The co-working space at Café Zen © Café Zen
Since the health crisis, more and more companies are setting up teleworking, and some establishments have sensed the extent of this new trend and now offer coworking spaces. And if you need a little break during your day, it’s time to let yourself be tempted by a delicious king’s cake or a good brunch, we give you our best addresses!
Co-working, a trend that lasts!
In the midst of the ongoing health crisis, restaurateurs have had to constantly reinvent themselves and look for solutions to cope with new restrictions and consumer expectations. Some have gone into take-away or click and collect, while others have decided to make their empty establishments available to people who are tired of their kitchen tables turning into home offices. Since the first confinement,home working has become a necessity in many companies, so to generate additional income, transforming living spaces into working spaces, they have done it! Some companies are betting heavily on this new way of working and this is the case, for example, of Comet Meeting, which specialises in co-working spaces and offers unique and atypical spaces for seminars, meetings and common areas, all with à la carte hotel services. This company recently raised 30 million euros to open new spaces in France and over Europe. Laurent Maugoust, for his part, goes even further: “Today, the room is also a meeting room, an office. It can host an event, a dinner with a chef, a wine tasting, a film set, a photo shoot… It’s a place to live, day and night.” (Extract from our article of 9 April 2021 “When the Covid transforms hotel reception”)
There is a space for everyone and a solution for everybody: from hotel rooms redecorated as a multi-purpose office to private lounges for receiving clients, via shared offices or even the terrace of a café, all solutions are good! Whether you’re looking for a place for a few hours free of charge or a monthly rental, everything is possible and depends on your needs! And CaféZen has understood this! This cosy Danish café in the centre of Paris offers coworking spaces, alcoves for your meetings and meeting rooms available for rent by the half-day or the day, all in a warm and welcoming setting! And because a break is always necessary during the day, you can enjoy fresh and seasonal home-made products… As for the Maison Mère hotel, a free coworking space is also available and accessible to all those who want to give birth to great projects. A very comfortable place that will soon welcome two of our students for their internship!
The meeting room offered by Cafe Zen © Cafe Zen
Maison Mere and its open work space © Maison Mere
The season of the galettes des rois is launched
After the traditional yule logs come the galettes! The symbolism of this 2000 year old tradition goes back to the time of the Romans who celebrated the Saturnalia, a period during which the power of the masters over their slaves was suspended and one of them was drawn at random and became “King” for a day. Hence the expression: “pulling kings”. In the Christian religion, the Epiphany is set 12 days after the birth of Jesus and refers to the three wise men who came from the East to Bethlehem to offer him a present. Today a true French tradition, Epiphany has found many followers throughout the world, some countries like Spain make the “Roscón de Reyes” a brioche crown flavoured with orange blossom and citrus peel and decorated with candied fruit which is also eaten in the south of France. Each region has its own recipe, which differs greatly in France. For example, there is the Dunkerque cake flavoured with rum or the Nourolles, the Norman cake – without the lucky charm inside! The classic version with frangipane is also called “Parisian”. Today there is something for everyone and everyone can claim to be king or queen for a day by finding the token hidden inside. And precisely, the bean in all this? A tradition within a tradition and an integral part of the cake, this little element, often made of porcelain or plastic, which was originally a real bean, has its roots in the same Saturnalia, where the one who found it became the master. There is a multitude of fancy fèves that collectors are crazy about! This year, Gana Bakery is offering to collect 7 lucky charms with an exclusive design by Tiffany Cooper.
Christophe Michalak’s Praliné Pistache cake © Delphine Michalak
François Daubinet’s trompe l’oeil cake at the French Bastards © Geraldine Martens
The 112 shades of coconut cake at the Lutetia ©Le Lutetia
Every year, the chefs outdo themselves in proposing original creations to combine tradition with new tastes. With pistachio by Christophe Michalak, lentils and blueberries by François Gagnaire at Anicia or coconut by the Lutetia, all these new creations overshadow the classic frangipane recipe. This year you also have something to impress your guests with, such as Maxime Frédéric’s galette in the spirit of an iced match, François Daubinet’s trompe l’oeil galette at The French Bastards that looks like a loaf of bread, or Cédric Grolet’s galette that is a cross between a flaky brioche and a flan!
The brunch spirit
Born in the United States in the 1990s, brunch is still very popular and Parisian restaurateurs have understood this. To seduce customers today, it starts at breakfast!
Restaurants are following the trend and are getting into the swing of things in order to attract more and more customers to what were previously rather quiet times and thus multiply the possible sources of income, even though new restrictions are announced every week. But what is brunch? It is a meal generally taken between breakfast and lunchtime and it’s name is actually the contraction of both words. Traditionally more for weekends, it generally replaces these two meals after a late sleep in. A mixture of sweet and savoury flavours, some healthier and others very American, there is something for everyone!
Traditionally, we enjoy eggs in all forms accompanied by bacon or smoked salmon, toast, jams and pancakes, all washed down with thirst-quenching juices and comforting hot drinks. Except that nowadays, the offers are multiplying and are sometimes surprisingly audacious!
The brunch at Benoit Castel ©Benoit Castel
The vegan and detox bunch at Alcazar © Alcazar
A great classic in Paris, Holy Belly is the precursor of this kind of offer. All week long, the two addresses located in the 10th district welcome you to taste the breakfast specialities but available all day long! It’s good and it’s because they really pay attention to detail!
Benoit Castel, who owns several bakeries in Ménilmontant, saw this craze coming around this moment often shared with friends on Sundays. Every weekend he offers a large all-you-can-eat buffet with quality and seasonal products, enough to keep you seated all afternoon… More healthy, the Alcazar restaurant offers an organic and 100% vegan brunch concocted by Angèle from the Guinguette of the same name, in the heart of Saint Germain. Here, no scrambled eggs or cold cuts, but bowls of hummus, acai and vegan burgers.
More recently, there have been new breakfast outlets. Still under construction and only a few minutes from our office, Immersion has arrived on rue Daniel Casanova “for the love of brunch” and to our great pleasure for their second opening in the capital.
Often complete and copious, available as a buffet, à la carte or as a formula, customers who don’t know what to eat on Sundays have the choice!
Talent Developer’s gourmet tips :
Cafe Zen : 3 Rue Poissonnière, Paris 2nd
Maison Mère : 7 Rue Mayran, Paris 9th
Boulangerie Gana : 65 rue de Clichy Paris 9th
Anicia : 97 Rue du Cherche-Midi, Paris 6th
Le Lutetia : 45 Bd Raspail, Paris 6th
The French Bastards : 61 Rue Oberkampf, Paris 11th
Holy Belly : 5 Rue Lucien Sampaix, Paris 10th
Benoit Castel : 150 Rue de Ménilmontant, Paris 20th
Alcazar : 62, rue Mazarine Paris 6th
Immersion : 8 Rue Lucien Sampaix, Paris 10th
Article written by Talent Developer