french restaurants catering for kids
 

I'm taking four grandchildren to Paris in September for a week ands want to take them for a REAL AUTHENTIC French meal experience that they will remember in years to come!! $$$are not as important as "the experience"
We are staying in 1st Arrondissement
Really want this to be a life defining experience
Recommendations please

How old are they? Are they willing to try new things?

Price range? (When you say that $$$ are not important, is that really true?) Are they willing to sit still for two hours or so? Do you want to get dressed up?

I think Le Train Bleu is a great place for a family meal in a beautiful setting. It is an historic brasserie-type restaurant with gorgeous Belle Epoque decor, and the food is good. They do have a child's menu for those under 10-11, I forget the exact age. It's on the website. They were very friendly and accommodating with my 6 yr old granddaughter. It's a much better place for four grandchildren than a Michelin starred restaurant, IMO.

www.le-train-bleu.com

Generally, restaurants in France are not for children, particularly those under 10-12. Restaurants open a 19h30, a time when most younger children should be in bed and few children can entertain themselves during a 3 hour meal. Cafés or brasseries are open much earlier and would most likely be a more appropriate choice.

Le Train Bleu might be an exception as well as Nos Ancetres les Gaulois or Sergent Récruteur:

http://www.lesergentrecruteur.com/

http://www.nosancetreslesgaulois.com/FR/

YOu don't say the age of these kids, but if they are real young, I think your expectations are unrealisitic. Little kids aren't goiing to have life-defining experiences at la Tour Argent or Le Grand Vefour or some place like that. I suppose they allow children, but as someone said, young children are supposed to be in bed, not out on the town, during adult dinner hours in fancy restaurants. And people who pay several hundred euro for a meal in such a place do not want to feel like they are dining in the nursery.

Take them to Hippopotamus or something, that is a real French experience for kids. Otherwise, take them to some French casual brasserie or cafe, as mentioned, that is as real a French experience as the multi-course expensive meal. If you really want them to remember it so much, go to some place with a view up high, I think kids would like that -- such as the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower or the top of Montparnasse tower. Jules Verne is the one in the ET, actually, that is a good suggestion as they are a good restaurant, so it should fit your bill and will be memorable.

Train Bleu. We were there 2 1/2 weeks ago. Lots of kids & they will be amazed by the surroundings. This was about our 5th dinner there. The train station is quite interesting also.

Stu Dudley

I've not been to Sergent Recruteur or Nos Ancetres but from what I hear, they are far different from the elegant Train Bleu, which, BTW, is open all day long and would provide an authentic French meal in an historic setting.

You mention that you are staying in the 1st; from there you could easily take Metro Line 1 to the Gare de Lyon, where LTB is located. We generally take the Metro there, taxi back to hotel/apt.

Stu, since you appreciate good food, might I inquire as to what you had at Le Train Bleu?

I have dined there once before, opting for the Champagne "all-inclusive" dinner and found it to be a sort of hit-and-miss...some of the mets were excellent and others, especially the foie gras and desserts, rather ordinary. I definitely got the impression if you knew what to order, picking and choosing à la carte, it would be more satisfying/better value.

I am looking for someplace special for my sister's upcoming first visit to Paris and am really torn...the WOW factor of the room vs a potentially "just ok" dinner.

Like Macca, all opinions welcome on this restaurant and any others.

In June, we took our 10-year old daughter to the Jules Verne at the Eiffel Tower. She said it was the highlight of the trip! Food was marvelous. Lunch for three with wine was just about $550.

We also took the evening dinner boat cruise on Le Calife. It was delightful. Food was average, but the experience was great. DD said this was second best memory of Paris from her perspective.

Don't remember what we had - it was at the end of a 4 1/2 week trip to France. In the past, we've had good fish there. I never order beef, chicken, pork, or sometimes not even lamb in a restaurant in France. I think French beef lacks taaste, there is nothing "special" about chicken at a restaurant (we purchase roast chicken at farmer's markets), and pork is not one of my favorites. I'll order pigeon, fish, foie gras, sweetbreads, and anything unique.

I would give the food about a B or B- and the ambience an A+.

Stu Dudley

Go for a lunch at Souffle, on Mont Thabor, in the 1st. The three souffle prix-fixe is memorable.

We've taken the kids to Chez Francis, on pont de l'Alma. It sits across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower and has an amazing view of the Tower. It is especially fun to sit and watch the Tower twinkle on the hour. I've called ahead and requested a window table and been accommodated and they were very kind with children (made buttered penne for my difficult eater).

It isn't the price tag (or culinary experience) of Jules Verne, but it is a great place for kids to remember...

http://www.chezfrancis-restaurant.com/

Bring them for lunch in a very nice restaurant. They must be well behaved though. French children tend to sit down and work their way through pretty extensive menus.

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but wanted to respond to Klondike:
I have dined at LTB three times; the last time I chose a la carte, and for my main course I had steamed cod on a bed of vibrantly green asparagus, broad beans, peas, and broccoli in butter sauce with saffron; it was delicious.

My daughter had “Alliance du Chocolat and de la Menthe” for dessert, and I chose Oeufs a la Neige Caramelises, though commonplace in France, a favorite of mine. The chocolate dessert was spectacular and was artfully arranged on a square plate with chocolate mousse, a small, rich chocolate drink with a tiny straw, a little mound of shaved chocolate, and in the center of the plate, a mint sorbet with a tiny plastic vial of concentrated mint flavoring to be dripped on the different chocolate offerings. My granddaughter and I sampled the chocolate dessert, and the vial of mint flavoring was of much interest to her and was saved as a souvenir, briefly!
I don't know what dessert you had but their signature dessert, the Vacherin, is a bit disappointing, IMO; one of us had it in the past.

I think they change the menus every three months or so, so none of these items is currently available, but I would recommend ordering a la carte, my best experience, food-wise, of the three visits. I find it to be a wonderful place for a special meal without an over-the-top price tag.

Thank you for the responses re: Le Train Bleu

Macca, please don't be put off by those who feel children shouldn't be in restaurants or stay up past 19:30...besides, now that I think of it, you didn't specify "dinner", just an exceptional experience. Unless you're talking about 2-3 year olds, you know your grandchildren's self-control capabilities.

Our own two sons could "out-sit" US in a fancy restaurant, and at the age of seven and nine were game to try, and appreciated, escargots, ris de veau and cervelle.

It really does depend on the child's temperament, interests and upbringing. My boys still talk about 1) their first "real" French restaurant and 2) how they were the only ones whose parents bought them tickets at Hennessy for the "Paradis" tour...can't every take from them the memory of sitting in leather chair, sipping Paradis Cognac and enjoying fine chocolates being served by a most attractive young lady...something they'll always cherish no matter what life throws at them!

you know, you are right, the OP didn't say dinner, so lunch would be a great idea, as it is always cheaper anyway.

However, I must disagree that grandparents must know their grandchildren's self-control capabilities. Many do not--many parents are clueless about that, let alone grandparents. A lot of kids are spoiled rotten and can do whatever they want in public and I've had the unfortunate experience of being in restaurants with them.

would typical young kids enjoy more FLUNCH type places where they can pick out what they want a la carte or MacDonalds even over a fancy French restaurant where if they say boo the waiter looks ascance?

"I've not been to Sergent Recruteur .."

That's a good thing. It was absolutely the worst meal I've had not only in France, but in all of Europe. It is an experience they will never forget, but not for the right reasons.

((H))

How old are the children? That might be the primary factor for appropriate recommendations.