The Bus Palladium was once the kind of Paris nightclub where punk, rock and disco collided in glorious disarray through the 1970s and 80s. Now the building on rue Pierre Fontaine in the 9th arrondissement has re-emerged as a 35-room five-star hotel, and its restaurant has landed a serious coup: chef Valentin Raffali.

If the name rings a bell, it's because of Livingston, his tiny backstreet restaurant in Marseille, where his elegant, Escoffier-rooted cooking — think fish soup worthy of the bouillabaisse canon, skate in beurre noisette, chicken ballotin in a foie-gras-enriched sauce Albufera — earned a devoted local following. Moving him into a high-profile Paris dining room is a gamble, but the early evidence suggests he's pulling it off.

The makeover, handled by Paris design studio Studio KO, nods knowingly to the venue's disreputable past — an Alice-through-the-looking-glass vibe the reviewer sums up as Halston meets Sid Vicious, with Patti Smith as the house muse. The evening we visited the room was packed with a stylish mix of Paris creative types, and the buzz is real.

Raffali's menu is restless and eclectic, a snapshot of how Paris eats now: French comfort classics alongside edgier dishes with Asian and North African accents. Standouts include Roman-style tripe (a bold choice in a city of salmon tartare and burrata), grilled langoustines with homemade XO sauce, an artichoke salad with baby peas, fava beans and fermented pineapple, an onion-and-girolle tarte tatin, and a gloriously messy Thai-style pig's foot with lemongrass and Thai basil. Save room for the braided doughnut with blueberries and almond ice cream.

Two caveats worth knowing before you book: service started frantic and cool, though it warmed up as the evening went on, and the room gets loud as it fills. The advice is simple — book well ahead, take an early table rather than a late one, and arrive with patience and good humour. This is a restaurant still finding its rhythm, but with a chef this talented at the pass, it's worth catching early.

For travellers who like their dinners with a side of rock-and-roll history, Le Restaurant at the Bus Palladium Hotel is one of the more interesting new tables in Paris right now — and a good excuse to explore the 9th, an arrondissement that rewards wandering between courses. Contact: +33 01 89 56 40 50, buspalladium.com.

Review via France Today.