Godaille – a feast among friends by square Trousseau

On rue Antoine Vollon, in the quiet pocket of the 12th arrondissement behind the Marché d'Aligre, a handful of pavement tables catch the light off square Trousseau, and that terrace is as much the point of Godaille as anything on the plate. The restaurant was built by Étienne Aubron and Derick Fortes Rocha, who had already run the natural-wine cave Pur Vin a few doors away before adding a stove and dining room of their own. Fortes Rocha had cooked at Septime; the chef they brought in, Mickaël Bui, came from Tomy & Co. In French slang, 'godaille' means a feast and merrymaking among friends — a fitting name for a kitchen built on fresh herbs, spice and a wine list chosen with evident care. It holds no MICHELIN Star but is selected in the MICHELIN Guide, noted for an interesting wine list.

01The room and the setting

Attractive, slightly retro interior and a fine list of natural and organic wines. is how the MICHELIN Guide sums up the dining room, and the description still holds: a small, warmly lit space that opens, weather permitting, onto pavement tables. Those tables sit on wide pavements facing the greenery of square Trousseau.

The address is a short walk from Métro Ledru-Rollin, placing Godaille firmly in the Aligre quarter rather than the tourist routes around Bastille.

02The chef

An alumnus of Tomy&Co, Mickaël Bui, runs the kitchen, while Fortes Rocha and Aubron oversee the floor and the cellar — a division of labour that mirrors their earlier project, the Pur Vin wine cave.

Insider tip

Closed Sunday and Monday; book via the restaurant's own site. Reachable from Métro Ledru-Rollin.

Gault&Millau, which rates the house 12.5/20 as a 'Gourmet Restaurant', notes that this is a great spot for a meal with friends at the Ledru-Rollin restaurant, where Bui draws on the Mediterranean repertoire for seasonal dishes that land well.

03The cooking

The format shifts with the hour. The set lunchtime menu changes weekly, while the evening repertoire is more ambitious, running to mussels in a coconut-green curry with Thai herbs or confit veal belly. Spices and fresh herbs are given pride of place throughout, down to a fried chicken with tender meat in crispy golden breadcrumbs, served with a ginger-lemon sauce.

By evening the carte turns distinctly Asian-inflected: smashed cucumber in a yoghurt sauce sharpened with honey and spice, beef tartare lifted with bone marrow and kimchi, and crispy rice built on shallot, grated coconut and Vietnamese coriander — small plates designed for sharing rather than a formal three courses.

04What to order

Among the mains, roasted cod comes with courgette, sautéed tomatoes, raspberries and a piquillo butter, while a yellow poultry supreme is paired with couscous pearls and an apricot-harissa condiment. To finish, a 70% chocolate tartlet arrives with a kasha soufflé, coffee mascarpone and gianduja sauce, alongside a lighter plate of Gariguette strawberries with rhubarb sorbet, crumble and lemon whipped cream.

05Wine and drinks

The list is the clearest trace of the owners' first life as wine merchants: Étienne Aubron and Derick Fortes Rocha had already doubled their cave Pur Vin with a convivial dining room before Godaille properly opened.

Among the choices worth seeking out are a crémant du Jura from Domaine de la Pinte by the glass, a chardonnay called 'White Side of the Moon' from Domaine des Canailles, and a pineau d'Aunis 'Adonis' signed by Renaud Guettier, alongside a fresh fruit-and-herb infusion made daily — apricot, strawberry and rosemary on one visit.

06When to go and booking

Godaille is closed on Monday and Sunday, open Tuesday to Saturday from 12:15 to 14:00 and 19:15 to 22:00, according to its own site in October 2026. Lunch, with its weekly-changing menu, is the easier seating to land; the terrace fills fast once the square Trousseau chestnuts are in leaf.

Reservations run through the restaurant's own booking page rather than a third-party platform, and the small room means walk-ins are a gamble outside off-peak hours.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.