John Talbott's Paris: Eating in Paris restaurants with Children: a Sunday summary.

Over the years, I’ve kept some records of where we’ve eaten at certain dicey times (Sundays, August, between Christmas and New Years, etc) and circumstances and using these plus newer articles I’ve put together this series of Sunday Summaries.

This one covers places to eat with children.

Some biases:

First, I think you can eat practically anywhere in Paris with kids these days. Sure my kids and grand-kids are as rambunctious, squirrely and energyful as any others and I suppose if one is screaming because he/she is teething, that’s a problem. But depending on age - toys, books, stickers and coloring books work wonders and having a tradition of “restaurant voices” when in restaurants, helps. My experience is with children from 3 to 45 and grand-children 3 months-10 years old, so there’s few ages we’ve missed.

Second, the reputation the French have for being rude, rigid and brusque is overdone - as I often point out, in 50 years, I’ve been treated badly in France three times, and all three were by “foreigners” not native French. Indeed, with children, I’ve found that cooing, clucking and fussing are as common here as in Japan.

Third, even if one goes to a place one thinks of has having “adult food,” it’s amazing how there’s often a plate of salami that appears without bidding, an offer of plain chicken or steak haché or chocolate mousse that are nowhere on the menu, or a proffering of ice cream. In one place, granted I had talked to the chef who I had known for a while earlier, he offered us two different meals: one of charcuterie, pasta and gooey desserts, the other regular adult fare.

Lastly, it probably helps that Colette and I have our “big meal” at lunch and light stuff at home at night; I suspect a lot of kiddy experiences could get wearing at 11 PM.

But let’s come back to where to eat.

I’ll start with our most recent hosting experience, with our two little 10 year old twitter-bird grand-daughters, who like peas in a pod, walked shoulder to shoulder all over town chattering away and ate like troopers once the jet-lag wore off. With them we ate at the:

Breizh Café

Bofinger

La Flotille by the Grand Canal in Versailles

Noura

Lao Lane Xang 2

Le Soufflé
Leon de Bruxelles.

Even the New York Times has weighed in on the issue, Jennifer Conlin suggesting:

Le Café du Marche

Café Marly

Le Relais de l’Entrecote.

When our grand-kids were jump-roping crazed we used to eat at the late-great Rostang-supervised Bistro Cote Mer on the Blvd St Germain which we loved in and of itself but where jump-roping space was maximum as it is at Tokyo Eat, Afaria + Brasserie Lorraine. La Cigale Recamier is also ideal for its combination of savory and sweet soufflés, romping space, and outside seating which on a warm summer night, is heavenly.

On/in the blogosphere, everyone seems to mention Altitude 95, Chez Flottes, Mon Vieil Ami, Fish, Au Pied de Cochon, which each have their merits.

Given my current mood, I think if recommending places today, I’d pick:

Le Soufflé

36, rue du Mont Thabor, 1^st (Metro: Concorde)

T: 01.42.60.27.19

Closed Sundays

Menus: 23, 29.5 + 33, a la carte 30-60 €

Breizh Café

109, rue Vieille du Temple, 2^nd (Metro: Filles du Calvaire)

T: 01 42 72 13 77

Closed Tuesdays

A la carte 15-30€

Afaria (the common tapas table)

15, rue Desnouettes, 15th, (Metro: Convention)

T: 01.48.56.15.36

Closed Sunday and Monday lunch

Lunch menu 22-26, a la carte 35-45 €

3 Comments

Compare Britain, where I once heard a woman (not old) at an adjoining table say to her companion, "I understand that they're taking children to restaurants now." She proved to be the manager of a Park Lane hotel.

Posted by: John Whiting | November 01, 2009 at 01:09 PM