The 2026 hot list: the 7 best new restaurants in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain

Mineral obsession gives Quartz Café its own charge in Paris’s 7th arrondissement, where architect and designer Sophie Dries has built a speciality coffee spot that feels more design-world hideout than standard caffeine stop. The room is tiny and standing-only, with pleated café curtains, a Corten steel floor, metallic details and a red plywood bench outside. Baristas work with beans from Paris roaster Partisan, matcha from Kyoto via Komā and pastries by Toutia that lean into cocoa, sesame, yuzu and other earthier notes. Even the water gets the full treatment, filtered and remineralised through dolomite containing quartz.

Green is the brief and Café Lacoste commits. In Paris’s 8th arrondissement, this is Lacoste’s first standalone café in the city, built with Riccardo Giraudi’s Giraudi Group, and it leans into tennis codes without doing costume. The room is compact at around 100 square metres with about 65 seats, so it works best as a quick stop between errands, not a three-hour camp-out. Coffee comes from Paris roaster Brûlerie de Belleville. Order the L’Eau de Croco – coconut water, matcha, ginger – then move on to the club sandwich.

A few blocks from the Eiffel Tower orbit, Kalve’s Paris shop is Latvia’s specialty roaster doing what it does best: a tight bar, calm service and coffee that doesn’t need extras. It’s the brand’s 11th location, designed by Field Studio with a moody, mineral interior concept Kalve calls ‘Archive of Lost Plants’. Espresso is the default order, then switch to filter if you want to taste what the roastery is chasing. Beans are on the shelf for home brewing, so you can keep the habit going once you leave the neighbourhood.

In Paris’s 18th arrondissement, Chez Elisa keeps it tight with a short, rotating menu that reads bistro, then quietly swerves. Starters run from vichyssoise to fish rillettes with toast and pickles, or oeufs cocotte with ham and Comté. Mains go comforting: pulled beef bourguignon with gnocchi, a stew of beans and shellfish, or fried rice done classic or vegetarian. Desserts stick the landing with tiramisu, apple crumble or chocolate mousse. Everything is house-made, with ingredients chosen responsibly.