (Georges Masraff and Gilles Epie) packed their bags for America and never came back. One almost wonders whether the newest chef, David Feau, who took over the stoves last month at the Miravile, already has his papers in order for the journey across the Atlantic.

For Parisian diners' sake, one hopes that the young and boyish Feau will stay awhile, for his simple, sane, clear food is what we need more of in Paris.

classic but modern Feau's style appeals to jaded palates that want something classic with a modern touch. And while he is fresh from his chef's position at one of Guy Savoy's many Parisian bistros, his food is not just a copy of Savoy's signature cuisine. Feau might open with an offering of a mousse-like dariole, a small cylindrical mold of creamy foie gras and chicken livers, a silken, smooth and not-too-rich starter that is drizzled with a sweet caramel sauce, making your palate wonder whether it is the beginning or the end of the meal. In truth, the sweetness is appealing, and a fine contrast to the rich acidity of the foie gras.

The 250-franc ($40) menu might include a slightly bland first-course terrine of jarret de veau paired with a wonderful remoulade of red beets - slivers of beets tossed in a mayonnaise enriched with pickles, capers, onions, parsley and tarragon. The same menu offers a delightful pintadeau en crapaudine, a farm-fresh guinea hen split down the back, flattened and grilled, and served with a luxurious polenta. Other main courses include a classic roasted Bresse chicken, tender and delicious, set on a bed of pommes boulangeres, extremely thinly sliced potatoes cooked in a dark, rich stock. When his food is good it is very, very good, and truly satisfying, making one realize that simplicity is never as easy as it looks.

With it all, try the 1995 Savigny-les-Beaune, priced at 240 francs.

The bread, alas, is dreadful. The olive bread is too soft and without character, and the tough, dried rolls are an embarrassment to an otherwise successful restaurant.

Miravile, 72 Quai de l'Hotel de Ville, Paris 4; tel: 01-42-74-72-22, fax: 01-42-74-67-55. Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Credit cards: American Express, Visa. 250-franc menu. A la carte, 300 francs a person, including service but not wine.

A Rare Breed of Chef Serves Up Hints of Days Past

PARIS - If the walls at 5 Rue de Fleurus could talk, they would speak volumes. Even before 1967 - when Jean-Claude and Jeannine Gramond took over this minuscule bistro that might well have served as the setting for A.J. Liebling's gastronomic splurges - the address had a sense of flair.
Gertrude Stein is said to have lived at some point in the tiny, two-story house in the courtyard now occupied by the Gramonds. Hemingway lived down the street.

One can chart the social and cultural changes that have overtaken the neighborhood since the day the couple opened their restaurant with five francs in the cash register and nothing more than a desire to serve simple, classic French fare. In the 1960s they often did two services at lunch, sending the overflow for a walk in the Luxembourg Gardens until places were liberated.

Before Francois Mitterrand became president of France, he lived around the corner, on Rue Guynemer, and was a frequent diner. The bourgeoisie of the neighborhood, including august members of the Academie Francaise, politicians, bishops from Rome, United Nations leaders and editors from the many publishing houses within a stone's throw of the Luxembourg made this their cantine. In short, the sort of place Parisians like to call an ''etablissement confidentiel.''

Today, the lace tablecloths, the bouquets of dried flowers, the fish tank in the tiny glassed-in terrace, are all testaments to days long past - another life, another style of cooking. And so is the dearth of ''clients fidèles.'' Publishing houses have moved to the suburbs, the two-cognac lunch is a relic of yesteryear and many of the intellectuals are now too old to make it out of their apartments to the Gramonds' domain. The younger generation would rather find nourishment at neighborhood cafés.

Chef Gramond's cuisine is both earnest and admirable. He makes twice-weekly, middle-of-the-night treks to the Rungis market for produce, meat and fish. They have always split the chores, he cooking out of a compact kitchen in the back, she tending to the 20 or so spots in the dining room.

One of a rare breed of chef left in France today, Gramond refuses to alter the classic cuisine he learned more than 40 years ago in the hotel school in Toulouse. The menu, handwritten and mimeographed in purple ink on the machine they bought three decades ago, is brief and to the point: You might find seasonal green asparagus from Provence bathed in a chervil vinaigrette; a commendable terrine of foie gras; plump scallops seared in butter and served on a bed of leeks; small, tender baby leg of lamb with a fine sorrel sauce.

