Les Arlots

Thomas Brachet makes an herbed sausage and serves it on buttery mash under a jus thick enough to stick, and Time Out Paris calls the room the best bistro in the city.1 5 The room opened in 2016 on a stretch of the Faubourg Poissonnière nobody goes to on purpose.2

Why go

Brachet came from the Beef Club and cooks classics with a heavy hand on the jus.4 His partner Tristan Renoux, who came from Le Siffleur de Ballons, keeps about two hundred and fifty bottles behind the room and there is no list to read: the wine is on the shelves and you ask.4 3 A taxidermied piglet stands mid-trot at the door and forty framed ortolans look down at the tables.3 The pair have since opened Billili next door, and the original address is still the one to book.2

Order this / avoid

The saucisse-purée. Time Out's critic breaks it into three parts: the sausage packed with flavour, the mash rich with butter, and a deep meat jus holding them together.1
Start with the eggs, topped with a sharp herb mayonnaise and lifted by cubes of smoked eel.1
The sweetbreads, pan-fried, with celeriac mousseline and shiitake.3
Finish on the rice pudding with salted butter caramel.1
On a second visit, the chou farci or the caramelised beef cheek, which is Time Out's own instruction.2

What locals & experts say

Time Out Paris, in its twenty-six for 2026: Take our word for it: this is the best bistro in Paris.5
Antoine Besse, scoring the venue five out of five in March 2026, on who fills it: tightly packed tables overrun by American visitors chasing the Parisian dream, you're clearly not here for the décor, but for Thomas Brachet's excellent home-style cooking.1
And on the wine, which he flags: The drinks are in the hands of Tristan Renoux, founder of the place and a mischievous sommelier, who pulls from the 'wall of curiosities' (not cheap) a lineup of natural wine heavyweights.1
The Infatuation's Emily Monaco on how you order wine here: There's no wine list (bottles line the shelves along the back wall), but the servers will be more useful in helping you pick a natural glass than the forty framed ortolans staring down at you.3
Time Out's bistro guide on the address: Remarkably given its location in a no man's land between Gare du Nord and Barbès, Les Arlots has had us in raptures about saucisse-purée.2

Good to know

Saucisson arrives free before you have ordered anything.3
The carte ran 38 to 60 euros when Le Fooding read it.4
Billili next door is the same pair's second room, if this one is full.2
Hygiene: I have not read a French inspection record for this room, so I have nothing to report either way.

Verdict

must-visit — Book it and order the saucisse-purée, then the rice pudding. Antoine Besse, who edits food and drink at Time Out Paris, scored the room five out of five in March 2026 and his own list a month later called it the best bistro in the city. The wine is Tristan Renoux's and it is not cheap.