I’ve had several lunches at Origines and always found it good, but not remarkable. But I had recently heard that dinner as considerably better there. I set out to see if that was true.
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Hi Onz, Very nice report and review — and it’s consistent with our lovely dinner there back in November, about which I belatedly reported in early February. (At our dinner, like yours, there was a large business dinner group set up in the side room. Yet the main / back room was filled with tables of two, and just a few for three or four. The demographic at dinner was predominantly local. We look forward to returning.)
That all looks wonderful - and a bargain when you look at the à la carte menu. It’s always nice to be “rewarded” with a dish not on the regular menu.
Thanks again for keeping this board alive, onz. I will strive to do my part once we are (hopefully) permanently installed in France come July. 
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I remember shortly after Les Climats opened in the spring of 2013, we all flocked to it, especially to the reasonably priced lunch menu that Julian Boscus put together. Add a glass of (probably overpriced) Burgundy and place yourself in the winter garden conservatory and life was good. (I look forward to a future restaurant in this brilliant space on the rue de Lille in the 7th).
In 2019 when Boscus opened his own restaurant, Origines, many of us followed him. Lunches continued to be creative and the clientele reflected the quiet well-heeled types in the 8th. But in 2022 the lunches became unimaginative and formulaic, and, not surprisingly, the patrons were mainly tourists with the locals gone. In 2023, we tried out Origines for dinner and it was superb, an experience repeated in 2024. I can only surmise that the Champs-Elysées tourists have discovered Origines at lunch time. As @onzieme has described, you can choose the tasting menu or go à la carte. We generally choose based on our preferences for whatever is offered. Unfortunately, based on what @onzieme has written about his recent experience at Origines for dinner, there were now a lot of tourists at that time too. This suggests to me that our next visit to Origines will be booked around 8:30 or 9pm, when most tourists are not reserving tables.
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I’m not sure coming later is going to change things much. If you look at the bill, it was 9.19 pm when I was presented it, and I don’t think the composition of the clientèle had changed at all. First, more French people are eating earlier than I’ve ever previously observed. Second, when I say tourists, I am using that as a word to indicate “not local residents”. But because of the neighborhood and the prices at Origines, they are not the types of tourists that one runs into lining up for the Mona Lisa or going up the Eiffel Tower. But I can’t imagine that the Michelin star will discourage others who are not local residents from coming.
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Interesting that the French are eating earlier than ever before. I wasn’t aware of that.
By no means all, but a significant number, often younger people. I like to reserve for 19h30 or 19h45, and often there are French people there seated when I arrive.
