Tata Yoyo – the yéyé bistrot that earned a Bib Gourmand

Behind a colourful façade on avenue de Verdun-1916 in La Garenne-Colombes, Tata Yoyo is the family bistrot of the Bistrots Pas Parisiens group, opened on 7 February 2024 a short walk from the town's SNCF station. It holds a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand, the distinction reserved for kitchens that combine serious cooking with fair prices, and the guide's own description of the house style is blunt: a bistrot repertoire, French classics cooked with care, controlled cooking times and sauces made on the premises. Behind the stove is Arnaud Delvenne, a finalist on Top Chef in 2022, who has built a seasonal, frequently changing card around generous, unpretentious plates. The room plays on nostalgia almost as hard as the plates do — yéyé-era pop on the speakers, flea-market furniture, a soundtrack and decor that turn a neighbourhood dinner into something closer to a theme night, without losing sight of the food.

01The room and the setting

Tata Yoyo announces itself with a bright, colourful shopfront and a terrace with a bright green floor, the kind of detail that makes passers-by stop in a quiet residential street. this bistro with a colourful façade and bright green-floored terrace catches the eye. Inside, the look is deliberately neo-vintage: wood, wallpaper, large mirrors, old photographs in gilded frames, and shelves lined with knick-knacks, with flea-market finds, antique lamps and a long table d'hôtes adding to the family-dinner feel the owners are after.

The room is built to flex with the seasons: cosy like a chalet in winter, and in summer the restaurant opens onto a spacious terrace with a French Riviera feel. Expect weathered wooden tables for groups and family gatherings, smaller round and square tables for foursomes, and a few tables for two tucked by the bay windows — all to a background hum of 1960s pop, the kind of yéyé soundtrack that gives the place its name and its mood.

02The chef

In the kitchen, Arnaud Delvenne (a Top Chef finalist 2022) has devised a thoughtful and appealing à la carte menu and an affordable lunch menu. His cooking leans on bistrot fundamentals — proper stocks, careful cooking times, a lightness that keeps rich dishes from feeling heavy — applied to a card that changes with the market rather than sitting still for a whole season.

Insider tip

Near La Garenne-Colombes SNCF station; terrace open in summer, chalet feel in winter.

03The cooking

The house pitch is unambiguous: traditional French recipes, executed with rigour, served without any attempt to dress them up as something they're not. It is exactly the kind of cooking the Bib Gourmand was designed to reward — plates that are recognisable, generous and rooted in a real idea of bistronomie, priced for a weekday dinner rather than an occasion. The card is renewed almost every week, so what lands in late autumn won't necessarily be what you find in spring. Early reviews after the 2024 opening singled out a refreshing chilled courgette soup, lightly seared sea bream served with a tasty caponata, and a perfectly made Paris-Brest — proof the kitchen can do both the classics and something lighter in the same service.

04What to order

The card mixes aperitif platters with full plates: among the starters, a smooth guacamole with lime and fresh herbs, served with warm, golden house-made focaccia, sits alongside a tuna version of tzatziki, tataki de thon mariné au ponzu with the freshness of tzatziki. Among the mains, Le Jardin d'Été pairs a courgette flower stuffed with burrata and marjoram, with heirloom tomatoes and crunchy fennel and cucumber, while La Volaille is poultry cooked slowly on the bone, its piquillos jus served alongside a cold sweet-potato chakchouka salad. Fish-lovers should look at Le Mahi-Mahi, a tartare of dorado coryphène with mango, papaya and pomegranate, or the Rigatoni aux palourdes, clams in a sun-ripened tomato sauce finished with a smoky fish fumet and Italian olive oil. For the table, Les Ribs de Cochon — herb-marinated pork ribs served for two — are listed outside the regular menu.

05The neighbourhood

Tata Yoyo belongs to Les Bistrots Pas Parisiens, a group that opened its first address in 2014 and has since expanded, launching more than a dozen restaurants in Hauts-de-Seine and the Yvelines, each one built around a different theme and a shared promise of generous, unfussy French cooking. La Garenne-Colombes itself is a calm, residential corner of the inner suburbs, a few minutes' walk from the town's SNCF station and not far from the town hall — the kind of address that rewards a short trip out of central Paris rather than a special pilgrimage. The restaurant's own terrace and ground-floor dining room are wheelchair accessible, and tables can be privatised for groups through the website.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.