Looking for a relaxed yet quality meal in a traditional Parisian bistrot? This address in the 7th arrondissement of Paris hits all the spots.
With heavy red velvet curtains at the door, milk-glass globe lamps on a brass rail overhead and a zine bar in the main dining room, this place looks the part as one of the best traditional French bistros on the Left Bank which makes it very much an address to bear in mind for a relaxed and delicious meal in the capital.
I wound up here recently on a rainy Saturday night when a lost reservation at a nearby restaurant left us desperate and very hungry in the midst of one of those Parisian downpours that seem to come at you from every angle. Peering through the door, I asked if they might have a table for two, and lo and behold, they did – a perfect little perch in an alcove with one seat on the red moleskin banquette and the other on a bentwood chair. We tucked our umbrellas with broken struts (if only someone would invent a sturdy fold-away umbrella that lasted for more than six months) under our seats, ordered two glasses of white Beaujolais and some saucisson and absorbed the pleasantly purring soundtrack of a room where people were eating well and enjoying themselves.
When our waiter came to take our order, he teased us by asking if we wanted a hairdryer or a couple of towels, because we were soaked, and we insisted we were fine, even though a towel would have been welcome. As it was, my foie gras with a gelée of piment d’Espelette (the little red pepper from the Basque Country) was unctuous and excellent, with just enough of the barnyard ruddiness that makes it such a treat, and my friends frog’s legs en persillade were perfect, too. In the very damp circumstances in which I found myself that night, I can’t imagine a better and more comforting main course than a blanquette de veau, veal with mushrooms, carrots and pearl onions in a blanket of cream sauce over rice, and my friend’s big plate of hot crunchy frites made her deliriously happy, too.
We drank a very jolly Morgon, shared a baba au rhum and threw our cares to the wind with snifters of Chartreuse at the end of the meal, because we were both very well fed and finally dry. This off-the-cuff meal was made even more of a pleasure by the friendly and very attentive service, and I look forward to going again. Open daily for lunch and dinner.
Bistrot des Fables – 139 rue Saint-Dominique, 7th arrondissement, Paris, +33 01 47 53 73 34.
Average à la carte €45, lunch menus €24 and €29.
From France Today Magazine
Alexander Lobrano grew up in Connecticut, and lived in Boston, New York and London before moving to Paris, his home today, in 1986. He was European Correspondent for Gourmet magazine from 1999 until its closing, and has written about food and travel for Saveur, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Travel & Leisure, Departures, Conde Nast Traveler, and many other publications in the United States and the United Kingdom. He is the author of HUNGRY FOR PARIS, 2nd Edition (Random House, 4/2014), HUNGRY FOR FRANCE (Rizzoli, 4/2014), and MY PLACE AT THE TABLE, newly published in June 2021.
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