Spring, 28 rue de la Tour d'Auvergne, Paris

I love Paris in the springtime, etc, but do I love Spring in Paris? Everyone else - Le Figaro, Michelin - adores this little restaurant tucked away in the ninth arrondissement. True, it is one of the most surprising dining experiences you'll find in the City of Light. For a start, the chef is not French but American. Secondly, the room holds only 16 diners and an open kitchen. There is no menu and no choice, just a set four-course dinner that changes daily, and you have to arrive by 8.30pm because everyone gets served at the same time. It's the closest a restaurant experience can get to dining in someone's little Parisian pied-à-terre - and all for £24 a head.

Thirty year-old Daniel Rose came to Paris nine years ago to study philosophy, but after working with top French chefs such as Le Meurice's Yannick Alléno, he became gripped with the urge to open his own restaurant. Resources were so limited that Rose decided the only way to survive was to keep things small, casual and personal.

So he doubles as maître d', and triples as sommelier, with a single waitress the only employee. One night, after chatting to a lone diner and assuming he was a chef, Rose invited him to help plate the main courses. The diner did so, thereby becoming the first Michelin inspector ever to be asked to put his own dinner together. Spring was subsequently awarded a bib gourmand ("good food at moderate prices") in this year's Michelin guide, and is now a fully paid-up member of the new coterie of Parisian gastro-bistros kick-started by Yves Camdeborde of La Régalade and Le Comptoir.

I rang four weeks prior, and was put on a waiting list. The call comes at 7pm on the night in question - a cancellation. I run through the rain to get there on time.

As I settle, Rose drops by to disclose the menu du marché. Tonight there is sole in chicken broth, followed by pigeon. "We'll start with three little salads - aubergine caviar and marinated sardines, green beans with tomatoes and, um, something else I haven't thought of yet." He laughs.

What comes is a tapas-like collection of sliced heirloom tomatoes, a squish of creamy aubergine dip with crisp Melba toast, a stack of bright green, squeaky beans and two silvery, lightly vinegared sardine fillets. Everything is fresh, bright, clean and uncluttered.

The second course is light and subtle, two snow-white rolls of ever so gently cooked sole sitting in a rich, buttery, chicken broth flecked with fat peas, chanterelles and radish slices. Harmony, balance, sophistication, produce - it's all there, the flavours cast as a team, yet picked out like performers in a spotlight.

Good cooking smells drift over the bare wooden tables as Rose chops, sieves, tastes and shreds. The Parisian couples in the room barely look up, too intent on conversation. A personal, food-friendly wine list includes a 2006 Marcel Lapierre Morgon (£26) which is all spice and cherries, and just crying out for the pigeon. The partially boned, roasted bird is paired with a velvety almond and cauliflower purée, and surrounded by ink blots of dark, flavour-packed jus. Cooked rare and well rested, it couldn't taste more French.

Finally, the kitchen is scrubbed down and dessert is built. Melons are blitzed (the noise shutting up even the French) and topped with macerated cherries and grilled brioche. It's fine but a bit soupy, given we had the brothy second course.

What Rose does is very simple. He puts together a beautifully fresh, harmonious meal from what he has bought at the market that day, and serves it generously but modestly in a room made all the more charming for its pared-down lack of detail. There are no theatrics, just good skills and the sort of food you could happily eat every night of the week, yet it still gives you a Parisian experience. Why, oh why, do we love Paris? Because of places like this. s

16/20

SCORES 1-9 STAY HOME AND COOK 10-11 NEEDS HELP 12 OK 13 PLEASANT ENOUGH 14 GOOD 15 VERY GOOD 16 CAPABLE OF GREATNESS 17 SPECIAL, CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK 18 HIGHLY HONOURABLE 19 UNIQUE AND MEMORABLE 20 AS GOOD AS IT GETS

Spring, 28 rue de la Tour d'Auvergne, Paris. Tel: 00 33 1 45 05 72

Dinner Tuesday to Friday, £24 per person prix fixe (four courses, no choices)

www.springparis.blogspot.com

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