Restaurant in Toulouse, France
Toulouse's freshest Michelin star: book early.
Acte 2 Yannick Delpech earned a Michelin star in 2025, making it the most accessible starred table in Toulouse at the €€€ price point. Book it for a special occasion and plan three to six weeks ahead — demand has risen sharply since the award. A kitchen on an upward trajectory, worth catching now before it becomes harder to get into.
Acte 2 Yannick Delpech earned its Michelin star in 2025, upgrading from a Michelin Plate the year before. That trajectory matters: this is a kitchen on the way up, not one coasting on a legacy reputation. At the €€€ price point, it sits below the €€€€ tier occupied by Michel Sarran and Py-r, which makes it the most financially accessible Michelin-starred table in Toulouse right now. Book it for a special occasion and book it soon — demand will only increase as the star settles in.
Booking here is genuinely hard. A fresh Michelin star in a city the size of Toulouse creates a concentrated demand problem: the local audience is large enough to fill a small dining room for weeks ahead, and food-focused visitors are now routing through the city specifically for this address. Expect to plan at least three to four weeks in advance for a weekend table. Midweek slots , Tuesday through Thursday , are your leading opening if the diary allows it. If you're working toward a specific date, such as an anniversary or a birthday dinner, treat six weeks as your minimum runway. Walk-in availability is not something to rely on at a one-star restaurant operating in this kind of post-announcement window.
The leading time of year to visit is spring or early autumn. Toulouse runs warm through summer, and the city's rhythm slows somewhat in August when locals travel. A September or October booking gives you the full kitchen in form, cooler evenings that suit a longer tasting-menu format, and a dining room that feels purposeful rather than tourist-heavy.
The address , 1 Rue Paneboeuf in the 31400 district , places Acte 2 in central Toulouse, within easy reach of the city's older core. For a special-occasion dinner, the visual register of the room is a meaningful part of the decision: a Michelin-starred table at this price tier typically invests in a considered interior, and the name "Acte 2" signals a deliberate second chapter in Delpech's career rather than a casual neighbourhood project. Arrive with time to settle rather than rushing from another commitment , this is a format that rewards presence.
Cuisine is classified as Modern, which in the current French context means a technique-driven approach that respects classical foundations without being constrained by them. For a celebration dinner or a serious date, that register works well: it gives you something to talk about without demanding encyclopaedic knowledge of the menu. A Google rating of 4.1 across 87 reviews is modest in volume but reflects early post-opening feedback; the Michelin star carries more weight as a quality signal than the review count at this stage.
One visit to Acte 2 is enough to understand what Delpech is building. Two or three visits, spread across different seasons, will show you whether the kitchen has the range to sustain a star over time , which is exactly what you want to know if you're considering this as your go-to special-occasion restaurant in the Southwest.
On a first visit, let the tasting menu do the work. It will give you the clearest read on the kitchen's current ambition and technical level. On a second visit, if a shorter or à la carte format is available, use it to test whether the quality holds outside the full set-piece format. That's the more demanding ask of any kitchen, and it's the visit that tells you whether Acte 2 can support a broader relationship or whether it's leading reserved for one-a-year occasions.
For a third visit, consider timing it around a season you haven't experienced here before. Modern kitchens at this level typically shift their menus with the seasons, and Delpech's regional base in the Southwest of France gives him access to serious seasonal produce , cassoulet country runs south, Gascony is close, and the Pyrenees larder is within reach. That geographic context means spring and autumn menus are likely to differ meaningfully from each other, which gives repeat visits genuine purpose rather than diminishing returns.
If Toulouse is a regular destination for you, Acte 2 earns a place in rotation alongside SEPT and Agapes , vary the format and price point across visits rather than always anchoring to the most formal table.
Acte 2 Yannick Delpech is located at 1 Rue Paneboeuf, 31400 Toulouse, France. Price range: €€€. Awards: Michelin 1 Star (2025), Michelin Plate (2024). Google rating: 4.1 (87 reviews). Booking difficulty: hard , plan three to four weeks ahead minimum, six weeks for weekend or special-occasion dates. Leading timing: midweek evenings; spring and early autumn for peak kitchen form.
For more options across the city, see our full Toulouse restaurants guide, and if you're building a longer trip, our Toulouse hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide cover the full picture. For other Michelin-level benchmarks in France, Bras in Laguiole and Mirazur in Menton offer useful reference points for what starred cooking looks like at different levels of ambition and price.
At €€€, Acte 2 is the clearest value proposition among Toulouse's starred and near-starred tables. Michel Sarran and Py-r both sit at €€€€ and carry longer track records , if heritage and a known quantity matter more than catching a kitchen mid-ascent, either is the safer choice. But at a lower price ceiling, Acte 2 currently offers the more interesting bet: a kitchen with a fresh star and something to prove.
SEPT at €€€€ is the direct stylistic peer in terms of Modern Cuisine positioning, but again sits at a higher price tier. For a business dinner where the room and the formality of the occasion need to match a client's expectations, SEPT or Michel Sarran may read better. For a personal celebration where you want cooking that feels alive and in motion, Acte 2 makes more sense right now.
