Akrame – one MICHELIN Star behind a hidden porte cochère

Behind a wide porte cochère on rue Tronchet, two minutes from La Madeleine, Akrame works out of a courtyard most of Paris never sees: the inner garden of the Hôtel de Pourtalès, a townhouse built in 1839 by architect Félix Duban for banker James-Alexandre de Pourtalès and protected as a historic monument since 2002. Chef Akrame Benallal, who passed through Ferran Adrià's and Pierre Gagnaire's kitchens before opening his first restaurant on rue Lauriston in 2011, moved his gastronomic table to this address in 2016, bringing with him the black, Soulages-inspired room and the no-choice tasting menus that had already won him two stars at the old address — though the Guide confirmed one when the move was done, that February. It holds one MICHELIN Star. For a decade the address, with a sculpture of a falling man suspended over the room, has been one of the 8th arrondissement's more private tables; since early May 2026 it has stood closed for renovation, with no reopening date yet announced.

01The room and the setting

The restaurant is reached through an immense carriage gateway that keeps it almost invisible from the pavement; crossing it, guests find themselves in the paved courtyard of a grand hôtel particulier rather than at a restaurant door. The Hôtel de Pourtalès, at 7 rue Tronchet close to La Madeleine, was designed by architect Félix Duban and built in 1839 for James-Alexandre de Pourtalès, a Swiss-born banker and art collector, and it has been listed as an official historical monument since September 17, 2002. Akrame Benallal exercises his talent there in a space kept out of sight behind the huge coach gateway. Part of the same building now also trades as a discreet luxury aparthotel, its upper floors given over to planted terraces designed as a tribute to Duban's original work.

Inside, the dining room turns on a single colour. Akrame reveals itself in black, like a Soulages painting, played out between light, texture and matter. Benallal, an admirer of Pierre Soulages, wanted the interior steeped in modernity and darkness, dressed with photographs and a striking sculpture hanging from the ceiling of a man in free fall. The black-box look dates from the move onto rue Tronchet, the year the Guide also trimmed the chef's tally back from two stars to one. The room has been refreshed since: it reopened after a summer redecoration on 4 September 2017.

02The chef

Akrame Benallal spent the first thirteen years of his life in Oran, Algeria, where he was born. His father's early disappearance left him feeling he had to become head of the family while still very young; as an apprentice cook he doubted himself after only three months, until his own chef convinced him not to give up a trade that would turn out to suit him completely. He trained in two of the era's defining kitchens — a spell in 2004 with Ferran Adrià at El Bulli and with Pierre Gagnaire — before opening his own place in Tours, which later went under.

Insider tip

Currently closed for renovation; register on akrame.com for reopening news. No fixed date yet.

In 2011 Benallal arrived in Paris and took over Guy Savoy's old bistro space on rue Lauriston, opening it as Akrame. Gault&Millau named him its 'Grand de demain' that same year, and he won his first MICHELIN star within a year of opening, with a second following two years later. He closed the Lauriston address for four months of works and opened a pop-up at 7 rue Tronchet in the meantime, and the move to Tronchet became permanent over the summer once the planned renovation at Lauriston could not go ahead. He earned a MICHELIN star at the new address in February 2016. Benallal has since built a small group of addresses around Paris, including the Mediterranean-Azeri table Shirvan near the Champs-Élysées, which traded until late 2025.

03The cooking

There has never been an à la carte at Akrame. Diners are guided by the chef's inspiration through just two menus, built around seasonal produce, with no printed list of dishes to choose from. Meals have long opened on a ritual of house-churned butters — one worked with lime, the other smoked over beech wood, both spread onto Poujauran bread — before the kitchen moves into its tasting sequence proper.

Reviewers who dined before the renovation found a chef still pushing outward: Gault&Millau's most recent notes describe Benallal diversifying his offer and promoting Levantine cuisine with energy and intelligence. Among the dishes recorded were lamb paired with pistachio and cherry, mozzarella ice cream scented with jasmine alongside a seasonal vegetable-and-fruit minestrone, a Ricard-and-peanut-paste granita, and a monochrome pineapple-caramel dessert made entirely in black as a nod to Pierre Soulages.

04When to go and booking

The restaurant has been closed since the beginning of May 2026, and its own website confirms it is temporarily closed for renovation, with no date yet given for the doors to reopen. Those who register their email address on akrame.com will be the first to hear the reopening announced. Before the closure the table kept a tight rhythm: lunch and dinner service Monday to Friday, closed all day Saturday and Sunday, with an annual break of three weeks in August.

05The neighbourhood

Rue Tronchet runs the short, smart stretch between La Madeleine and the grands magasins of boulevard Haussmann, and the restaurant's courtyard entrance sits only steps from the church itself. The building it shares, the old Hôtel de Pourtalès, now leads something of a double life: part discreet serviced apartments for guests seeking total anonymity, part gastronomic table behind the same carriage gate, with the Madeleine métro station a short walk from the door.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.