Daily specials might include a lamb stew prepared with white beans, or haricots blancs, grown by Gramond on their farm in the Vosges. And come fall, his game specialties take over, with a delectable wild hare terrine; a civet de lièvre, and roasted partridge.

Three bulging cellars beneath the restaurant harbor treasures from days past:

A hoard of sturdy Santenays from the Cote de Beaune, dating to 1978, all priced at less than 400 francs. A charming 1982 Carmes Brion goes for 389 francs. There is an exceptional, long maturing Chasse Spleen, with the 1976 priced at 430 francs; as well as a 1975 Pierbone at 268 francs.

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THROUGHOUT the evening, the chef timidly enters the dining room in his clogs and spotless whites, awaiting each diner's opinion on his latest efforts. Later, come dessert time, he is back in his domain, and you hear the gentle rhythm of egg whites being beaten to stiff peaks, ready for his famed soufflé Grand Marnier.

So go, with a hunger for the fine classics of French gastronomy, and toast a chef who knows of what he cooks.

Chez Gramond, 5 Rue de Fleurus, Paris 6; tel: 01-42-22-28-89. Closed Sunday. Credit card: Visa. A la carte, 280 francs (about $45) a person without wine, including service; 350 to 400 francs with wine.

Il Cortile: A Taste of Italy in the Middle of Paris

PARIS - Despite a universal love affair with Italian cuisine, the very gastronomic Paris remains a wasteland for authentic pastas, breads, risottos and traditional Italian grilled fare. Leave it to Alain Ducasse, Michelin's new six-star chef and lover of all things Mediterranean, to bail us out here.
As consultant to the newly anointed one-star Il Cortile (in the Hotel Castille on Rue Cambon), Ducasse has come up with a winning formula. With the French chef Nicholas Vernier at the stove, the two are mixing up some very delicious ''I'll come back for more'' Italian fare.

The good news is that they stay clear of those boring 10 greatest hits of Italian cuisine. Rather, the menu is based on inventive, fresh and seasonal fare. Every few months the menu changes and showcases a seasonal ingredient - artichokes, broccoli and scallops were some of the most recent.

My only regret is that the breads are so delicious you are likely to fill up on them, leaving room for little else. Seconds after you are seated in the tastefully decorated dining room, you are showered with a selection of hot-from-the-oven delights such as an oil-brushed rosemary flat bread, crisp and crunchy; nicely risen little squares of focaccia, and firm, fresh grissini wrapped in prosciutto.

first bites Each menu includes an antipasto platter, at least eight little bites that might include a deeply salty pissaladiere; paper-thin slices of raw fennel bathed in a tonnato sauce; sardines marinated with citrus and capers, or a Swiss chard tourte.

Pasta and rice selections might include an unusual risotto flavored with a trio of tomato flavors - slow-roasted, pan-fried and fresh-chopped; a ravioli filled with ricotta, sage and ham, or a classic fettuccine with pistou and aged Parmigiano Reggiano.

On one visit, the main course swordfish arrived perfectly, evenly cooked and so moist, with a glossy, stock-based sauce so shiny you could almost see your reflection, a sign of true professionalism. Here, vegetables are treated with equal respect as fish and meat, and the swordfish that day was paired with artichokes, potatoes, mushrooms, apple and onion, all tasting solely of themselves.

Equally triumphant is the evenly, perfectly grilled guinea hen, roasted on a spit and accompanied by full-flavored caillettes of guinea hen liver and gizzard and heart, wrapped in caul fat and pan-fried. The accompanying polenta was a model of its genre, steaming, flavorful, smooth and rich.

But on one evening, the open ravioli of artichokes and shrimp proved just too dry and without character; and the rabbit with gnocchi was less than astonishing, the rabbit being just a bit too tough to enjoy.

Service is impeccable, friendly and discreet and the wine list a joy. I adore the lightly chilled, easy-drinking Vernaccia di San Gimignano, a distinctive, highly flavored wine from the village north of Siena, priced at 140 francs ($23.50) a bottle.

In the summertime, Il Cortile has one of the city's loveliest outdoor gardens for open-air dining. But don't wait until temperatures soar to give the spot a try.

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Il Cortile, (Hotel Castille), 37 Rue Cambon, Paris 1; tel: 01-44-58-45-67; fax: 01-40-15-97-64. Closed Saturday and Sunday. All major credit cards. A la carte, 250 to 300 francs per person, including service but not wine.

