Mixing café culture with haute couture

My usual coffee order back home in Australia is a strong soy piccolo. If I’m feeling particularly confident then I’ll ask for honey on the side (inspiration for blog title) and if I’m feeling like it isn’t quite the time or place to be difficult I’ll adapt this to a strong soy latte.

Coffee in Sydney means serious business. Coffee in Paris is just serious.  It is best ordered strong and black (a petit noir) and thrown back in one hit. If you order a cappuccino then it is safe to assume the froth will hover awkwardly on top like an ill-fitting midriff.

A number of Australians have recognised the need for good coffee in this stylish town and have set up shop in the alleyways of Paris.

We’ve made it our mission to venture to a few -

Coutume Cafe

Address: 47 Rue de Babylone,  75007 Paris

Sipped: Cappuccino and macchiato

Ate: mushroom crepe; chicken and eggplant sandwich  

Soy milk on the menu. Recyclable takeaway cups for sale at the counter. Science beakers used as water jugs. Am I in Melbourne? Either way, Coutume Cafe is our new local.

Au Passage

Address: 1b Passage Saint-Sébastien, 75011 Paris

Sipped: Freshly brewed espresso

We called into Au Passage en route to another coffee stop with the intent of making a reservation for dinner (with our limited language skills it is safer to make reservations in person with the use hand gestures).

The restaurant resides down a narrow alley behind a vintage shop front and originally opened in 1910 as a bar. The interior is reminiscent of an authentic Italian pizzeria come old school diner with green and red chairs, wooden tabletops and mismatched artwork decorating the walls.

Two Aussie guys, one from the Sunshine Coast and the other from Sydney, were in the bar going through the motions of preparing for the evening ahead- cleaning glasses, making bread and playing around with the new coffee machine (of which we reaped the benefits). A jar of vegemite stood proudly on the mantel between bottles of French wine and strong spirits.

One of the guys buzzing around was James Henry, the initial owner and head chef of Au Passage who has now left the restaurant to open another wine bar come restaurant in early January.

Before I knew it we were perched at the bar sipping on a strong espresso and talking about Sydney wine bars while James marked a number of local haunts on my worn and torn map. One of those places was 10 Bells, an espresso house with delicious buttery, bite-sized fruit scones.

10 Belles

Address: 10 Rue de la Grange aux Belles 75010 Paris

Sipped on: Cappuccino and espresso

Ate: Fruit scones with fresh jam.

This hole in the wall is proof that good things come in small packages. While spreading a thick layer of butter on our scones we were rubbing shoulders with students and travellers scribbling notes in their journals. So, naturally, we both took out our journals.