Craving traditional French cooking? Tasty bistro food in Paris can be found but you better know the real addresses, or you will fall in a tourist trap. Café de la Butte is part of those gems serving classics such as frog’s legs on a checkered tablecloth. 

A décor in its own juices with old-fashioned zinc, a sky painted as a play background, Café de la Butte is a place where we feel at ease. In the first room, you have regulars, a table for six laughing with the boss.

We seat in the second room. As a starter, we share the traditional frog’s legs, a nice standard to see who we’re playing with. And apparently, here, we’re playing with the big boys. Golden, buttery, seasoned with garlic, the legs are fleshy and flavorful.

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Then, as a main course, we stick to classic with beef, exquisite, served with seared potatoes with garlic and parsley. As for the duck confit, it melts in the mouth, it’s incredible.

To pair all this, the wine list is rather rich. We go for a glass of Côte du Rhône, pruned into shape as it be. And the good deal at Café de la Butte is that the service ends rather late, we’ve been able to enjoy all this at 10:30 p.m. on a weeknight, this is what happiness looks like, mark our words!