Via del Campo – Sardinia at the foot of the Eiffel Tower

Two streets back from the lawns of the Champ-de-Mars, where coach parties queue for the Eiffel Tower, Via del Campo keeps to its own quiet register: a chic dining room, immaculate tablecloths, mouldings behind tall windows, and a kitchen that answers to Sardinia rather than to Naples or Rome. Enrico Masia took over the address, formerly the restaurant La Taverna, at the end of December 2017 and turned it into a trattoria built around the island where he was born. His partner Tatiana Scutelnic, who is Moldovan, runs the dining room and chooses the wines, so the list leans on Sardinian and mainland Italian growers with the occasional bottle from her own country. The restaurant is Selected in the MICHELIN Guide, the distinction given to addresses whose cooking the inspectors judge worth a detour even without a star, and it has become one of the 7th arrondissement's more dependable Italian tables, busy with both neighbourhood regulars and visitors who have wandered down from the tower.

01The room and the setting

The dining room plays it straight rather than rustic: Via Del Campo is described as serving its refined transalpine cooking in a chic room with bright tones, a world away from the red-gingham trattoria cliché. The Restaurant Via Del Campo in the 7th arrondissement, near École Militaire métro, serves refined transalpine specialities in a chic room with bright tones. In a chic atmosphere, with immaculate tablecloths and mouldings behind the long bay windows, Sardinian chef Enrico Masia reworks his country and his region through the seasons, following the inspiration of outstanding produce. When the weather allows, a few tables are set out on the terrace on fine days.

02The chef

Enrico Masia finished one year and began another by taking the leap into his own kitchen: he ended the year by starting a new adventure, the opening of the Italian-Sardinian restaurant Via del Campo. The chef took over the former restaurant La Taverna at the end of December 2017 and transformed it into Via del Campo. Before striking out alone, he had worked with Claudio Puglia at Caffé Romantica on avenue de La Tour-Maubourg — training that shows in cooking that is gourmet in finish but never fussy. In the room, his partner Tatiana Scutelnic accompanies him front of house.

Insider tip

Closed Sundays; terrace in fine weather; nearest métro École Militaire.

03The cooking

Masia's menu moves around Italy but keeps returning home. He is known for dishes mixing products from the Italian boot with local ingredients, such as octopus and guanciale served with artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes, burrata and anchovies, and for putting the specialities of his native Sardinia centre stage, from culurgiones — potato-filled ravioli — dressed up with fine ingredients, to seadas, the pastries of sheep's-milk cheese and honey. Gault&Millau singles out the same register of cooking: the setting is chic, the small terrace in high demand when the weather is neither too hot nor too cold, and the signature dishes are top-notch — vitello tonnato, artichoke salad, fregola with seafood, linguine with clams, and fried calamari.

04What to order

Start with something cured or raw: fresh red tuna cured in a sun-dried tomato marinade, complemented by delicate quail eggs, or air-dried beef from Valtellina with zesty lemon oil, parmesan shavings and peppery arugula. From the pasta list, the island specialities are the point — rare hand-rolled lorighittas, fregola simmered with seafood, or ciccioneddos with a fennel-seed sausage ragù and pecorino. To finish, Gault&Millau flags good desserts, including Sardinian seada with honey, the same pastry Masia also serves as a savoury starter with pecorino and black truffle.

05Wine and drinks

The cellar is Tatiana Scutelnic's domain, and it is built on the same loyalty to home ground as the kitchen. The wine list draws a curated selection from Italy and Moldova, reflecting the owners' heritage, with Sardinian growers given particular weight. Gault&Millau notes a varied wine list featuring wines from all regions, and about ten options by the glass. For those who prefer something shorter, the bar also offers a variety of crafted cocktails, beers, and fine coffees, perfect for any time of day.

06When to go and booking

The restaurant keeps a single, dependable rhythm: open at midday and in the evening every day of the week except Sunday, when it is closed. Lunch runs from 12:00 to 14:30 and dinner from 19:00 to 22:30, Monday to Saturday. The terrace is weather-dependent, so an early-evening table outside in spring or early autumn is the best bet before the covers fill with the dinner crowd drawn by the restaurant's reputation among the local Italian community.

07The neighbourhood

Via del Campo sits in Gros-Caillou, the quiet residential corner of the 7th arrondissement sandwiched between the Seine and the Champ-de-Mars, a world of embassies, military buildings and apartment blocks rather than souvenir shops. The nearest métro is École Militaire, and the Eiffel Tower itself is a short walk north through the park — close enough for a dinner booked around a sunset view, far enough to keep the terrace for people who actually live in the quarter.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.