The story
In a quiet street of Toulouse, Acte 2 is the latest chapter from chef Yannick Delpech. The name says it all: a second act, one that trades the formal dining room for the intimacy of a house. Here, the kitchen, living room, and dining area flow into one another, and guests share the space with cooks, sommeliers, and fellow diners. It is gastronomy without the stiff tablecloth, but with the same exacting standards that earned Delpech his first Michelin star at age 24—and now, a Michelin star for Acte 2 in 2025.
The chef’s path began with an apprenticeship at Michel Belin in Albi, followed by a decade at L’Amphitryon in Colomiers, where he became the youngest Michelin-starred chef in France. Two stars followed, then a high-end tea salon, a clandestine table d’hôte, and a bakery. In 2023, he received the Gault & Millau d’or for all his establishments. Acte 2, opened that same year, is the culmination: a place where “the field of possibilities is widened,” as the chef puts it.
The menu changes weekly, driven by market finds. For lunch on Fridays and Saturdays, there are two options at 48 € and 72 €. The evening discovery menu, the “Balade gustative,” is 135 €, with optional wine pairings. From Tuesday to Saturday, the Comptoir offers shareable plates—think cured beef with cauliflower brioche and confit nori, or creamy cod with tarama lace and aged parmesan, each priced between 8 € and 18 €. Reservations are required, and there is no vegetarian option.
The atmosphere is intentionally hybrid: part home, part stage. Music, wine, and even projections weave through the meal. It is a convivial, immersive experience that stays true to Delpech’s belief that cooking is not an option but a necessity—“an act of love.” For those seeking a private event, the space can be tailored for seated dinners or cocktail receptions.
Acte 2 is modern cuisine in its most personal form: rigorous technique, relaxed setting, and a chef who has never stopped reinventing his craft.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
High quality cooking
After a bucolic interlude at his table d’hôte communal dining restaurant in Gaillac, Yannick Delpech is back with the same ambitious vision we first caught sight of at L’Amphitryon, now raising the curtain on his restaurant Acte II in a new space, perfectly suited to an immersive culinary experience. The day we went for lunch, that included apricots and foie gras baked into a pillowy, freshly smoked brioche; a bold aïgo boulido, combining thin strips of raw calamari, guanciale, bacon cream, squid ink, a lemon-savory condiment and an egg yolk cooked in garlic broth; rustic lamb sausage and octopus stew; veal with its own drippings, paired with a crispy veal trotter and a sweetbread tartlet, plus saffron-infused potato espuma; before an audacious dessert combining lemon verbena-roasted melon with lemon syrup, melon juice, pickled and candied melon rind, and lemon verbena ice cream. A masterful performance! // Daisy Poppy
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