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Food

Parisians Are Turning On to Australia-Style Breakfasts

Thanks to barista Nico Alary and chef Sarah Mouchot’s vision, Paris café Holybelly can be credited with singlehandedly schooling the city on the simple pleasures of Anglo-Saxon breakfast staples.
All photos courtesy of the author

Holybelly may not be the first Australian restaurant in France, but it has to be the only one serving Melbourne-style breakfasts—before 10 AM.

Now, when lecturing my Parisian friends on the difference between brunch and breakfast, instead of bombarding them with links or subjecting them to a slideshow of my last trip back, I can send them straight to Rue Lucien Sampaix. Thanks to barista Nico Alary and chef Sarah Mouchot's vision, the Canal-side cafe can be credited with singlehandedly schooling the city on the simple pleasures of Anglo-Saxon staples, such as eggs and sides.

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MAKE: Holybelly's Crispy Hash Browns

Parisians Alary and Mouchot were converted to the Holy Communion of coffee and breakfast while living and working in Melbourne. Their eyes and minds were opened to the possibility of serving restaurant-quality food in a cooler, more casual cafe setting.

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"When we moved back we thought, 'Why don't we take what we liked in Melbourne and make our home better?'" Alary tells me. It was always going to be a risk. A 9 AM–12 PM breakfast service in a city notorious not only for rising late, but also for taking a fairly laissez faire approach to meals before midday?

Skepticism was the overwhelming response from friends, family, and most importantly, bankers. Being at the vanguard, it was difficult to overcome the traditional French idea of how things should be done when it comes to hospitality. In the end, though, they got what they wanted, and after their opening in September 2013 was more successful than anyone could have envisioned, they got to stick it to the haters too.

In spite of the resistance they received, they always refused to dilute their idea, a philosophy they believe is part of what makes them so popular. That purist vision extends from the plate to their business strategy. "When you compromise something, it becomes this bastardized version of your initial idea," Alary reflects, while recognizing that challenging the Parisian status quo isn't always easy. Sometimes they still run into a culture clash with customers who expect the formal etiquette of other Parisian establishments.

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Originally from creative backgrounds—editing, design and photography—the couple became interested in the hospitality world while living in Vancouver, but it wasn't until Mouchot moved to Melbourne on her own that the bug really bit. "It blew my mind. I kept sending Nico photos of cafes and saying, 'This is where I am, this is what I'm eating right now,'" she reminisces, laughing. Alary was sufficiently enticed to join her and was quickly seduced by the barista lifestyle and the dark arts of the beans. From then on, the writing was on the wall.

Changing your home city means questioning accepted ideas. This means, for instance, that Holybelly is closed not Sunday and Monday—like most other Parisian cafes—but Tuesday and Wednesday. Alary and Mouchot communicate the why's and wherefore's of these business decisions openly with their customers, frequently sharing information through social media or their blog, which has documented their project since before they opened. Alary feels that transparency has helped build trust and a sense of community at the "Belly"; people come here for more than just coffee and food. "We have a lot of regulars, and that's how I think you know you're doing it right, that you're a real neighborhood cafe." You might think a cafe run by two former designers in the 10th arrondissement might be nothing but a "bobo" haven, but Mouchot says, "I'm really glad to see older people coming for lunch too. We wanted to create an environment where people would feel comfortable coming in and mixing a bit."

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The trust is also due to the consistent quality of their food and coffee, and the pair are proud Holybelly has that reputation. Alary says of its importance, "For me, it might be coffee number 126, but for our customers, it's their coffee! I like the fact that when people mention us, it comes with a seal of quality—it's tasty, it's good." It's also why Mouchot feels comfortable enforcing her "no substitutes" rule for menu items: "I want people to trust that even if they don't really like cauliflower and there's cauliflower on the menu, it's going to be nice."

"Good food takes time," Mouchot says when discussing what she learned from her mentor, Duchess of Spotswood owner and chef Andrew Gale. It's something she took on board when starting her own kitchen, taking the time to make things onsite, even their hot chocolate and chai mix. That doesn't mean they don't mix things up, though; Holybelly changes its menu of seasonal food monthly, which Mouchot says gives the right balance between trying new things and perfecting them. Recent lunch offerings have been as diverse as saag paneer and beef cheek ragout. As Alary points out, "If you want to be one of the players of that new scene, doing things differently and cooking seasonally, you've got to put yourself out there."

After nailing the tough challenge of getting Parisians to eat breakfast, Mouchot would like to focus on promoting the lunch menu more. This is partly to avoid Holybelly becoming known as "just the pancakes place," making reference to their signature indulgent dish of pancakes, bourbon butter, fried eggs, bacon, and maple syrup.

But breakfast is where Mouchot's heart is. "I never get bored of it," she tells me. "It's so special cooking the first meal of the day for someone. If their breakfast is bad, they're just going to start their day on the wrong foot!"

She takes the responsibility seriously, displaying slight post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms when she tells me how she spent a year perfecting her hash brown recipe: "Potatoes! They are so moody! They're never the same depending on the season!" Eggs and sides might be simple pleasures, but Alary assures me that cooking them is anything but.

He speaks from experience, describing a morning where they came into the café on their day off and Mouchot let him make breakfast: "She was like: 'Now put your bread in the oven, don't forget your eggs, watch out for your bacon, your beans are burning,' and I was like 'Whoa, this is crazy!' Even though it was just us—no service, no pressure, no dockets lining up. It's not easy!"