Ambos – two chefs, one plate, facing the Jardin du Luxembourg

Ambos sits at 38 rue de Vaugirard, its dark façade looking straight across at the Sénat and the railings of the Jardin du Luxembourg. The name means "both" in Spanish, and it says everything about how the place runs: Cristina Chomet Tejeda and Pierre Chomet are partners at the stove and at home, raising a son and a daughter between services. Their cooking is built on French technique but refuses a single passport, drawing on Brittany, Venezuela, Spain, Italy, Provence and Thailand without ever tipping into fusion for its own sake. The restaurant opened on 19 December 2022 with 45 covers, later adding eight more at a table in the basement. It is selected in the MICHELIN Guide and carries one toque from Gault&Millau 2026, recognition that has followed a couple who met not in Paris but in the brigades of Joël Robuchon.

01The room and the setting

The dining room keeps its materials raw: cream-coloured walls, a tall ceiling that lets the light move through a wide bay window most of the day, pale oak tabletops set against a darker floor. To the right, the open kitchen faces an inverted L-shaped counter where a handful of guests can watch the pass directly. A staircase leads down to the real surprise: a vaulted stone cellar, terracotta tiles underfoot, dim light, a communal table set for six to eight among the restaurant's own bottle racks – the table des chef·fes, bookable in advance for a dinner that feels like being let into the building's oldest secret.

The address itself carries weight: the room looks onto the French Senate and the Jardin du Luxembourg, in a stretch of the 6th arrondissement where chess players and strolling Parisians pass the windows all afternoon.

02The chefs

Pierre Chomet grew up in Brittany, trained at the hotel school in Dinard, and began as a commis at Le Bristol in Paris. He then joined Arnaud Donckele's kitchen at La Vague d'Or in Saint-Tropez, moved on to Joël Robuchon's Atelier in London, and later to Bangkok, first at Robuchon's Atelier and then as sous-chef at the two-starred Chef's Table under Thierry Vincent. It was at the Atelier Robuchon in London, working under chef Olivier Limousin, that he met Cristina Tejeda, a cook of Venezuelan origin.

Insider tip

Closed weekends; book the vaulted-cellar chef's table in advance by phone or email.

Cristina Chomet Tejeda grew up in Spain after being born in Venezuela. Before Robuchon, she had been sous-chef at Buckingham Palace for Elizabeth II, and she went on to work at the Savelberg in Bangkok. Pierre, for his part, became known to a wider French audience as a contestant on season 12 of Top Chef in 2021, reaching the quarter-finals before elimination; viewers of the show still recognise the charismatic Breton chef and his wife, who also appeared on screen.

03The cooking

Ambos describes its own food as a free cuisine, without borders but not without roots – a cuisine of union, not fusion. The French foundations show in technique and in dishes such as veal sweetbread or beef, while the couple's travels surface constantly: Cristina's Venezuelan childhood brings arepas and the technique of Spanish tapas, Pierre's Breton background surfaces in dishes built around buckwheat, oysters and cauliflower treated like a risotto. A reversed pad thaï of shellfish tartare with a crisp rice tuile recalls the dish that first qualified Pierre on Top Chef; a cod dish with foie gras seared over binchōtan charcoal, lemon-sesame marinade, daikon purée and a cocoa nib chawanmushi, is the plate that won over guest judge Alexandre Mazzia during the competition.

Vegetarian dishes are marked (V) on the à la carte menu, and the kitchen leans on ingredients such as Guémené andouille, Sturia caviar and bouchot mussels to keep the French backbone visible under the travelling spices.

04What to order

The à la carte opens with smoked beetroot alongside Guémené andouille and Sturia caviar, a black cuttlefish curry with lentils, bouchot mussels and shiso, or royal gilthead bream dressed with a gildas emulsion and grapes. Among the mains sit Castile beef with ginger-spiked carrot, tamarind and toasted rice; monkfish from Le Guilvinec with beurre noisette, fennel, tapioca and passion fruit; a tom kha kai built on fregola sarda, sweet potato and puffed buckwheat; and veal sweetbread with coco de Paimpol beans, yuzu kosho and oregano. To finish, there is a cheese selection from Maison Barthélemy, a chocolate dessert with sesame and yuzu, or Solliès figs with mint sorbet, quinoa and yoghurt.

Four tasting menus frame the carte: Éveil des Sens, three courses at lunch only; Voyages et Racines, five courses; Sans Frontières, seven courses; and Horizons croisés, nine courses served at dinner only, each with an optional wine pairing.

05When to go and booking

Ambos opens Monday to Thursday for lunch (12.15pm–2pm) and dinner (7.15pm–10pm), and on Friday for dinner only; it is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Tables can be booked online, by telephone on 01 43 54 91 39, or by email; the chef's table in the cellar and the handful of counter seats facing the kitchen are best arranged in advance, especially for groups. The nearest métro stations are Saint-Sulpice (line 4), Odéon (lines 4 and 10) and Mabillon (line 10), all a short walk across the top of the Jardin du Luxembourg.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.