Ochre – Baptiste Renouard's one-star table in old Rueil

On a pedestrianised, cobbled street in the historic centre of Rueil-Malmaison, fifteen minutes from central Paris, chef Baptiste Renouard runs Ochre, the restaurant he opened in January 2019 in a house that once held the bistro Patte Noire. Two years later, in January 2021, Ochre earned One MICHELIN Star, making Renouard, then thirty, the only Michelin-starred chef working in the town. Born in Fontainebleau in 1991, he had already spent years training in some of the most decorated kitchens in Paris before deciding to open his own address in a western suburb better known for its Napoleonic château than for its gastronomy. It holds One MICHELIN Star.

01The room and the setting

Renouard has arranged the house, once Patte Noire, over three levels. On the ground floor, two dining rooms of around fifteen covers each, finished in pale stone, flank a small bar. Behind the stone façade, the décor pairs Causse stone walls and antique ceiling beams with Italian granite tables and tableware in 'Jaune de Chrome', the ochre-yellow that gives the restaurant its name. In summer, service moves onto a terrace of six tables on the pedestrian rue du Gué, in the old quarter of a town once home to Joséphine de Beauharnais, close to the Château de Malmaison.

Below ground is L'Antre d'Ochre, an 18th-century vaulted cellar whose walls carry the sommelier's wine selection mixed with wrought-iron sculptures. Opened in January 2022, it seats six to eight guests at a single table, where the chef improvises an entirely bespoke menu for private parties.

02The chef

Renouard enrolled at the Ferrandi culinary school at just fourteen and began his apprenticeship under Joël Robuchon at L'Atelier, progressing quickly over five years that shaped his technique and creative sensibility. He went on to Lasserre under Jean-Louis Nomicos, Le Meurice under Yannick Alléno, Le Laurent under Alain Pégouret and the kitchen of Meilleur Ouvrier de France Frédéric Simonin, before a spell as sous-chef on the 2016 reopening of L'Escargot 1903 in Puteaux.

Insider tip

Closed Sun–Mon; book ahead for the 18th-century cellar table or the terrace.

In 2019, while competing on Top Chef under the mentorship of Jean-François Piège, he took over the old Patte Noire on rue du Gué and opened Ochre, his first restaurant.

03The cooking

The kitchen's register is vegetal and tied closely to the seasons. Renouard forages nettles, violets, lilac, elderflower and ivy around Rueil to scent and finish his plates, carrying into the dining room the same raw materials he put on the walls. The tasting menus run under their own names - Signature, Havane, Sienne and Ochre - progressing from five courses to a full seven, each built as a chapter of the chef's own memories, a scent or a painting translated onto the plate, with a dedicated vegetarian version for guests who skip meat and fish.

04What to order

Order the seven-course Menu Ochre for the full range of what the kitchen can do, or the shorter five-course Sienne for an easier lunch. One dish has stood the test of time since the restaurant's early days: Souvenir d'un chocolat chaud, a warm-chocolate siphon finished with salted butter and a cocoa tuile, the dessert that first built Ochre's reputation beyond Rueil.

05Wine and drinks

Sommelier Théotime Dordain pairs each tasting menu glass by glass: three wines for the Signature menu, five for Sienne or Havane in five courses, and seven for the seven-course Ochre, priced at €55, €85 and €110 respectively as listed on the restaurant's own site in October 2026.

06When to go and booking

Ochre serves lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday, from midday to 2.30pm and from 7pm to 9.30pm, as published on its website in October 2026; it closes on Sundays and Mondays. The MICHELIN Guide places Ochre in its top 'Spare no expense' price bracket, so book ahead - especially for L'Antre d'Ochre or the privatised upstairs room, both available only by reservation. A municipal car park by the Rueil-Malmaison town hall sits a few steps from the door, useful at the end of the short drive out from central Paris.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.