Les Affranchis

Expensive but great food, wine and lovely staff! Good atmosphere even on a Sunday night.

First things first, Les Affranchis is one of my favorite restaurants in Paris. This happened to be my local friend’s favorite as well, given that she used to live nearby.
Secondly, make a reservation a day before to secure a table because it gets really busy in the evening (after 8pm) and I have seen the hopes of countless eager foodies dashed.
Now, let’s get down to business. I would highly recommend whatever’s on the plats du jour (dish of the day) as you can never go wrong. In a week, I visited this quaint restaurant tucked in a quieter corner of 9eme (closest metro stations: Pigalle or Saint Georges) TWICE — As a tourist, I almost never visit a restaurant more than once. For appetizers, I had different soups on both occasions. In my first visit, I had the creamy cauliflower soup that was so amazing. The texture of the soup was perfect — not too creamy, not too watery, not too granular, yet not too chunky. The taste was perfect — light, refreshing but really flavorful. In my second visit, I had the pumpkin soup (I usually hate all things pumpkins) and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it — no specific taste particularly stood out but it was really delicious and I really enjoyed it.
For the main course, I had the grilled codfish which was heaven sent. It was grilled to perfection such that the outside was the right level of brown and crunch, yet the inside was not overdone. The fillet was perched atop a mini spinach hill that absorbed the accompanying sauce. All in all, the dish was simple, yet cooked so well that you’d want more. In my second visit, I had the duck breast confit which was probably the best I’ve had in Paris. Some restaurants make it too well done (even though I always only ask for ‘medium’) that the meat’s texture is like leather. Others overfry the surface and undercook the inside, which just makes the texture weird. Les Affranchis does not of that and finds the right balance in texture (all boils down to perfect frying temperature). The slices were arranged in a fan-​like display and was drizzled with some awesome sauce — utterly delicious!
For dessert, I had the same chocolate grand marnier cake (because everything taste better with alcohol, ha!) and loved every single bite of it.
You can tell that everything is made using the freshest ingredients and cooked on the spot. Even the cake had a crisp outer texture which feels like it is fresh off the oven. Definitely would recommend this to EVERYONE: D

Most visually and taste bud tinitllating experience – quite possibly one of my top 5 meals EVER. Started with the duck liver which came as two thick cut unadulterated pieces of pink organ rolled in warm cinnamoney spices, so rich I didn’t think I could tolerate more than a few bites, but managed to eat a whole slice – best described as magical meat butter. The terrine is also tasty, but more like a crumbly gourmet spreadable sausage in comparison. The pan seared seabream came with orange curry foam (with just enough funk to make you check your armpits ;) surprisingly perfect pairing with beautiful carrots, calamata olives, beet slivers, and bitter greens. The pork loin dish was more like candied pork belly, very rich and satisfying. Topped off dinner with the citrus panna cotta which came with pink grapefruit sections topped with citrus sorbet/​cream – the perfect refreshing ending to a perfect meal. We were very lucky to come around 7pm when they start dinner service to get a table without a reservation, several others were turned away since the reservations were booked for the evening.

Ok Maybe it was the night that I went, or the good company, but the food here was outstanding. My Pros and cons below.
PROS:
–delicious food. I really liked everything I got here. Everything was cooked perfectly and really tasty. A great hidden French restaurant.
–great desserts
–fresh
–great location
–cozy environment
–good menu choices. it seems to change each week and seasonal options
–good wines
–good service. for paris standards
–good cocktails. i was actually surprised judging by the low quality in paris
–great for lunch and even better for dinner
CONS
–small place, siting pretty close to other people
–need to make RSVP’s in advance
–a bit on the pricy side for what it is, but still affordable
–gets really packed mainly for dinner
If you’re looking for a place to take some friends that are in town, go to this cozy little place. I seriously loved this place and have been wanting to go back. The dessert was outstanding and everything to expect from a little french restaurant. this is not a high quality restaurants, just a simple and really nice hidden pace to grab a few drinks and tasty dinner.

