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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

La Balançoire’s devilishly delicious details are a large part of its charm. Big wooden tables hold magnetised knives and forks in pretty patterns, a swing (the ‘balançoire’) sways gently in the doorway, jars of sweets and pickles are dotted about and mixed in with bits and pieces from second-hand markets, all creating an atmosphere of offbeat charm. But it’s really the big chalkboard menu that deserves full attention, and the wine list. The manager, Antonin, will recommend vintages to match your dishes, and his staff are as knowledgeable and attentive as he is. The food changes according to the season or the mood of the chef, all imaginative versions of traditional French recipes: cream of lentil soup, casserole-baked eggs with mushrooms, caramelised duck cottage pie, French toast with Nutella, caramel poached pear, or a selection of miniature desserts for the indecisive. Before you leave you may well be offered one of Antonin's secret potions: caramel-, jellybean- or bubble-gum-flavoured drinks. All very easy on the palate; much like La Balançoire itself.

By noon on a Sunday there is a queue outside every falafel shop along rue des Rosiers. The long-established L'As du Fallafel, a little further up the street, still reigns supreme, whereas Hanna remains something of a locals' secret, quietly serving up falafel and shawarma sandwiches to rival any in the world. A pitta sandwich bursting with crunchy chickpea-and-herb balls, tahini sauce and vegetables costs €4 if you order from the takeaway window, €8 if you sit at one of the tables in the buzzy dining room overlooking the street. Either way, you really can't lose. This restaurant serves one of Time Out's 50 best dishes in Paris. Click here to see the full list.

Paris’s oldest sweet shop has been in its original location for 250 years. While there are now other branches throughout the city, this grand old store, with its tiled floor à l’ancienne and its vintage pendant lights like glassy gumdrops, is still the place to call home sweet home. The smart, orange-labelled gift boxes of candy and chocolates are always a pleasure, as are the retro treats of times gone by: butterscotch roudoudous eaten out of a shell, marshmallow ropes, pretty violet bonbons for sucking on. Word has it that dancers from the Folies Bergère up the street used to come here for a sweet treat in between shows at the famed music hall. With the selection of candied chestnuts and delicate golden-paper boxes of candied orange peel to be had, it’s no surprise they were kicking up their heels in delight.

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.