A Thai Feast for the Eye And Also for the Palate

BANGKOK - It is a purely serene glimpse of paradise. The calm and pristine restaurant with teak, ceramics and fine Thai silk is afloat in a magnificent pool of lotus blossoms. The cuisine is an intelligent blend of traditional and modern Thai cooking, intended to merge a feast for the eyes and one for the palate. The six-year-old Celadon restaurant is just a corner of the Sukhothai Hotel, a gleaming white complex that, too, is a well-considered mix of modern and traditional, with ancient temple doors, a palm-lined drive and six acres of lily ponds, in the center of Bangkok.
In these harmonious and elegant surroundings, diners at Celadon (which takes its name from the ceramic glaze as well as the grayish yellow-green color of traditional and modern Asian pottery) can choose from a labyrinthine menu of Thai fare. Seated on chairs upholstered in crisp beige linen and dining off thick, hand-crafted celadon plates on white linen place mats, we feasted on a palate-stimulating spicy beef salad, paired with plenty of cucumbers and raw onions for cooling down the palate. The winged bean salad was a perfect balance of spicy and sour, with lots of giant shrimp in a peanut-based sauce. And other starters - such as deep-fried minced pork and shrimp wrapped in bean curd sheets and rice flour crepe stuffed with crab meat, minced chicken and mushrooms - showed how cleverly the Thai chefs borrow curries from India and stir-fry and noodles from China.

soup imitates art Thai soups are an art, and one of the most popular is tom yam goonglai rue goong maenam, a spicy sour soup that blends tiger prawns and river prawns, seasoned with fragrant lemongrass, lime juice and fresh garden chili. The brilliant red, pink, and green soup is the perfect blend of the iodine richness of the sea and the herbal freshness of the garden, a true layering of flavors, harmonious and so evenly spiced that one marvels at the cook's controlled hand. Heavier, but no less fulfilling was the also popular tomkha gai, the regal herb-, chicken-and coconut-based soup that balances sweet, spice and fatty richness.

Main courses include no less than 13 curries, and ours was one of the most traditional, a southern Indian-inspired chicken curry - gaeng mussaman nuea rue gai - a gently sweet dish, and one of the rare Thai dishes containing potatoes - that was all spicy mellowness, laced with Indian herbs and one that left you with a lingering smile on your palate.

Despite common belief, Thai food is not universally hot, for paralyzed palates no longer note the subtleties of fine cuisine. So we followed with a very delicate steamed white snapper, topped with lime juice and just a gentle hit of chilies.

Desserts offer a gentle close, with glutinous rice balls in sweetened egg in coconut milk, and soothing pumpkin custard. Lemongrass tea ends it all, to soothe the palate and aid digestion.

A total contrast to the elegant Celadon was an open-air feast at the northern city of Chiang Mai, where we dined at the Pongyang Garden Resort on a shaded teakwood terrace, surrounded by the soothing sounds and midday coolness of a rushing waterfall. Seated at bare wooden picnic tables and sipping the cooling Thai Singha beer, we ate simple country fare. Abundant platters of raw vegetables - green beans, herbs, lettuce - revved up our appetites, which were ready by the time the parade of courses arrived: a rich meat salad of pork that had been marinated in salt, sugar and coriander and then dried in the sun; Burmese pork curry, and minced chicken salad.

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TWO highlights of the meal were the beautifully bitter grilled pork in fermented tamarind sauce, which perfectly balanced out the heat and richness of the other fare. Then came a whole Cambodian carp-like fish, deep-fried so the skin was crisp and vibrant, smothered with fresh chilies and topped with a carpet of fried basil leaves. The days' soup - the traditional tom yam ghung - was refreshing, a mix of half chicken stock and half shrimp stock, laced with lemon juice, galingale, lemongrass, chilies and shrimp.

Dessert could not have been more simple: giant platters of papaya, watermelon and pineapple, which the locals sprinkle with salt for perfect digestion.

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Celadon, Sukhothai Hotel, 13/3 South Sathorn Road, Bangkok 10120, Thailand. Tel: (66-2) 287-0222, extension 5722. Fax: (66-2) 287-4980. Open daily. All major credit cards. Vegetarian menu at 520 baht ($11), and tasting menus at 580 and 620 baht.

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Pongyang Garden Resort, KM 14 Maerim-Samerng Road, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Tel: (66-53) 879-151 Fax: (66-53) 879-153. Open daily. No credit cards. About 200 baht per person.

This is the last of a series.

