How to book Café des Ministères

Café des Ministères is a bistro at 83 rue de l'Université in the 7th arrondissement, run by the married couple Jean and Roxane Sévègnes^1,3. Jean, who comes from Cahors, cooks; he trained with Bernard Pacaud at L'Ambroisie and with Alain Ducasse, and spent six years at Ladurée. Roxane, from Brittany, runs the dining room and the wine, after time at the Peninsula, Spring and Robert. The two met while working for Hélène Darroze⁵.

They took over a former seafood café and kept its old counter and Basque table linen⁵. Le Fooding describes a marble bar and cobalt blue banquettes³. The menu is à la carte, with a dish of the day at lunch, and the cooking is classic French with dishes from the South-West and generous sauces^2,3. Jean makes his own puff pastry, stocks and ice creams, and Roxane chooses the wines, many of them priced under 30 euros in a 2019 review⁶.

The two dishes most often named are the vol-au-vent with sweetbreads, chicken and a truffle jus, and the stuffed Pontoise cabbage, which won a French championship in 2022². The rest of the menu runs through terrines, snails with bone marrow, calf's head and desserts such as baba au rhum and profiteroles^3,4,5.

The bistro opens on weekdays only¹. Paris by Mouth named it its best restaurant of 2022 and called it "almost impossible to book", with online tables released three weeks ahead⁴. Michelin lists it as an inspectors' favourite and strongly advises booking².