The Breakfast Club: NA/NA Restaurant
I love mornings even though I am not much of a “morning person” per say. It’s pretty hard sometimes to get myself out of bed but this might have something to do with never going to bed on time. In the morning there are fewer people awake to distract, my mind isn’t weighed with a day’s worth of decision-making and chores. Naturally I also love breakfast and usually schedule meetings at cafes in the morning or camp out with my computer somewhere. I am crazy hungry in the mornings and hardly satisfied with just a slab of butter on a baguette. As I mentioned once before this is the standard for breakfast in France. I know I am not the only one out there looking for proper places to have breakfast in the morning with kids or with computer in tow. So I am launching a new series called The Breakfast Club where I will seek out the best places to have a little more than a bread basket to start the day.
I met MANNA Paris contributor Lélia Thimonier for a breakfast meeting last month at a new restaurant in the 11th arrondisement. We couldn’t stop taking pictures of everything, and the owners Nathaly and Charlotte were the perfectly warm, friendly faces to see at 9am after the halte-garderie drop-off. They are both mothers and breakfast lovers. To kick off The Breakfast Club, MANNA Paris talked to NA/NA Paris. Love that name!
Nathaly why did you and your partner Charlotte choose the name NA/NA?What does NA/NA mean?
It means many things in Japanese, Arabic, Korean, all linked to food.
What words would you use to describe your restaurant concept?
Mixing, diversity, open-minded, seasonal, and local.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I have been cooking forever. I have written 17 cookbooks and ran Esprit Cuisine, a cooking school, for 11 years. Charlotte, my business partner, was a student of mine and we became friends. We both share a love of ingredients, fresh and local.
What inspired you to open your own restaurant?
Frankly, I was tired after 11 years of working alone in my cooking school. There are so many recipes that I personally like to cook but couldn’t do them with my students. To open a restaurant became simply a matter of meeting the right partner to do it with, that’s Charlotte. Also I’m 51, so it was time…
NA/NA is the stuff Instagram is made of! The interiors in this place are incredibly chic and modern. Are you into interiors and design? Can you tell us a bit about how you designed this space?
Thanks! I am not exactly an interior designer, but I didn’t want to do the same thing as other restaurants. We randomly discovered the work of Julie Lansom, an unknown lamp designer, and an unknown carpenter, FredFabric. But Charlotte went to l’École Boulle and ran her own company La Maison Charlotte.
You offer Japanese teas that I have never heard of. Do you know a lot about Japanese tea? What are a few of your favorites on the menu?
I have visited Japan many times since 1993. I drink many kinds of teas and have a preference for green teas especially. A few of my favorites on the menu are Genmaicha, which is made with toasted rice, Chinese Oolong tea, and a Chinese fermented black tea.
What about non-tea drinkers at NA/NA?
We have one of the best coffees in the world from Gianni Frasi in Verona, Italy. His family has been roasting coffee beans for 4 generations.
In Paris it is hard to find places that are open for breakfast and serve more than cafe and viennoiserie. What made you want to serve breakfast? And what can one expect to find on the menu?
I totally agree with you. I have a passion for breakfast because it’s very important to be in shape and active all day. And I don’t love viennoiserie either. Personally, I change up my breakfast every day, but always with some sort of fruit. In fact, I have been doing that since I was 15 years old!
At NA/NA we offer many things for breakfast but our menu is always organic, local, and seasonal. For example, we make a compote without sugar added, a tartine with fresh cheese, salmon eggs, avocado, and citrus toast, ficelle (a tiny long baguette, hard to find in Paris), home-made gluten-free granola with fruit, and a choice of milk and yogurt (cow, soy, or almond), NA/NA cake, and a Spanish bocadillo with Prince de Paris ham and butter.
And lunch? Does the menu change daily or set menu?
It changes every day, always seasonal and based on our moods!
Why do you serve dinner only three nights a week?
Charlotte and I are the moms of four girls. I have Stella-Bianca who is 10, and Charlotte’s daughters Jeanne, Louise, and Mathilde are 11 to 15. We open at 8:15am every day, so our days are long. And another reason is that I love to go out in Paris on Monday evenings to start my week in a pretty good mood. I hate going out on Saturday night.
What can we expect in the future from NA/NA?
Success, and enjoying the place we work at 15 hours a day!
Images by Ajiri Aki
NA/NA Restaurant
10 rue Bréguet
Paris 75011
01 43 38 27 19
Open for breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday, 8:30am-3:00pm
Open for dinner Monday, Thursday, and Friday 6:00pm-11:00pm
Closed Saturday and Sunday
Follow NA/NA online:
Facebook: NANA Paris Restaurant
Instagram: @nanaparisrestaurant
www.nanaparis.com
#nanarestaurant
