Ondine

Twelve seats, no more. The small, cocooning dining room invites you to chat among yourselves or with your neighbors — if the mood strikes. No set menu: the “intentions” are shared on the website like a list of all possibilities. A way to spark curiosity, whet the appetite, and sweep aside preconceptions — and it works: the friendly chatterbox next to us is raving about the trout, a fish she usually dislikes! At Ondine, the dishes — as delicate as they are poetic — are filled with joy, that of Noémie d’Hooge and Marin Remy. That evening, they were working with the last citrus fruits of the season, grown at the Vessières nursery (Pyrénées-Orientales). And just like that, a burst of sunshine and zest. “We use French or local products, such as fish from the Sparsbach fish farm or infusions from the Kalblin farm,” explains Noémie. “We start from nature to transform and express it through French cuisine, using preservation and fermentation techniques inspired by Japan and the Scandinavian countries,” adds Marin. Classics are thus paired with highly personal interpretations. All accompanied by Alsatian wines (but not only), or non-alcoholic drinks including juices obtained through extraction, fermentation, infusion, maceration, or decoction… All of it presented with a strong sense of aesthetics: Noémie studied visual arts and even began a PhD on “the ecosystem of exhibitions and the art of the table.” This led her, in 2017, to open her first restaurant, Le Botaniste, already in Strasbourg, where Marin Remy (who trained at Frantzén in Stockholm) was in the kitchen. Le Botaniste closed, and together they opened Ondine at the end of 2022. During themed evenings, Noémie and Marin invite winemakers or ceramicists, including artist Clara Valdès. Need we say that her plates elevate the dishes even further?