Brunch at Le Pain Quotidien

There's nothing like a brunch with friends when you have the morning off. Le Pain Quotidien, french as it may be in name and concept, is a world wide chain of Belgian origin. In addition to being a traditional bakery, they sell jam, fruit syrup, oil and vingar, all of which is more or less Bio, of course.








This morning, we went to the café in rue de Varenne. It's one of their four addesses in Paris, the others being in the Marais, Montorgeuil and rue St Honoré. What makes rue de Varenne especially nice is the light and spacious interior with a big french window to the street.




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We had the breakfast formula, consisting of standard selection of bread, a choice of pastry, a fruit juice and hot beverages, in our case coffe. Nora also went for a boiled egg that turned out to be hardly cooked at all as it started running when it was decapped. At between 8 -10 euros depending on whether you have the egg to come with or not, it's a good price for a parisian breakfast.

All of the tables are fully equipped with the chain's own flavours of jam, nut, and chocolate spreads. For some reason, the white chocolate one is always half empty when we leave (I swear it's my friend that's all over it! ~_^) . I wont deny that a croissant with the stuff on top is more like a dessert than a healthy, filling breakfast, but at least we didn't buy a jar to bring back home with us. You could pick a more healthy, darker type of bread, but with the amount of spread that goes on top, you might as well take it all the way, and, as it's supposed to be breakfast and lunch at the same time, you have to max out on energy, no?


In addition to the darker type of breads, there are less sugary options on the menu. Soup, tea, eggs, fresh fruit and yoghurt are tasty and healthier alternatives to the above. However, these things are very easily forgotten when you order with the spreads and jams right under your nose.

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