Glories of Hong Kong, The Cuisine Champ

HONG KONG - Under the circumstances - increasing cultural competition from Shanghai and Singapore, general post-changeover anxiety and then the health scare with poultry - it would be downright impossible for the Hong Kong food arena not to be subjected to stress. Tourism, the locomotive for this island's hotel and restaurant business, is way down, and shows no signs of perking up overnight.
That said, the Hong Kong restaurant scene appears, on the surface at least, remarkably stable. Given the choice of spending a week in any Asian city to experience the glories of Chinese cuisine, I'd opt for a ticket to this gastronomic capital. Immense variety, experienced chefs and a well-heeled, well-informed clientele, all help make this an unbeatable food city. The only real downside is the decreasing availability of some choice ingredients - the finest teas and delicate Shanghai crab for example - as the increasingly wealthy mainland Chinese begin to limit exports to the island and keep the luxury goods for themselves.

Certainly the most exciting meal of the weeklong stay was at Dynasty, the elegantly comfortable restaurant in the New World Hotel. For those who think Cantonese food is the same old 20 greatest hits, think again. Chef Tam Sek Lun has been holding court at the Dynasty for 15 years and his maturity and dexterity are evident in every dish. He is known for his home-style Cantonese food (as opposed to dim sum or banquet fare), honest, warming, easy-to-love fare.

Who could find fault with the chef's steamed eggplant with preserved vegetables, a dish with unusually rich, smoky and earthy flavor, a properly bitter edge and lots of cabbage, a brilliant vegetarian substitute for the traditional pork.

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Rice Delicacies

His clay-pot rice dishes are worth a trip all on their own: Rice is cooked in covered, unglazed pots so the bottom layer crisps, making for fragrant, nutty, crunchy rice contrasting with the moist rice on the top. It's served with pork sausage and a blood sausage so sweet and dense it was like eating candy.

But I swooned over - and still dream of - his outrageously delicious baked silver cod, an offering of smoky, complex flavors with fat fillets marinated for four hours in a blend of Chinese wine, several different bean pastes, celery, lemon, chili peppers and ginger, then roasted in an ultrahot oven. The dish has it all - aroma, silken, soft and soothing texture, and that well-calculated balance of spice, fire and acidity. This intelligent, modern creation should quiet those who believe all Chinese cuisine is nothing but reworked old classics.

The elegance of the Chinese red-and-cream embossed menu and the teahouse decor with rosewood screens and antique ornaments are not at all at odds with the accessible fare, for the presentation is at once homey and stylish. A dish of steamed egg white with baby scallops, meat and vegetables was both creamy and ethereal, like reaching for clouds and dropping them in your mouth.

Desserts here are remarkably appealing: delicately sweet, baked honeydew melon puffs filled with a melon paste, like little presents of evenly balanced sweetness and acidity.

Next in line for most enjoyable fare in Hong Kong is the incomparable brunch-time dim sum at Victoria City Seafood Restaurant. This vast, and somewhat impersonal restaurant plopped in the middle of a huge office complex remains a mecca for those who want little bites of heaven to tide them over until the next good meal.

The dish of the day was the Shanghai crab roe dumplings, steaming hot and dripping with the brilliant saffron color of the rich roe, so sweet and pleasurable.

Traditional steamed fresh shrimp dumplings are classic and flawless, while the glutinous rice in lotus leaf is a hedonistic affair, a fragrant bundle of tightly compressed rice, all stick-to-your-teeth chewy and exorbitantly satisfying. Equally awesome were the Shanghai mince pies - flaky lard pastry that would make a French chef proud, filled with a delicious mix of moist and evenly spiced mincemeat and showered with a thick layer of crunchy sesame seeds.

Far less inspired this time around was the meal at the generally exquisite Lai Ching Heen, my hands-down Hong Kong favorite of the past. At the last meal at this exquisitely appointed dining room in the Regent Hotel, the earth moved. This time, it did not even tremble. Gone were the harmony and brilliance. One might chalk it up to a bad day in the kitchen, but the once brilliant deep-fried scallops with pear and water chestnut was lackluster, the baked, stuffed sea whelk in its shell seemed to have lost its reason for being, and other dishes - sautéed lobster, snake soup, deboned pink garoupa fish and beggar's chicken all lacked intensity and polish. Menus are planned according to the moon, so it may just be that Scorpios should have stayed away during that lunar cycle.

