de_DEVirtus is an intimate restaurant in Paris’s 12th arrondissement, a short walk from the lively Marché d’Aligre. It was founded by the chef couple Chiho Kanzaki, from Japan, and Marcelo Di Giacomo, from Argentina, who met while working at Mauro Colagreco’s celebrated Mirazur in Menton. That shared pedigree shows in a style that puts produce and vegetables at the centre of the plate, filtered through Japanese precision and Argentine warmth alongside broader international influences gathered over the course of their careers.
The cooking is refined and technically exacting rather than showy, built on quality ingredients and clean, considered compositions that change with the seasons. Over the years the restaurant became known for tasting menus that offered notable value for the level of craft on display, and for a dining room that guests consistently describe as warm and welcoming. Service is attentive and personable, and the small, understated space keeps the focus on the plate and on the couple’s evident care for their guests rather than on any sense of ceremony.
Michelin awards Virtus two stars, a reflection of the consistency and quality the couple’s kitchen has sustained over the years. For a restaurant that trades on discretion rather than spectacle, it has quietly built a strong reputation as one of the more rewarding tables on the eastern side of the city — a place discovered by word of mouth as much as by guidebook, and cherished by those who find it. For visitors willing to venture beyond the well-trodden central districts, it offers one of the more personal fine-dining experiences in Paris, and a reminder that some of the city’s most serious cooking happens in rooms barely larger than a neighbourhood bistro.