Zostera – Julien Dumas reads the tide at Porte Dauphine

At 40 rue Pergolèse, two streets from the chestnut avenues of the Trocadéro gardens, Zostera occupies a dining room that for years carried the name Le Pergolèse, one of the 16th arrondissement's long-standing addresses for serious French cooking. Chef Julien Dumas, previously of Lucas Carton and Bellefeuille – Saint James Paris, took over the kitchen and renamed the restaurant after zostera, a marine plant essential to life underwater — the idea now runs through a menu that reads like a tide chart: Arctic char and wild garlic for the spring thaw, crab and sea urchin for what moves beneath the surface, chocolate bound to seaweed for a last run along the coast. It holds one MICHELIN Star. Behind the wine list stands Samuel Ingelaere, Dumas's partner in the house, who treats the cellar as an extension of the same idea — nature, read through glass rather than plate.

01The room and the setting

Zostera kept the bones of Le Pergolèse — the same handful of tables, the same discreet service rhythm that regulars had known for two decades — while softening its mood. Julien Dumas describes the space as a luminous, gentle setting, built around the sea, the light and life itself, and the dining room now reads as contemporary and organic rather than classically formal, a quiet backdrop for a kitchen that wants the plate to do the talking.

The address sits two minutes from the Trocadéro gardens, in a residential stretch of the 16th arrondissement better known for embassies and apartment blocks than for restaurants — which makes the quiet luxury of the room, and its focus on produce from the Atlantic coast, feel deliberate rather than accidental.

02The chef

Julien Dumas was born in Grenoble and raised in Brittany, and built his career step by step through recognised Parisian kitchens before opening a restaurant under his own name. He spent years at Lucas Carton, a restaurant with a strong classical heritage, and trained through houses associated with Alain Ducasse before taking the top job at Bellefeuille, the restaurant of the Saint James Paris, where he earned a MICHELIN Star and a Green Star. Zostera, opened in his own name, lets that Brittany childhood show through directly: the sea is not a theme here, it is the starting point for almost every dish.

Insider tip

Open Monday to Friday only, lunch and dinner; closed at weekends except for privatisation.

03The cooking

Located at the former site of Le Pergolèse, the kitchen emphasises Atlantic produce through dishes such as seared hand-dived scallops and squid served in its own ink — two signatures that keep reappearing in reviews of the house. Dumas names his dishes like short poems of season and tide: Arctic char with wild garlic to mark the snowmelt that starts the spring, crab and sea urchin for the hidden life under the surface, chocolate worked with seaweed as a last, gourmet pass along the coastline from Lorient to Le Croisic. Vegetables get the same attention as fish; Dumas treats them, by his own account, as his other great passion alongside the sea.

04What to order

The current menu, read on the restaurant's own site and on its booking pages in late 2026, moves between è-la-carte dishes and set tasting menus. Among the starters, mackerel is paired with sorrel and radish, while blue lobster arrives with pomegranate and chilli. Main courses include a fish chosen according to the day's catch with quince and chilli, free-range poularde with nori seaweed, and wild duck with sloe. A cheese course built around the "cheese of the moment" precedes two desserts: honey with seaside herbs, and chestnut with sea urchin. At lunch, a four-course menu runs at 65 euros (weekdays only, excluding public holidays), with tasting formats of five, seven and nine courses available for longer visits, priced at 99, 135 and 185 euros respectively — prices read on the restaurant's website in October 2026.

05Wine and drinks

The cellar belongs to Samuel Ingelaere, a companion of Dumas's and a partner in the restaurant rather than a hired sommelier. He composes the list with the same rigour Dumas brings to the kitchen: sincerity, precision and respect for the living product. Through each selection he tells stories of terroirs, artisans and climates, moving between the depth of established classics, quieter confidential discoveries, and the vitality of natural wines — every bottle chosen, in his own words, to have a reason to be there rather than to impress.

06When to go and booking

Zostera serves lunch and dinner Monday to Friday only, with lunch service from around midday to 2.15pm and dinner from 7.30pm to 10pm; the restaurant is closed at weekends except for private hire. It also runs a notable offer for younger diners: guests between 20 and 35 can order the four-course lunch menu, at 65 euros, in the evening as well — the same cooking from Julien Dumas at a price pitched for a younger table. The nearest métro stations are Porte Dauphine and Porte Maillot, and valet parking is offered for guests arriving by car, useful in a residential stretch of the 16th where street parking is scarce.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.