Pour fêter mon anniversaire, ma copine m’a invité à dîner dans ce petit restaurant. Et quelle belle surprise ! On s’y sent bien dès qu’on passé la porte. Le lieu est assez petit, pas énormément de tables. La déco à beaucoup de charme et il y a une petite bougie sur chacune des tables. Tout cela crée une jolie ambiance pour un dîner en amoureux.
Une fois installés, après la remise du cadeau bien sûr :) et la dégustation d’un cocktail des plus originaux, passons aux plats. Le serveur nous amèné une grande ardoise sur laquelle sont notés 5 entrées, 5 plats et 5 desserts. Avec la possibilité de formules E+P ou P+D.
Donc pas énormément de choix, mais tout est tellement appétissant que la sélection est vraiment ardue.
Je né rentrerai pas dans les détails des plats. Je peux simplement affirmer que les 2 entrées et les 2 plats ainsi que la bouteille de vin étaient à tomber par terre. Tout était parfait ! Et la présentation des assiettes étaient très jolies.
Il faut compter aux alentours de 120 € pour un dîner romantique digne de ce nom dans ce très bel endroit.
Je le conseille à tous les amoureux de Paris.

Sur la place Gustave Toudouze, pas très loin de la buvette, nouveau lieu branché du moment, il y a Les Affranchis. Moins de presse, moins bobo, moins tout;. On y trouve plus de place.
Le service y est très sympathique (serveuse sympathiquement allumée, qui malgré son jeune age donne un côté retro au lieu, on s’y sent bien!), et la qualité de la bouffe est top. C’est simple (mais un peu recherché quand même), c’est bon, c’est agréable, bref le genre d’endroit qu’on voudrait voir se multiplier, surtout que le prix y est juste, et ca… c’est sympa!

I may not know exactly what I ate but I do know that it was delicious!
When my husband and I didn’t have dinner plans on our second night in Paris, a bartender recommended we give Les Affranchis a try so we walked over and luckily were able to get a table since we were the first ones in that night. By the time we left the place was completely packed, so if you want to dine later I’d definitely make a reservation.
The prix fixe dinner options were written on a chalkboard in French but luckily a server/​manager was able to come over and give us a good idea of what each option was in English. Like I said, I’m not exactly sure what I ate, but if you take a look at my pictures you’ll get the idea. We had chorizo to start and then for small plates my husband had a terrine and I had some kind of poached mackerel.
For large plates my husband had Scottish beef and I had black pudding. The small plates were good but it was the large plates that stole the show. The presentation was beautiful and everything was just so full of flavor, in combinations you wouldn’t expect. My black pudding dish had what I believe was some kind of apple pancake but then there was a chili sauce on the plate that added such a great twist to the it. To end the meal we had an amazing dessert which I also do not know the name of, but there was a piece of cake that was similar to a pound cake with cherries underneath and a pistachio whipped cream that you put on top. This was heaven for me… it reminded me of spumoni ice cream and I love spumoni ice cream!
2 thumbs up for great service and great food at Les Affranchis!

Ce petit resto est super,
1: la carte est juste comme il faut avec menu à 35 euros entrée/​plat/​dessert et tout est frais et de saison (cinq choix).
Dans l’assiette on joue les différentes textures et la fraicheur du produit et ça le fait sans être surfait ! Bonnes proportions.
2: le boudin est fait maison trop yummy
3: C’est des jeunes et ils sont supers sympas et aux petits soins
4: La déco est chouette.
5: petit + déco toilettes !
On y va en tête à tête avec son meilleur copain ou entre amis :)
Merci à Antoine de m’y avoir emmenée !

Ravi de la trouvaille
Nous y sommes allés sur conseils et ce fut une excellente découverte: les plats étaient parfaits avec ce qu’il faut d’inventivité. Les cuissons sont justes, les produits travaillés de très bonne qualité. Bref, nous avons apprécié du début à la fin. Le seul bémol serait peut-​être un service un peu lent mais en tout cas souriant et prêt à donner des conseils. Continuez.

foncez!
Une nouvelle adresse qui relève le niveau des adresses de la rue henri monnier. Accueil souriant et très agréable, le service est efficace, les assiettes sont belles. La cuisine est sobrement inventive et française. Bref réservez sinon vous serez recalé… A gouter d’urgence!