Eating international in Paris

Tapas at La Family Restaurant, 20 Rue des Martyrs, Paris

pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

We didn't get off to a good start with French food on our first day in Paris - but that was partly because it was a Sunday.

After we had left our luggage at the hotel, we walked up through the Sunday morning food market in the Rue des Martyrs - and I admired and photographed lots of the food as we walked. Thinking all the time that one of the huge bonuses of a holiday in France is the French food!

pasta, chanterelles and plums in the Rue des Martyrs, Paris
photos copyright Katherine Tyrrell

However when we spotted a restaurant that we liked the look of we also discovered that their particular theme was international food - or as they put it "Le restaurant des cuisines du monde".

Côté cuisine, toutes les recettes et les pâtes sont faites maison à partir de produits frais, naturels et de qualité, favorisant l’agriculture raisonnée voire biologique.

What I liked was its emphasis on natural fresh and responsibly sourced food and what my niece liked was that it had a good range of pasta and noodle dishes - so with a hungry fifteeen year old to feed in we went!

I got stuck into sketching as soon as we had ordered. The sketch below was done during lunch as we sat near the window and ate our Pad Thai. Note the doggy participant! My sister (the dog owner) was amazed at dogs we kept coming across in restauarants in Paris. This particular one was sat outside beyond the huge open window doors. I got about 10% of my sister into this sketch!

Thaïlande - Pad Thaï 14
Noodles sautées au poulet et aux crevettes, Thaï chili pepper, pousses de soja, citronnelle, cacahuètes pilées et nuöc màm.

Dog and people watching at La Family Restaurant, 20 Rue des Martyrs,

pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Another bonus of this restaurant (for anybody familiar with trying to eat in France on a Sunday evening) is that it is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner (midi 12:00-15.00; soir: 19.30-23.00). Which explains why we were back there again in the evening for our second meal! We did look for an alternative - honest! Being a couple of minutes walk from the hotel also swayed in its favour.

The sketch at the top of this post was done that evening when I tried the La Planche de 6 Tapas.

Seriously it's a great little restaurant if you like places which lean towards organic and it can also be found in three other locations in Paris (addresses on the website).

Links:

• Family Affair - 20, Rue des Martyrs, 75009 Paris, France. Location, details and reviews on Google Maps
• Travels with a sketchbook in France - summary of all posts about the 2009 trip to Paris, Normandy and Loire
  
• Katherine Tyrrell travels with a sketchbook in France - a gallery of all the sketches