© Marxito / Photography: Mathieu Garçon

Street food reinvented – that pretty much sums up the format of Marxito, the sleek new eatery just off the bustling Champs-Elysées thoroughfare. Concepted by Thierry Marx, the lauded French chef with a penchant for molecular cooking, and created in collab with Parisian designer Ito Morabito a.k.a. ora ïto. The restaurant occupies a 170 sqm. (1,830 sq.ft.) ground floor space, and features a slightly futuristic interior design infused with soft pink hue. Upon entering the restaurant, guests come across a counter and service station, followed by a dining section, seating 50 people, which stretches all the way to the far end of the building. On one side, the wall is covered in vertical bands, and at interval, superimposed by broader vertical ones that extend downwards, transforming into tables, while also extending upwards, in backlit form, even onto the ceiling. Additional lighting is provided by pendant lamps and embedded ceiling light spots.

The opposite wall is clad in floor-to-ceiling slabs of mirror which optically enlarge the space. Interestingly, the concept of Marxito was born in Tokyo where Marx came across a food shop with a machine that made doriyaki, or pancakes filled with red bean paste, and immediately came up with the idea to start a similar business in his hometown Paris. The menu at Marxito is similar, but has been tweaked to suit local flavours. The pancakes are made from buckwheat, and Marx created both sweet and savoury fillings, using a wide range of nutritious ingredients, such as marinated eggplant, scarmozza, and smoked salmon, but also matcha-favoured mousse and blueberry jam. All ingredients are carefully sourced from small producers across France. A bonus for sweet tooths are the ice creams on the menu, created by acclaimed ice cream master Emmanuel Ryon, and who even created a flavour based on buckwheat and Tonka beans.

Marxito
1bis rue Jean Mermoz (Champs-Elysées)
75008 Paris
Telephone: +33 1 47209202
Mon-Sat 11.30-5

© Marxito / Photography: Mathieu Garçon