Fana, 14, rue Ferdinand Flocon, 75018 Paris
My previous post involved a situation where we had eaten at a disappointing casual restaurant the night before, and all was forgotten with the lunch we had at a highly upscale restaurant, Ducasse Baccarat. This post involves the inverse in the sense that the disappointing meal the previous night was at an expensive restaurant, followed the next day by a rewarding lunch in a relatively modest bistrot on the northern side of Montmartre.
I believe that Fana opened five or six months ago. Gabriel Gras Fernandez and Jorice Sardain are in charge, both with good credentials behind them.
The room is open and light, seating perhaps 36 people, more in fair weather when there apparently is a terrace.
The menu at lunch today:
So, at lunch, if you take the small entrée (grignotage), it’s 25€ for that and a main course, as it is for a main course and a dessert. If you take the regular entrée instead of the grignotage, it’s a few extra euros.
The wine list is of moderate size with mostly naturalish selections; the producers that I recognized are of good quality and the markups reasonable. A sample of part of the red wine offerings:
L’s grilled pleurotte mushrooms with coffee sabayon, parsley, and a brioche crispy:
It was as delicious as it sounds. With it, she took a glass of 2022 Mâcon-Burgy from a producer I failed to note.
I started with the txistora (a basque sausage) with espelette, amora “condiment” (mayonnaise with Amora mustard), and watercress:
The was a flavorful dish with very good lightness, leaving plenty of room for the main course. With it, I took a glass of 2022 Santenay La Caissière from Jessiaume, a producer who has become popular in Paris in recent years. Unfortunately, although 2022 is a great year for Burgundies, this wine was rather ordinary.
For her main, L took the fish of the day, lieu jaune (pollock). It was served with leeks, ginger, and orange “haddock sauce”:
She pronounced it excellent.
I took the marinated lomo pork with roasted corn, tamarind, condiment, and a buckwheat soufflé:
This, too, was excellent, with the roasted corn making an excellent complement to the marinated pork.
With this, I took a glass of red Saint-Joseph (from the Syrah grape) that fit the bill perfectly, being rich, balanced, and flavorful:
Neither of us had room for dessert, but I had a very good double espresso, served with a slice of pain d’épices:
The bill:
Fana is a charming informal bistrot that is perfect as a launching point for exploration of Montmartre (we continued after the lunch to the Montmartre Museum and its current show on Jacques Prévert.
Fana
14 rue Ferdinand Flocon, 75018 Paris
Tuesday-Saturday lunch and dinner
Tél: 09 86 37 80 77
Métro: Simplon, Jules Joffrin, Marcadet Poissoniers