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THE Regent kitchens redeemed themselves with a flawlessly fresh meal at Yu, the inventively simple all-fish restaurant with its turquoise aquarium, soft lighting and panoramic harbor view. What raw-oyster lover could resist a presentation that includes bluepoints from America, belons from France, Sydney rocks from Australian and Pacifics from Canada? Yu also offers a spectacular seafood platter that arrives as a conical mountain of crushed ice, with shellfish and crustaceans attached like rock climbers. Likewise, an abundant assortment of live fish and shellfish, from jumping shrimp to sweet king prawns to baby abalone to cherrystone clams can be served steamed, poached or grilled.

Hong Kong has its share of ''attitude'' and of the city's most steadfastly surly spots is the old Luk Yu Teahouse, where only local regulars are accorded courtesy. But force your way in the door (gently, kindly) and settle into a world of fading local history and dim sum dreams.

As slow-moving old ladies in faded chef's whites parade about with battered metal tins of steaming buns, one sips fragrant peony-blossom tea and witnesses a dying breed of Chinese men who spend the morning reading, ruminating, nipping at their tea. The dim sum selection is vast and varied - ranging from lotus-root puffs to pork ribs in barbecue sauce to glutinous rice in a lotus leaf - but they're heavier and richer than you'll find in other establishments. Go for the nostalgia and the 1930s charm.

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Dynasty, New World Hotel, 22 Salisbury Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon; tel: (852) 2369-4111, ext. 6361; fax: 2734-6006. Open daily. Reservations necessary. All major credit cards. About 300 Hong Kong dollars ($39) per person, not including beverages.

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Victoria City Seafood Restaurant, Sun Hung Kai Centre, 2F, 30 Harbor Road, Wanchai; tel: 2827-9938; fax: 2827-7218. Open daily. Dim sum, 22 to 30 Hong Kong dollars per basket.

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Lai Ching Heen, The Regent, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong; tel: 2721-1211; fax: 2739-4546. Open daily. Reservations necessary. All major credit cards. About 400 to 500 Hong Kong dollars per person, not including beverages.

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Yu, The Regent (see above); tel: 2721-1211, ext 2340; fax: 2724-3243. Reservations necessary for dinner. All major credit cards. About 600 Hong Kong dollars per person, not including beverages.

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Luk Yu Tea House, 24-26 Stanley Street, Central; tel: 2523-5464. No credit cards. Reservations not accepted. Open 7 A.M. to 10 P.M. daily. 150 to 300 Hong Kong dollars per person.

Next week: Food trends in Asia.

Inside and Outside, East Meets West in Shanghai

SHANGHAI - The last time I saw Shanghai it was 1982, the populace wore the obligatory blue Mao jackets and cotton shoes, we ate as ''special guests'' in cavernous greasy-spoon restaurant dining rooms reserved for foreigners, and everyone rode bicycles. It was as if the city had been closed for repairs.
Today, the dress is more likely to be Armani and John Lobb, the dining halls are named Haagen-Dazs, Baskin-Robbins and KFC, and the mode of transport is a VW Golf.

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The city is as haze-choked as ever, and you can wander down the city's main drag, Nanjing Road, from the Peace Hotel and watch as whole blocks of China's Fifth Avenue are torn down, not with a wrecking ball but with bare hands and hammers by men in wicker hard hats.

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Food Imitates Life

Food mimics cultural, political and financial trends. And so it comes as no surprise to see a reawakened Shanghai sporting the familiar golden arches, Kentucky colonel, pizzerias, waiters on roller skates, German microbreweries and shopping-mall food courts with U.S. beef, alongside the hundreds of street vendors offering deliciously fresh traditional snacks for eating with your hands.

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If ever there was an East-meets-West cuisine culture, this is it. As Shanghai works to compete with Hong Kong and Singapore for the Asian capital of the next century, it is inevitable that modern, Western-style restaurants will make inroads, as the city relearns its past and invents the future.

One of the first East-West restaurants is fittingly named Park 97, the creation of a group of Australians who already have no less than seven Hong Kong establishments, all trendy and designed to appeal to the young, beautiful and well-heeled, more interested in seeing and being seen than in gastronomy.

Park 97 is nestled in a rare stretch of Shanghai greenery at the edge of Fuxing Park near the city's ever-popular French quarter, where the character-filled, two-story buildings are being torn down at a frighteningly rapid pace, to be replaced with the ever-expanding overhead expressway and inevitable high-rises.

Decorated in an understated Art Deco style, this seven-day-a-week restaurant caters to local Shanghai residents as well as the mass of transient businessmen and women aiming to set up business in the city. The menu is designed to please its lean, health-conscious clientele, with a gentrified, East-West mix of sushi, asparagus in balsamic-vinegar dressing, breast of chicken with saffron couscous and vegetarian-oriented casserole with mixed grains and beans.

