Wolf

Wolf occupies a former bank hall off the Rue du Fossé aux Loups: a high room under a glazed roof, with long wooden tables and benches down the middle, a bar in the centre and independent kitchens around the edge. You order at whichever counter you like, they call you when the food is ready, and you eat wherever you found a seat.

The format solves the problem of eating out as a group. Nobody has to agree on a cuisine: one person queues for dumplings, another for pasta, another for a burger, and everyone sits at the same table. Plates arrive at different times, which matters less here than it would in a restaurant.

There are no reservations. For a large group that is the point, because you are not trying to hold a table for eight on a Friday. Arrive, find space, and spread out. It is busiest at the usual dinner hours, and the tables turn over quickly.

It works with children, including small ones. The room is loud enough that nobody notices a toddler, there is no waiting between ordering and eating, and you can feed a child something plain from one counter while the adults eat something else from another.