ROSE BAKERY 2

Thursday was supposed to be our shopping day and initially, all we had scheduled was lunch with Tonger at his favorite foie gras place in Paris. Plans were changed at the last minute on Wednesday though since my son called to let us know that he had his last football game of the season (and the chance to be champions of the little league) on Saturday morning so we changed our return flights to Friday making Thursday our last (hectic) day in Paris.

We ended up meeting another good friend, Daria, for breakfast at the new Rose Bakery in the Marais a block away from her new apartment.  We turned up at half past ten in front of what seemed to be a little grocery shop with no sign outside.  The restaurant/deli was completely empty except for the seemingly foreign-student servers setting up for lunch.  While we were waiting for Daria, my mom ordered a cappuccino and a scone with butter and jam.  I wasn't sure what to have since they were offering only the cakes on display and I didn't really feel like starting my morning with their famous carrot cake, delicious though it may be.

When Daria arrived and we had hugged and said our hellos and finally settled into our table by the front door, she somehow managed to convince the servers to rustle up some eggs for us: oeufs brouille and an omelet nature.  She had a Rooibos (South African red tea) and I ordered an organic coffee bean espresso and we caught up on each other's new since we last saw each other in January.  Service is definitely unobtrusive (they pretty much left us alone) to chat away until our food was served.  The plain omelet was baveuse (runny) and came with a small green salad and the scrambled eggs were creamy and delicious, something that looks so easy but so hard to get right.  No toast was available which was a pity as some bread would have been perfect with the eggs.

Funnily enough, although Rose Bakery is open for all day for breakfast, there really isn't a proper breakfast menu.  You'll just have to choose whatever is on display - cakes, scones, muffins etc.  There is, however, a limited lunch menu of dishes available EVERYDAY (vegetable plate,  salad and tarte/quiche or pizzete and an omelette du jour), daily changing specials labelled TODAY (gazpacho, asparagus risotto, beef carpaccio bruschetta, chicken and sweet potato curry and tofu and Shiitake mushrooms) plus DESSERTS (fromage anglais et chutney, riz au lait, crumble du jour, fruit compote and pastries).  There are also large platters of different salads on the counter available for takeaway.   The drinks menu has fruit smoothies and fresh juices aside from the assorted leaf teas and bio-café. Watch out though for the tiny print as food eaten in the restaurant is charged a 50% premium on the displayed takeaway price.  Total bill for our deliciously simple breakfast was  €25.

Rose Bakery is basically a delicatessen/takeaway counter/restaurant serving food often made with organic ingredients which seems to be popular in Paris at the moment proving that, aside from all the Jamon Iberico on offer I saw in many restaurant menus on this trip, biologique, c'est chic.

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Rose Bakery 2

30, rue Debelleyme (on rue de Bretagne) 75003, Paris

Tel: +33 1 49 96 54 01

* No sign so watch out for the unobtrusive metal and glass-fronted entrance

* No reservations taken so get there early to snag one of the few tables.