Aux Trois Poissons

Aux Trois Poissons sits on Quai de la Poissonnerie — Colmar's historic fishmongers' street, now one of the most photographed stretches of Petite Venise with its row of half-timbered houses in pastel ochre, pink, and celadon green. The restaurant occupies one of the oldest buildings on the quay, and the dining room is arranged across two narrow floors connected by a creaking 16th-century staircase.

As the name promises, the kitchen's focus is on fish — which for a landlocked Alsatian restaurant means daily deliveries from the Breton coast and the Mediterranean. The grilled sea bass with beurre blanc and a fine tagliatelle of seasonal vegetables is the house classic; the bouillabaisse (generous, unapologetically Marseillais in its saffron and rouille) is on the menu year-round. A plateau de fruits de mer for two is worth the €78 if oysters, langoustines, and crab are what you came for.

The wine list leans heavily on Alsatian whites — a Riesling Grand Cru from Schlossberg is the recommended pairing for the sea bass — but stretches into Muscadet, Sancerre, and the great Burgundian Aligotés for the shellfish. The service is less formal than at JY'S or L'Atelier: the waiters know every regular by name and will steer you toward the fish landed that morning.

The restaurant holds perhaps 40 covers across its two floors. The downstairs room, directly facing the quay, is the warmer choice on a winter evening; the upstairs — quieter, with a small private alcove — is the room to book for a business lunch or a quieter date. Solo diners are happily seated at the small bar near the kitchen, with a glass of Riesling and a pace of service that treats the single cover as a full guest.

Aux Trois Poissons is Colmar's best room for a solo diner. The bar near the kitchen is treated as a destination rather than a consolation; the kitchen will happily pace a three-course dinner to your reading rhythm; and the view of the quay outside the window is the postcard you came to Alsace to see.