Le CasseNoix – a nutcracker collection and a Bib Gourmand near the Eiffel Tower

Ten minutes' walk south of the Eiffel Tower, on a quiet stretch of rue de la Fédération, Le CasseNoix has been feeding the 15th arrondissement since 2010. It is the kind of bistro Paris is supposed to be full of and increasingly isn't: a short, seasonal menu, a patron who still cooks the pâtés himself, and a dining room cluttered with old advertising posters, ticking clocks and a collection of nutcrackers assembled over the years by the chef's mother. The restaurant takes its name from that collection, begun in memory of the chef's grandfather, who used to go looking for nutcrackers as gifts for her. It holds a Bib Gourmand, the MICHELIN Guide's mark for cooking of real quality at a fair price, a distinction that fits a place built on generous, unpretentious French food rather than spectacle.

01The room and the setting

The decor announces itself before the menu does. Old posters, pendulum clocks and vintage furniture set the scene, with an amusing collection of nutcrackers gathered by the owner's mother. It is a small, warm room rather than a design statement, built for regulars who come back for the same lentils and the same rice pudding, and for visitors using the Eiffel Tower as their point of reference on the map.

02The chef

Pierre-Olivier Lenormand trained young: he began hotel school in 1992 and, at seventeen, won the French junior dessert championship. From there his career reads like a tour of grand Paris kitchens. He started at the Hôtel de Crillon under Christian Constant, moved on to C'amelot with Didier Varnier, and did his military service cooking at the Élysée Palace under Joël Normand while Jacques Chirac was president. He then joined Alain Solivérès at Les Élysées du Vernet, perfected his technique at Jamin under Benoit Guichard, and spent six years beside Bruno Doucet at La Régalade before deciding, as he puts it on his own site, that it was time to fly on his own wings and open a restaurant by the Eiffel Tower.

Insider tip

Open Monday to Friday only; book ahead and expect a bank guarantee for online reservations.

The restaurant is a family project in more than name: the chef worked at La Régalade, at the Crillon and at Jamin before opening Le Casse Noix at the end of November 2010, bringing gastronomic technique down into a relaxed, accessible register.

03The cooking

Lenormand cooks canaille bistro food rather than fine-dining miniatures, and much of it traces back to his father, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France deli craftsman in the Loiret, credited on the menu for dishes such as boudin blanc and pâté en croûte. The carte itself is deliberately short and changes with the seasons: the kitchen runs a multi-choice menu changing several times a year to follow the cycle of the seasons according to the chef's mood and inspiration, alongside a daily slate of suggestions with possible supplements depending on the product. Reviewers over the years have picked out a creative, sometimes rich cuisine, as in the well-known rice pudding with salted-butter caramel, that is always impeccably done.

04What to order

Specific dishes vary with what the market and the season allow, but certain plates recur in reports of meals here. Past menus have featured a roast pork shoulder Ibaïona with olive purée, a classic petit salé of lentils with smoky ham, and a crowd-pleasing île flottante, as well as a pan of mousserons with peas and a poached egg in mushroom emulsion, and a melting pork cheek on a carbonara-style purée topped with Colonnata lard. The dessert most diners remember is the rice pudding, served, in one account, as a giant bowl of creamy rice pudding with a small side bowl of caramel sauce.

05When to go and booking

The restaurant keeps bistro hours and bistro rules. It welcomes guests Monday to Friday for lunch from 12.00pm to 2.00pm and for dinner from 7.00pm to 10.00pm, and is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Dinner currently runs on a set menu at €44 for a starter, main course and dessert, and online bookings require a bank guarantee to confirm the table, a detail worth reading closely before reserving. Groups of eight or more are served a shared tasting menu of starter, fish, meat and dessert for €50 per person, drinks extra.

06The neighbourhood

Rue de la Fédération sits in a largely residential pocket of the 15th arrondissement, closer to locals' errands than to souvenir stalls, with the nearest stations at Bir-Hakeim and Dupleix. It is an easy, unglamorous walk from the Champ de Mars and the Eiffel Tower, which makes Le CasseNoix a natural stop for travellers who want a proper bistro meal without leaving the shadow of the tower behind.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.