Family-friendly restaurants and cafés

Enjoy a stress-free family feast - with Time Out's guide to Paris's child-friendly restaurants and cafés...

With its modern interior of pale wood and choice of 15 artisanal ciders, this outpost of a restaurant in Cancale, Brittany, is a world away from the average crêperie. Perhaps because it’s owned by a Breton who once lived in Japan. For the complete faux-seaside experience, you might start with a plate of creuse oysters from Cancale before indulging in an inventive buckwheat galette such as the Cancalaise, made with potato, smoked herring from Brittany and herring roe or the Charentaise with goats cheese, honey and salad. All ingredients are of high quality – such as Valrhona chocolate with 70% cocoa solids, Guéméné andouille sausage and seaweed and yuzu Bordier butter. One to keep in mind for Sundays, when many other restaurants in the Marais are shut. Make sure to call ahead to book. This restaurant serves one of Time Out's 50 best dishes in Paris. Click here to see the full list.

19th-century composer Jacques Offenbach isn’t usually associated with cutting-edge digital art, but after a 10-year revamp, Offenbach’s former Belle Époque Gaïté Lyrique theatre has been turned into Paris’s first ever digital cultural centre - a 7 floor, multidisciplinary concert hall cum gallery that thrusts visitors deep into the realms of digital art, music, graphics, film, fashion, design and video games. It’s not the first time the building has undergone transformation: After being a haut-lieu of operetta and Russian ballet, it was pillaged by the Nazis, only to become a circus school in the 1970s and a mini theme park in the 1980s. But this time its interior, which combines the original Belle Epoque foyer with starkly modern spaces signed architect Manuelle Gautrand, is set to become a permanent fixture on the city’s cultural scene. Its programme explores the relatively unchartered territory of digital art, and the role of technology in artistic expression with electronic music concerts by cutting-edge acts; live multimedia performances; guest appearances by famous international artists and DJs; and film projections. You can even just pop into the funky surroundings for a decent cup of coffee and a flit through the magazines.

This well-loved address is frequented by trendy locals, shoppers hunting down a particular type of cheese and tourists who've managed to make it this far from the Eiffel Tower. Le Café du Marché really is a hub of neighbourhood activity. Its pichets of decent house plonk always go down a treat, and mention must be made of the food - such as the huge house salad featuring lashings of foie gras and parma ham.

Even in Paris, the city of haute cuisine and knock-your-socks-off Brasserie fare, there comes a time when nothing but bacon, fried eggs, juicy burgers and fluffy pancakes drizzled in maple syrup will do. For those moments, Breakfast in America (known lovingly amongst regulars as B.I.A) offers bona fide American diner surroundings, all-day breakfasts and artery clogging delights like sticky pecan pie, washed down with bottomless mugs o’ Joe.  Needless to say it’s a hit with the brunch crowd who come in droves so large they queue up outside, rain or shine. Fortunately turn over is quite fast, so you rarely have to wait more than half-an-hour. The €15.95 brunch menu gets you comfort staples like sausages and eggs (over-easy, sunny-side up or scrambled) with toast and fries or a generous Connecticut ham and cheese omelet and a squidgy chocolate muffin. B.I.A won’t take reservations, but there’s a second branch in the Marais, so if Latin Quarter students have hogged all the tables, you can try your luck on the Right Bank.

Continually hailed as the best ice cream in Paris, you can recognise the Berthillon ice-cream parlour and tearoom from the queues of people outside, except (somewhat strangely) in summer when the shop is closed! The flavours change throughout the seasons, but if it’s available don’t miss the strawberry sorbet, or the bitter chocolate sorbet made without and dairy products. In winter Berthillon offers delicious hot chocolate, made from melted chocolate and cream, and – perhaps even naughtier – a chocolate ‘affogato’ (a ball of vanilla ice-cream, served in a white porcelain mug with hot chocolate poured on top and topped with praline cream). Don't be put off by the queues - they're rarely for the tearoom itself.

Angelina is home to Paris's most lip-smackingly scrumptious desserts - all served in the faded grandeur of a belle époque salon just steps from the Louvre. The hot chocolate is pure decadence; try the speciality 'African', a velvety potion so thick that you need a spoon to consume it. Epicurean delights include the Mont Blanc dessert, a ball of meringue covered in whipped cream and sweet chestnut, and, for those with a waistline to watch, a brand new sugar- and butter-free brioche aux fruits rouges. The place heaves at weekends, so be prepared to queue.

Chocoholics will be in paradise in this concept store dedicated to cocoa, where an upscale brunch is served on Sundays. Only premium products are on offer: Poilane bread, Bordier butter and slices of Iberian ham. As part of the €55 menu, you also get foie gras with pear and crème de cassis (in autumn) and a glass of Champagne instead of juice. There are no muffins, but rather a madeleine, a mini-éclair and a slice of cake – all of which go perfectly with one of the best hot chocolates in Paris, made with real melted chocolate, milk, a little cream and a touch of cinnamon and vanilla. Naturally, this is not cheap (the basic menu will set you back €35), but the level of refinement justifies the price. And you can always dial up the decadence to the maximum while you’re there, with a cheeky visit to the chocolate shop next door.

Open 22 hours out of every 24, Café Mabillon is a lounge bar in the heart of Saint-Germain that's generally populated by well-heeled locals. In the daytime, the large terrace attracts passers-by in search of a rest stop in the sun. A glass of Chablis in hand, sunglasses in place whatever the weather, one is here to see and be seen. When happy hour commences, the golden youth take over the leather banquettes to sip cocktails. For those wanting a light snack, you can get a croque-monsieur or a salade de chèvre chaud or cheeseburger at any time, even if for rather overinflated prices. It is one of the few places still open at 4am in the morning so it’s an excellent refuge for a place to fill up after a big night out.

Although Le Quincampe has lost some of its charm since doing away with the massive log fireplace that was its biggest draw, it remains a cosy dinner nook with a reliably good menu. Dishes are classic but varied: market-fresh lasagne, minty goat cheese feuilletés with squash and cumin-infused carrots, or shrimp and oyster mushroom risotto. Even the more traditional offerings are a touch original, notably the Quincampoise platter, with its inclusion of diced kiwi. Main courses are €14 for lunch and €16 for dinner, while appetisers are in the €7-12 range, desserts €5-8, and around €15 for cheese platters and charcuterie. From November through April the restaurant serves an oriental brunch, as well as afternoon tea. Despite the loss of its crackling centrepiece, there are still plenty of reasons to drop in.