A new wave of cafes and restaurants run by Australian expats is drawing in the crowds and the critics in Paris, reports SBS Europe Correspondent Brett Mason.
Brisbane sisters Anna and Stella Rice established vegetarian restaurant in Paris, Tuck Shop, along with friend Rain Laurent from Sydney around 18 months ago.
It started when they became homesick for quality, home-cooked food.
“When I came here I was a bit shocked it was one dimensional kind of food, like bistro food, heavy French food with lots of meat,” says Rain.
So healthy fresh salads and sandwiches are on the menu, along with traditional Aussie favourites like Anzac biscuits and even avocado and vegemite on toast.
“None of us are trained chefs or anything… the principle is really simple things that you would make at home if you had the time and weren’t living a busy Parisian life,” Anna says.
And it’s that simplicity that critics believe is the secret ingredient to the Aussie success.
“No frills, the opposite of superficial restaurants with fancy service and silverware… the first chefs to opt for simplicity,” says food critic Alexandre Cammas, founder of Le Fooding.
Shaun Kelly from Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast heads up Yard Restaurant in the 11th arrondissement.
Shaun Kelly from Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast heads up Yard Restaurant in the 11th arrondissement. (SBS)
He’s aiming for the higher end of the market, but simple fresh Australian-style home cooking is still the key.
“[It’s] trying to mainly let the ingredients be the star of the show rather than the cooking,” he says.
“It’s about sourcing the best things that we can and doing as little as possible to them and it just seems to work.”
Shaun trained at Spirit House in Queensland, Cumulus in Melbourne and St John in London, but his customers can’t believe he’s not French.
“You mean you’re not French? A Frenchman didn’t cook this food?” is something he says he’s heard numerous times.
“They’re restaurants where the chefs do what they want without trying to appeal to the Guide Michelin or traditional food critics”, says foodie Alexandre Cammas.
“They’re liberated, they’re free. There is indeed a revolution in France.”
Sebbie Kenyon from Cairns helps to run Frenchie to Go. The former professional rugby player changed paths to cooking after two sports injuries.
Sebbie Kenyon from Cairns helps to run Frenchie to Go. The former professional rugby player changed paths to cooking after two sports injuries. (SBS)
He honed his skills at some of Sydney and Melbourne’s best restaurants before heading for Paris, where the ever popular hot dogs and fish and chips are now on his menu.
“I’m doing something really Australian, I’m just making a bacon and egg sandwich,” he says as he bustles around the busy kitchen.
“By far one of our biggest sellers and one of our biggest favourites.”
“You cannot stand at the top of the pyramid forever,” says chef Marc Aurele Vaca from the elite Le Cordon Bleu cookery school, when asked about the changing face of French cuisine.
“You have to be smart enough as well to open yourself to other countries.”
Law graduate Tom Clark from Canberra has found his success with another Aussie favourite… coffee.
(SBS)
“It was pretty bad,” he says of the coffee in Paris a few years ago. “From all angles, there was no way of seeing any positive light.”
He opened a single coffee cart, which morphed into three cafes and the Coutume wholesale coffee business.
“There was quite a bit of resistance,” he says when Brett asks him what the Parisians made of an Australian telling them how to make a cappuccino.
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