I have enrolled in a digital photography evening class which starts this coming Tuesday. Now what you may well ask has that to do with Les Deux Abeilles a rather charming café in Paris’s seventh arrrondisment. Well here’s the rather tenuous connection; this weekend in advance of my first photography class I was scrolling through the thousands of images I have taken since I started blogging last year. Among the images were some photos of Les Deux Abeilles, which I took when I was in Paris last November. I had planned to write a post on the café when I returned home but it somehow slipped my mind. Still it’s often better late than never so here we go.
Les Deux Abeilles is at 189 Rue de la Université and is run by Anne and Valeria Arella, a mother and daughter team. The café is open daytime only from Monday to Saturday. The stretch of the Rue de la Univesité it’s on is very quite but is not far from the Eiffel Tower and it’s just a stone throw from the entrance to the Musée de Quai Branly. It’s also in walking distance of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée Rodin. So it is a good spot for lunch after some museum-visiting/sightseeing.
The interior of the café is so very pretty. Some of the walls are painted white and others are clad in a beautiful flower print linen in muted tones. The floor is in some parts wooden and in others covered with honeycomb-like terracotta tiles. And there are simple chairs around tables covered with pristine white cloths. A large ornate carved dark wooden dresser with a slightly gothic feel acts as a counterpoint to all this daintiness but even it is prettified with flowers, china and a display of tempting edible treats.
Les Deux Abeillles serves a good value lunch for €22 – for this you get a main course, a dessert and a glass of wine. Typical main course choices are salads, quiches and gratins; desserts include Berthillon ice- creams, chocolate cake, crumbles and clafoutis. It’s a busy spot so it’s a good idea to book a table. The clientele is predominantly (though not exclusively) female; Les Deux Abeilles could be described as the café equivalent of chick lit. The café is a restful oasis serving good home cooked food and is well worth having on a list of places to lunch in Paris – a city where a random stop can be very hit and miss. It’s also open for breakfast, morning coffees and afternoon teas but be warned it’s not such good value at these times as a coffee and a slice of something sweet can set you back around eleven or twelve euro.
À bientôt.
Just Add Attitude 
What a lovely cafe! Is there anything better than good place to have a coffee but sometimes it can be so hard to locate one when visiting a place for the first time. This will go on my to do list!
Good luck with the photography class – your photos are always superb. H
Thanks H for your comment. I am forever on the lookout for decent cafes. I think it’s because my favourite *meal* to eat out is coffee and some sort of a pastry. Thank you so much for the good luck wishes with the photography class. Bx
Oh I wish i had known about this when i was wandering about paris by myself a few years ago.. and how wonderful to have enrolled for a photography class, how exciting, i have to admit I have never been to one so I hope you will pass on lots of great tips!! c
It is a pretty cafe and I am glad I found it. Thank you for your good wishes for my classes. I am always so very taken with the lovely images that you have to illustrated your posts. I am going to reread the post you put up on photography tips, a little while ago, some time before I head to class on Tuesday.evening.
I’ve been transported today, I’d so loved to have been in that little sweet cafe enjoying a pretty lunch!! The decor is just the kind of design I love. Good luck with your photography class!! Very exciting!!
Thank you Smidge for your good wishes for my photography class. It is exciting and I am so looking forward to learning new things but especially learning the basics as at the moment I take about twenty or more shots of everything and keep my fingers and toes crossed that one of them will work! I too like the decor of the cafe – not shinny but understated prettiness.
It looks heavenly. It is on my list for my next trip to Paris.
Great I hope you enjoy it. Inside it feels a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of city life. It has the most buzz at lunchtime when it’s busy.
You are my favorite travel guide. 🙂 I want to go there.
Thank you very much ;). I want to go back there soon.
I know you will really enjoy your photography class…wish there was one in my area. Really enjoyed that you rediscovered these photos. They are so charming, as so much of Paris is.
Thanks Karen I did enjoy my class but I need to do a bit of revision before next week just to make sure I have absorbed all the technical stuff. Yes so much of Paris is so very charming – I could days on end just wandering around absorbing its beauty.
How homey and cute!
Thanks for your comment – the cafe is a lovely spot.