Specialist in wood-fired meat and fish cooking

At Elmer, everything starts with the fire. The rotisserie sits at the centre of the kitchen, open onto the dining room, and it is the rotisserie that sets the menu: what turns on the spit, what goes over the embers, what waits its turn. Cooking is not one step among others here, it is the signature of the house.

The rotisserie: slow spit-roasting over the wood fire

The rotisserie works by radiant heat, never by direct contact. The cut turns away from the flames, bastes itself in its own juices with every rotation, and the skin colours slowly while the flesh stays tender. This is a way of cooking that cannot be rushed: it takes time and constant attention, and that is precisely what no oven can give you.

Embers and barbecue: searing, smoking, bringing out the best

Once the wood has burned down, the embers take over. They give a dry, intense heat, ideal for searing the surface of a cut, marking a vegetable or finishing a fish. Where the spit works gently and at length, the embers act fast: a few minutes are enough, sometimes a few seconds.

The smoke is not an addition, it comes from the wood itself. Depending on the species, the moisture and the distance from the fire, the taste changes entirely. It is this range that allows us to vary the cooking without ever repeating the same effect.

Perfect cooking: the gesture, the timing, the produce

Wood-fire cooking cannot be set with the turn of a dial. The fire rises, falls, shifts; the cut has neither the same thickness nor the same temperature from one day to the next. The cook corrects constantly: moving closer, further away, turning, letting it rest. Perfect cooking is the result of that continuous attention, to the degree and to the minute.

Resting matters as much as cooking. A cut taken off the fire keeps cooking from its own heat, and it is that resting time that settles the juices and gives its final texture to meat and fish alike.

Meat and fish: our produce and our suppliers

Fire forgives nothing: it reveals the produce as much as it transforms it. That is why the restaurant works with small French farms, organic or eco-responsible, chosen to hold up to the spit and the embers. Whole poultry, fine cuts of beef, whole fish: produce generous enough to take slow cooking without drying out.

The menu follows the seasons and each day's deliveries: discover our menus.

Fine dining born of the fire

From his years in Japan, Mexico and Peru, chef Simon Horwitz brought back a simple conviction: fire is the oldest of seasonings. At Elmer, he has made it the starting point of a creative cuisine, where every plate is built around a way of cooking rather than the other way round.

Nothing is hidden: the kitchen is open onto the dining room, and the service is watched as much as it is tasted. Discover the restaurant and chef Simon Horwitz, or book your table.