A Parisian Home Chef: Rose Bakery

Rose Bakery is a small bakery/restaurant of British inspiration on the 9th arrondissement part of the rue des Martyrs, where food stores are aplenty, and where I like to go shopping on Sunday mornings. I love Rose Bakery and find myself going, on my own or with friends, as often as the opportunity arises. It is run by a couple—he’s French and she’s British—who used to own a similar operation in London. A low semicircular wrought iron door opens onto a long and narrow room. Historically, this used to be a chartil, where produce merchants stored the wooden carts they sold their fruit and vegetable out of. The walls are painted white, with a large abstract painting covering the furthest wall, the floor is bare concrete, the tabletops are mat metal, the staff—all young foreigners—wears white aprons, the food is served in polished earthenware plates, and somehow the combination of all this gives off a fresh, clean atmosphere. They’re open for lunch only, and serve a small rotating selection of dishes. Immediately on the right when you enter is a large takeout counter, which allows you to see what’s on offer that day. They make the cutest square vegetable tarts and a bunch of salads (lentil salad, potato salad, carrot salad…), all particularly well seasoned, to which they add other dishes (soups, risotto), as well as brunch items on week-ends (omelets, pancakes). Some dishes are British, like the delicious kedgeree (a Scottish dish of rice and fish) I once had, or bangers and mash. All this is served with a very good rustic bread from the nearby bakery “Le Pétrin Médiéval”, and water from filtered jugs. On the sweet side, they make truly excellent baked goodies: scones, shortbread, cookies, brownies, cheesecake, carrot cake, date cake, fruitcake, lemon cake, an earth-shattering sticky toffee pudding, and a flourless orange cake I just had to try and emulate. When Easter comes they make hot cross buns, and around Christmas time, they have Christmas cake and Christmas pudding. In the afternoon, all this can be accompanied by one of the excellent teas on their tea menu. They also sell an array of British goods (baked beans, Marmite, oatmeal crackers, cereal, tea, parsnip chips), British cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy (stilton, cheddar, wigmore) and organic vegetables. I have never had a bad meal at Rose Bakery, and have always felt like trying to reproduce their goodies in the privacy of my own kitchen, which will soon be entirely possible, as I recently learned from the owner that a Rose Bakery Cookbook is under way! Rose Bakery 46 rue des Martyrs 75009 01 42 82 12 80Lunch menu at 12 euros (weekdays only)   In her column “A Parisian Home Chef,” native Parisian Clotilde Dusoulier happily shares recipes, food shopping bonnes adresses, entertaining tips and restaurant recommendations. Read more about her in her bio, and find more of her writing on her gastronomic blog, www.ChocolateandZucchini.com. (Nominated for a 2004 Bloggie and featured in the April 2004 issue of Gourmet magazine!)