Café Flandrin

A voiturier parks Lamborghinis, Bentleys, BMWs, and Ferraris. Slender Parisian women wear Chanel, Dior, Jean-Paul Gautier and Hermes. Young men in cashmere sweaters, sleek pants, and Gucci shoes smoke cigars outside on the sidewalk terrace. This is Café Flandrin, where the most well-heeled Parisians in the most high-end restaurant come to gab, look, and be seen, for Sunday lunch, an afternoon café, and a late evening dinner. Located in the most expensive area of the bourgeois 16th Arrondissement, this is more than just café: it is a regal venue for the BP crowd to sip champagne or Armagnac day or night.

Don’t bother coming here on a budget, and while designer jeans are acceptable athletic wear is not. My family and I showed up during a bike ride, with bike helmets in tow, and we nearly caused a riot daring to show up for lunch in our shorts and t-shirts for white tablecloth dining on a Sunday afternoon. The stares we got from a few patrons were worthy of a snapshot, but the staff in their neatly tailored suits did not care and treated us with appropriate care nonetheless.

There is no “children’s menuâ€, of course, which means spending 20 or so Euros for a mac n’ cheese copycat (penne with gruyere), and steak and veal are in the 40 Euro range for a dish that is better than standard café fare but nothing exceptional either. The oysters are top quality, as is the langoustine, but it is the desserts that standout: crème brulee, a chocolate ganache cake, and some of the best mousse au chocolat in Paris.

If you want to save a few Euros, come for dessert and coffee for a snack after lunch time, or a croissant and café crème in the morning. It is the people that are truly worth seeing, and if you know French you might be able to sneak a little eavesdropping on interesting conversation, as women gossip about their lovers, men about their mistresses, and families about usual high drama.

Address: 80, av. Henri-Martin

75016 Paris

Telephone: 01 45 04 35 69

Métro: Rue de la Pompe