L'Affable, rue de Saint-Simon, Paris 7

In doing research for restaurants, a well-known source listed this as one of the top bistrots in Paris. A little more research indicated a lot of good (not fantastic) recommendations, even though the name hadn’t really come across my desk before. So I decided to investigate on a very hot Saturday evening.

The restaurant is in haute tourist land, near both the Musée Maillol and the Musée d’Orsay, with Bon Marché, Paris’s most fashionable department store, not far away, and lots of other goodies nearby.

Given the heat, we were counselled by the staff to eat outdoors, and that’s what we did. As other diners arrived, it was clear that this was a well-heeled, mostly non-French, clientèle. Many probably were sent by concierges in some of the hotels in the neighborhood.

The carte was not surprising for a Paris bistrot these days, but each dish had a little twist:

The restaurant’s website indicates that it is proud of its wine list and displays many of the names which, on the whole were quite encouraging. Given the clienèle, it was not surprising that there are plenty of selections of Bordeaux and Burgundy well into three and even four figures. There are also some rather comical mistakes on the list, indicating that whoever drew it up was not the same person who entered the information on the list presented to the diners.

On a hot evening, you want something refreshing and not overly challenging. Given what we were ordering to eat, a white Burgundy would be appropriate, and I know and have great confidence in the producer of the 2019 Bourgogne-Hautes Côtes de Beaune blanc, Domaine de Bellène. so we ordered that.

Unfortunately, that was not what was brought to table:

It is a different vintage, and instead of being the estate wine, it is a négociant wine (made in this case from grapes harvested and vinified by Maison Roche de Bellène, the négociant label associated with Domaine de Bellène). I pointed out the difference and asked if the wine on the wine list was available, but I was told it was not. Again, I know and have confidence in this producer, so I took the wine, and we were well-rewarded — the wine is unoaked and clear, light, crisp, and mineral. But one has to keep the pours small because the wine warmed so quickly in the glass on this evening.

L started with the gazpacho, which was served iced and was tangy and delicious:

I took the multi-colored beets (bettraves) with goat cheese and it was tangy, fresh, and satisfying:

We each took the cabaillaud (cod), which was cooked very well done and had curry flavoring that gave it added interest:

It was too hot for us to want anything after that.

The first bill came showing the more expensive red Bourgogne-Hautes Côtes de Beaune, not the white that we had, and thus overstated the tab by 14€. The corrected bill:

The overall meal was very good, but I would not single L’Affable out as “one of the best bistrots in Paris.” I certainly would not object to going back if someone invited me there, but for my interests, there are other places in the area that I would choose over this one, and so this is probably a first and last visit for me.

L’Affable

10 rue de Saint-Simon, 75007 Paris

Tél: 01 42 22 01 60

Open daily, lunch and dinner

https://laffable-restaurant.fr/

Métro: Solférino, Rue du Bac