Baieta – Nice's little kiss, starred on the Left Bank

At 5 Rue de Pontoise, a few steps back from the Seine in Paris's 5th arrondissement, Baieta cooks the food of Nice with more rigour than nostalgia. The restaurant belongs to Julia Sedefdjian, who is known as France's youngest Michelin-starred chef, having earned her first star at just 21 years old. She opened Baieta in March 2018 after leaving Les Fables de la Fontaine, taking with her the two colleagues who had worked that kitchen alongside her, and named the place after the Niçois word for a little kiss. The gamble paid off quickly: just ten months after opening, Baieta earned its first Michelin star in 2019, a mark of how fast her Mediterranean cooking found its audience. It holds One MICHELIN Star today, for a kitchen that treats bouillabaisse, pissaladière and socca as serious cooking rather than souvenir food.

01The room and the setting

The address has previous form: this was once the dining room of Itinéraires, the restaurant run by Sarah and Sylvain Sendra, before Sedefdjian and her partners moved in with a décor they described as elegant and unfussy. A large mural by tattoo artist Frédéric Agid, depicting Sedefdjian and her two associates, covers one wall, and a well-stocked rum cellar stands in the room to warm the atmosphere.

A later renovation pushed the room further south: parquet gave way to natural stone, touches of terracotta recalled the ochres of the Mediterranean coast, and black and gilt accents were set against pale oak tables. A glass partition at the back separates the kitchen from the dining room, letting the chef keep an eye on service without leaving the stoves.

02The chef

Sedefdjian was born in Nice in December 1994, to an Armenian father and a Sicilian mother. She trained at the Lycée Hôtelier Paul Augier before apprenticing under chef David Faure at Aphrodite in Nice, then moved to Paris at 17 to join the kitchen of Les Fables de la Fontaine in the 7th arrondissement.

Insider tip

Set menus only; weekday lunch €65; book ahead for the Menu Bella Nissa tasting menu.

She was promoted to sous-chef in 2013 and became head chef in 2015 at just twenty, going on to retain the restaurant's Michelin star after completely revamping the menu and cutting prices. On 1 February 2016, Michelin confirmed her as the youngest chef in France to hold a star, at 21. Two years later she left, taking sous-chef Sébastien Jean-Joseph and dining-room manager Grégory Anelka with her, to open her own restaurant in the 5th arrondissement.

03The cooking

The chef signs grand classics of Niçoise cooking, reworked with the sophistication that defines her style without losing their generosity. Service often opens with a playful reading of pissaladière, the onion, olive and anchovy tart of Nice, served on pillowy bread set atop a miniature wooden stool. Only set menus are served at Baieta; there is no à la carte.

The signature dish remains the Bouillabaieta, her personal rewrite of bouillabaisse. The current version, Bouillabaieta 2.0, pairs octopus with parsley and garlic against a fennel and rouille condiment and a bouillabaisse jus, a modern reading that keeps the dish's southern backbone intact.

04What to order

The five-course Menu Signature (€130) opens with les cagades, a run of amuse-bouches, before a starter of crispy egg yolk with marinated whiting and haddock, leeks and a seaweed vinaigrette. The fish course is the Bouillabaieta 2.0, followed by a meat course of roasted free-range chicken supreme from south-west France with shallots in Urfa chilli and broccoletti, a Trou Niçois palate-cleanser, and dessert.

The seven-course Menu Bella Nissa (€155) extends the journey with two starters and a cheese course matured by the restaurant's own cheesemonger, finishing with a mignardise. A shorter four-course Menu Maïoun (€110) and a weekday three-course lunch menu (€65, drinks not included) are also on offer.

05Wine and drinks

Each tasting menu can be matched with a pairing. The Bella Nissa's wine accord runs to six glasses plus a glass of the house's own Extra Brut Essentiel by Baieta; a champagne version pours six cuvées from the Piper-Heidsieck Collection. For guests skipping alcohol, the non-alcoholic pairing uses Tempera creations by chef Mauro Colagreco, a Mediterranean-inspired alternative built to run alongside the menu course by course.

06The neighbourhood, when to go and booking

Baieta sits in the historic Latin Quarter, on the stretch of the Left Bank between the Seine's quays and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, within walking distance of Notre-Dame. The restaurant also carries a 14/20 from Gault & Millau.

In October 2026 the restaurant's own site listed opening hours running daily from 12:00 to 14:15 and 19:00 to 22:15. The weekday lunch menu excludes weekends and public holidays, and tables can be booked online or by phone; the dining room is wheelchair accessible, takes outdoor seating when weather allows, and welcomes dogs.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.