Thank goodness for grinning, manic-haired Australians coming to Paris. And not just for the banter, but because they’re bringing their coffee with them.
Chris Nielson has come to the rue Dupetit-Thouars by way of Sydney’s Mecca Espresso, London’s Prufrock Coffee and Paris’s own Ten Belles. With that kind of CV, the coffee here is, of course, excellent.
At a teensy 15m2, Fondation Café is only just bigger than your standard Parisian apartment, but space is made up for with a terrace seating sixteen, which is bathed in light for most of the day. Decorated with warm and stylish Swedish furnishings, the minimalist décor gives due attention to the brilliant coffee being made. No Australian flat whites here: Nielson keeps it French with espressos, café crèmes and filters – allowing for crucial iced lattes in summer. Food-wise, it’s more of a snack menu, with Emperor Norton providing the cakes and slices, and a breakfast choice of granola or delicious tartines with fresh avocado and cracked sea salt or ricotta and honey.
If you’re a coffee aficionado, you’ll be interested to know that Fondation Café is proud to be the only place in Paris sporting a mean steel Kees van der Western Spirit coffee machine. If you’re not, well, you can always name-drop this to sound like you know what you’re talking about.