What we did not witness, but heard much about, was China's favorite new drink. A passion for cognac has been replaced by a wine obsession. But not just red wine alone. Wine has become the Chinese toasting drink, drunk bottoms up, mixing red wine with Sprite and white wine with Coke.

But I was in Shanghai to sample the people's fare, so one raw, misty, drab-gray Sunday in December we strolled with masses of Chinese along the two-kilometer walkway that parallels the Huangpu River, stopping now and then for a sidewalk snack. The most popular remains a steaming, conical mass of rice steamed in lotus leaf. Just tear the leaf back and bite into the compact rice, eating it all like an ice cream cone. The piping-hot package of glutinous rice, chicken, dried shrimp and black mushrooms will warm you all the way through.

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EQUALLY delicious, and found every few blocks throughout Shanghai, are the pan-fried buns - known as pot stickers - steamed dumplings filled with Chinese black mushrooms and fatty ground pork, finely chopped scallions and fresh leaves of coriander. The best are steam-cooked, then bottom-fried to a crisp, often at curbside over a makeshift brazier. Delicious on a cold winter's day, they're designed for dipping into doses of soy, wine and ginger.

For indoor dining, one could hardly do better than the grand and popular Mei Long Zhen. With its grand, jade-green pagoda-style entrance, the restaurant was established in 1938 by a group of filmmakers, actors, playwrights and authors and has long been one of the city's premier dining establishments.

Today the enormous restaurant boasts seven dining halls, all traditionally decorated with painted wall scrolls, lanterns and frescoes and reliefs. Television monitors are a modern addition: In one of the main-floor dining halls, monitors hung in each corner of the room while the Chinese equivalent of MTV treated us to a series of young, bashful, awkward Chinese girls singing and dancing their hearts out.

The place was bustling. At one table, a family of 10 celebrated a girl's eighth birthday, complete with candles and a baroquely decorated cake that twirled atop the lazy Susan. At another, a young Shanghai couple sat devouring their lunch, accompanied by Coke in the can.

Our meal was truly magnificent - a refined Shanghai version of Sichuan cuisine, not nearly as spicy as that you'll find in the capital of Chengdu. The food is prepared with superb local ingredients and subtle seasoning. Service follows suit, with efficiency and attentiveness.

Start with the steaming hot pork and crab dumplings, ethereal dim sum delicacies that one must learn to eat with dexterity and patience. Hold the little pillow between two chopsticks, deftly sucking out the vermilion juice that's colored by sweet crab roe.

For a soothing balance of texture and elegance, try the broth-like mixture of buttery, sliced bean curd and crab meat punctuated by the lively addition of fresh ginger and chives. As suggested by our waiter, we drizzled it all with a touch of pungent Chinese black vinegar, adding a perfect acid tone.

But the finest dish of the day was the ''dancing'' crab - sautéed crab in pepper sauce, one of the most satisfying and exciting Chinese dishes I have ever had. The raw crab was cracked with a cleaver to allow the seasoning to penetrate the meat, then stir-fried in a mix of rock salt, coarsely ground black pepper, garlic and chives, and showered with a bit of cornstarch to bind the seasonings to the crab shell. This is finger food, designed to suck noisily and happily, savoring every bit of sauce, extracting every morsel of sweet crab.

Unusual were the crisp cakes of radish, puff pastry prepared with lard and wrapped around a ball of shredded daikon radish, then steamed; and one could make a meal of the hearty fried rice, studded with mushrooms, peas, shredded eggs and ham, with another dose of black vinegar to cut the fat.

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a scrumptious end Dessert lovers will devour the date pancake with melon kernel, an Asian version of a date strudel, with sweet date filling wrapped in a thin, golden-yellow pancake.

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Wash it all down with a glass or two of delicate Dynasty nonvintage wine, a drinkable all-purpose wine that's made from the muscat grape in the Tianjin region of China as part of a Chinese-French joint venture.

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Park 97 Shanghai, 2 Gao Lan Road, Fuxing Park; tel: (86-21) 6318-0785; fax: 6387- 4716. All major credit cards. Open daily. About $50 per person, including wine and service.

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Mei Long Zhen, 1081 Nanjing Road; tel: (86-21) 6256-6688. All major credit cards. Open daily. About $35 per person, including wine and service.

Next week: Hong Kong.