Le Bistrot Paul Bert: French Comfort Food from the Parisian Restaurant

For more than two decades, Le Bistrot Paul Bert has captured the imagination of diners in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, offering a menu rooted in bistro tradition but alive with subtle reinvention. This English-language edition of the restaurant’s cookbook brings that spirit to a wider audience, with more than 100 recipes that speak fluently in the language of French comfort food.

Expect the hallmarks of classic bistro cooking—oeuf mayonnaise, steak au poivre, tarte Tatin—alongside lighter or more contemporary touches: chervil-bright salads, raw seafood with citrus, and even a soufflé that manages both richness and lift. The dishes aren’t flashy, but they’re polished. They reward attention to detail more than technical complexity.

Photographs of the restaurant’s warmly lit rooms and blackboard menus set the tone, but the real transport comes through the recipes themselves, which are clearly written with the home cook in mind. Bertrand Auboyneau and co-author Gwenaëlle Cadoret don’t try to demystify French cooking so much as normalize its pleasures—showing how elemental it can be when handled with care.

This is a book for Francophiles, yes—but also for anyone drawn to well-made food that’s anchored in tradition without being trapped by it.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.