39, rue de Bretagne (3)
No phone

AMBIANCE/DÉCOR

This Diary is a personal restaurant list, not a Paris Guide, so it is questionable whether Enfants Rouge even belongs. It is not a restaurant per se, but an ancient covered market (from the 17th Century) in the process of evolving into what Americans would call an international food court.

There remain a handful of traditional market stalls for fish, fruit and vegetables, etc., plus established specialist shops on the surrounding blocks. What appear in every other outdoor market as Italian or North African prepared food vendors are takeout stands here, with outdoor tables on the sidewalks surrounding the market somehow allocated to each shop.

FOOD

Italian, hamburgers, filled crepes, Moroccan, Libyan and Asian are only some of the cuisines represented. Each stand displays heaping platters of cooked food to be reheated, served, sliced or portioned. Line up. Order. Pay. A waiter will help you carry your food to an eligible table. Not for the fainthearted, but on a Sunday midday full of happy French and visitors.

SERVICE

Primitive, and appropriately so.

PRICE

Very low. We chose the longest line, assuming someone knew what he was doing. Moroccan couscous, in countless variations.


Five years later, except for noting that hamburgers are appearing as the French Sunday brunch favorite (and so is Sunday brunch now replacing the traditional Sunday family lunch, at least for young urban dwellers), I would not change a word.  And the Moroccan line still the longest

(2x) (2014-2019)