Recently, chefs have dared to ask the question 'Is French food finished?' and a new style has been emerging, led by a handful of iconoclasts. The fashion restaurant is here to stay – led this year by Nobu, La Maison Blanche and Market – but the real buzz has been about chefs who are daring to do their own thing, sometimes in unlikely settings.

The most talked-about chef of the past year has been Pascal Barbot of L'Astance. After working with Alain Passard, Barbot opened a rather serious grey dining room in the 16th, where he has shown that cutting-edge cuisine doesn't have to come at a crippling cost. Sharing this philosophy is the rather more casual Café des Délices, where chef Giles Choukroun's priority is putting customers at ease – all the better to enjoy his imaginative cooking. Nicolas Vagnon is inventing a style all his own at La Table de Lucullus. Except for the very simplest restaurants, it is wise to book ahead. For most places, this can be done the same day as your visit. More time should be allowed for haute cuisine restaurants, which need to be booked weeks in advance and checked the day before. On the clothing front, anything bar your gym gear should be fine, but you'll find that Parisians look smart when they go out, so denim could make you stick out. By law, all bills include a service charge, so only tip if you're happy with your experience.