If budget is the primary constraint, Chez Loustic at €€ and L'Air de Famille at €€ both deliver quality Modern and Traditional cooking without the tasting-menu commitment or the booking lead time. They are not Michelin-starred alternatives , they are genuinely different in register. Use them for weeknight meals or when the occasion doesn't call for a full set-piece dinner.
Smart casual is the floor; a jacket or equivalent for dinner is sensible. At the €€€ price point with a Michelin star, Acte 2 sits in a register where overly casual dress will feel out of place, but a strict formal dress code is unlikely to be enforced. Think of it the same way you would any serious one-star table in a French city: dress for the occasion rather than the weather. If you're in doubt, err toward smart , you will not be overdressed at a celebration dinner here.
Yes, on a first visit. A Michelin star awarded in 2025 means the inspectors judged the full kitchen output to be at star level , and tasting menus are the format that leading demonstrates that. At €€€ rather than €€€€, the price-to-star ratio is better here than at Michel Sarran or Py-r. For a special occasion, the tasting menu is the right call. If you return and a shorter format is available, test that on visit two to see how the kitchen holds up outside the set-piece.
Three things. First, book well ahead , the 2025 Michelin star has compressed availability significantly, and this is not a restaurant you can decide on the day. Second, the price range is €€€, which is notable in Toulouse's starred tier; come expecting a serious dining experience at a price that won't match Paris starred restaurants. Third, the Google review count is still low (87 reviews), so don't over-index on the aggregate score , the Michelin star is the more reliable quality signal at this stage. Also worth knowing: Toulouse is well connected by rail from Paris, and Au Pois Gourmand and Cécile are worth building into a multi-meal Toulouse trip alongside Acte 2.
For a weekend table, book four to six weeks ahead. For a midweek slot, three weeks is workable but tighter than you'd want. A fresh Michelin star in a city like Toulouse creates a sustained demand spike , the audience is local and motivated, and food-focused visitors are now adding Toulouse to itineraries specifically for this address. If you have a fixed date in mind for an anniversary or birthday, six weeks is the safe minimum. Midweek evenings remain the most accessible entry point.
It depends on format. If Acte 2 offers counter seating or a bar position , common at modern European restaurants in this tier , solo dining works well and often gives you the most direct read on the kitchen. If the format is table-only in a room calibrated for couples and small groups, solo dining is still perfectly feasible at a one-star restaurant in France, but you may find the tasting-menu pacing more comfortable with a dining companion. At €€€, a solo tasting-menu dinner is a significant but not excessive outlay. For solo reference points at a similar level in France, Flocons de Sel in Megève and Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern show how starred tables handle solo guests across different formats.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acte 2 Yannick Delpech | Modern Cuisine | Category: Chef's; Michelin 1 Star (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Hard | — |
| Michel Sarran | French, Creative | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Py-r | Creative | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| SEPT | Modern Cuisine | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Chez Loustic | Modern Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| L'Air de Famille | Traditional Cuisine | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Toulouse for this tier.
Aim for dressed-up casual at minimum — think a clean blazer or smart dress rather than trainers and jeans. A 2025 Michelin-starred room in central Toulouse draws a local crowd that tends to dress for the occasion, so erring on the side of polished is the right call. Nothing in the venue record prescribes a formal dress code, but matching the room's register will make the experience feel more coherent.
At the €€€ price point and with a fresh 2025 Michelin star, the tasting menu format is the main reason to book here — this is a chef's restaurant built around a progression of courses, not a place to drop in for a quick plate. The jump from Michelin Plate in 2024 to a full star in 2025 signals a kitchen moving with clear intent, which makes the investment more defensible now than it was a year ago. If tasting menus aren't your format, Py-r or SEPT may give you more flexibility for a similar price.
The name references a second act — Yannick Delpech has history in the Toulouse dining scene, and this address at 1 Rue Paneboeuf is the current chapter. Come with a reservation confirmed well in advance, since a new Michelin star in a mid-sized French city creates a demand bottleneck fast. The €€€ pricing and chef-driven format mean this works best as a deliberate, longer meal rather than a casual dinner.
Book at least four to six weeks out, and push that to two months if you're targeting a Friday or Saturday. The 2025 Michelin star added significant pressure to a room that was already in demand post-Plate recognition in 2024 — Toulouse is a large enough city to fill a newly starred restaurant for weeks at a time. Check directly via the restaurant's own channels rather than third-party platforms to get the most accurate availability.
It can work for solo dining if you're comfortable with a longer tasting menu format at a €€€ spend — but this is not a casual counter seat situation. Toulouse's Michelin-starred rooms tend to be table-service focused, which means solo diners will get full attention from the floor but may feel the pacing more acutely without a dining companion. If solo flexibility and a lighter spend matter more, Chez Loustic or L'Air de Famille are more practical options.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
