Zébra

Zebra Square is first and foremost a remarkable gamble. To create it, owner Patrick Derderian sold a restaurant chain he had created in the 1970s. With the cash, he has built from scratch a Parisian brasserie and on top of it, on two floors, a 22-room townhouse hotel.

Located next to the Maison de la Radio in the 16th arrondissement, the restaurant - opened in September 1995 - was an instant fashionable hit, but the hotel side - dogged by bad luck and the continuing French recession - delayed its opening. It was finally set to open before Christmas 1996.

The next step was a pepper-grey wine bar O Poivrier! which served Poilane bread sandwiches, salads and microwave meals. Having sold these outlets he created a 400-seater cathedral-like eaterie, a kind of Mezzo precursor, called Bermuda Onions, also in Paris.

To finance Zébra Square, Derderian, a former Club Med chef, had to shed L'Amanguier. He took the risk because he had the unique opportunity, for Paris, of buying the land on which he wanted to site his latest concept. It's located in the rich and fashionable 16th arrondissement, close to the Seine, but there's no ready-made parking - he uses a valet service instead - and no shops or high rise offices close by.

What he claims to have is the hub of the French media as a next-door neighbour: "We are situated smack-bang next to the headquarters of all the radio and television channels. France Inter is here, as is Radio France. TF1 is close by, Canal Plus is opposite, as are Antenne 2 and FR3. Paris Cable is here."

His first L'Amanguier represented a £35,000 investment. By the time that Zébra Square is fully operational, it will have cost him £12m. To raise the capital at a time when French banks weren't lending, he relinquished his controlling stake in the restaurants. But he had a more pressing reason for taking this decision. "I've always had to wear two hats: managing director and concept creator. The pressure of managing restaurants while developing my latest project would have been too much for me. I would never have had the time to do it."

Ninety-nine per cent of the theme - from the decor, the colour schemes, the furnishings and the uniforms to the choice of opening times, the menus and the prices - is down to him. It's something he has been used to in the past, through his restaurants. But in this case, where he is overseeing a building, the scale is much larger.

According to Derderian only two kinds of restaurant perform well in recession: those with a theme, and those in a carefully chosen niche. He describes Zébra Square as belonging to the latter category.

"Knowing that I was in a quarter populated by people in the media who worked all hours, I decided to create a brasserie which would be open every day from 8am to 1am, with food on offer non-stop, and where people can eat and drink as much or little as they like."

At Zébra Square he has offered a range of formulas, some of which have proved successful well beyond his expectations and some which have fallen short of them. In the latter category is a basement piano bar and lounge which was set to service the hotel, had it opened at the same time; and an art gallery which runs the length of the lozenge-shaped building.

However, the brasserie went off like a bomb and is packed out for lunch and dinner. It received 14/20 from Gault/Millau in its first year, a remarkable achievement given its relative size and price range (Menu Ffr110 (£12.73); main courses on the carte Ffr85-Ffr115(£9.84-£13.31)).

At lunch the media merchants treat it like their own canteen and it's probably the hottest spot in town for star watching. In the evenings, Parisians fill the restaurant to do just that. In its first year, open 365 days, Zébra Square averaged 350 covers daily, with a third of the business at midday and the rest at night.

The dramatic exterior plays an important role in the restaurant's image. It stands alone, sleek and marble-clad, in a triangle bounded by three main roads. On one side a terrace opens up in summer. The other forms the hotel's reception. The brasserie entrance at the front of the building gapes invitingly like the bows of a roll-on-roll-off ferry.

Inside, the high ceiling, split levels and minimalist furnishings make the wide-open space look like a modernised version of La Coupole. On the Artexed walls above Derderian has written favourite aphorisms, such as "Qui donne du plaisir, en a… " [He who gives pleasure, enjoys pleasure]. On one wall a pair of stylized giraffes rub necks and the animals' markings are taken up by a mosaic running the length of the floor. Charming waitresses have always been a Derderian trademark. Dressed in fawn trousers with khaki blouses - a nod towards the safari theme - they move between tables with the speed and efficiency of trained nurses.

Cooking is good, better than in the traditional Parisian brasseries. Patrice Hardy, the executive chef, was a senior sous chef at the two-Michelin-starred Hotel Martinez in Cannes, a replacement chef at the Crillon and at the Grand Vefour.

The experience of working in Hotel Palaces has given him the grounding to deal with large numbers, often in a hurry - though less so in the evenings - but working to a consistently high standard.

Thanks to his years in Cannes, he's well placed to serve the Mediterranean style of dishes that are still as popular in Paris as they are in London.

First courses include a brick de sardines au citron et salade mesclun; saumon épais mariné Á la fleur de sel et croquant de légumes; and petite friture de calamars frais.

There are five variants on the tartare theme: a classic steak tartare; raw minced beef with lemon juice and olive oil, like the Lebanese kibbeh; a herb tartare which is shown the grill to sear the surface; a mixed fish tartare with cream and dill, served with a ratatouille; a tuna tartare accompanied by tapenade croutons. Other main courses could have come straight off a Mezzo or Kensington Place menu: spiced shoulder of lamb confit with couscous; gambas Á la plancha; baby monkfish tails with pasta alla carbonara; and a delicious poitrine de cochon fondante et croustillante aux champignons des bois (rolled breast of pork, slowly braised and then crisped in the oven).

Zébra Square

3 Place Clement Ader, 75016 Paris

Tel: 00 33 1 44 14 91 91