#60: le pain quotidien

i’m always a bit concerned when a place claims to be ‘a cafe, a bakery, a shop and a restaurant’ rolled into one as this place does. Most places can’t even do one of those decently; four seems a monumentous ask. However, in spite of my misgivings, my experience of le pain quotidien was positive. And despite this being a global franchise and the exterior of the building being a bright, almost avert-your-eyes shade of blue, on entering, this place feels surprisingly homely.

The theme could perhaps be described as rustic french. The coffee was good and comes served in a bowl, which I love. I don’t know why, coffee always tastes different when it’s in a bowl We ordered the omelette with ham and gruyere cheese ($14.5) and the sugar waffle ($7.5). The omelette was served simply with a small crisp salad and some freshly baked ciabatta and sourdough. It was fluffy on the outside and squidgy in the middle as omelettes should be. The sugar waffle came with a drizzle of syrup and some fruit. Yum.