Coffee shops continue to proliferate in Paris, and when they offer good coffee with homemade pastries, we love it. This time, we're off to discover Caphette, this new Vietnamese fusion café which has just opened its doors in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, on rue Neuve Popimcourt.
A cream-colored facade, water-green walls, bricks as counters and natural, home-made sconces form the decor of this uncluttered, most welcoming spot. At the helm are Adeline and Viet, who are no first-timers since they used to regale us in their restaurant, Ăn đi ăn đi in the 20ᵉ. Now parents, it's in coffee shop format with family-friendly hours (8:30am-5pm) that we find them to treat us to their specialties.
As for coffee, the company has decided to import its own specialty green coffee from Vietnam and roast it in Paris, at Mojo Coffee. While waiting for it to be ready for tasting, and because they're not stopping themselves from expanding the range, you can find coffees from Building Coffee and Hanoi Corner on site.
If you're at all familiar with Vietnamese specialties, the best thing to try here is cà phê sữa đá, the Vietnamese iced coffee, in this case made with real coffee. For our part, we tested the café viet au coco version, which is made with robusta coffee (most of which is found in Vietnam, and there's some very good stuff, contrary to popular belief), condensed milk, coconut milk, egg, crushed ice and shaké. It's the ideal drink when the weather's hot.
When it comes to cakes and sweets, Adeline's creations are inspired by Vietnam, but not exclusively. Of French-Vietnamese origin with diverse influences, she doesn't want to be pigeonholed, and her ambition is to awaken our taste buds with a variety of dishes.
This week's soft opening featured scones, cakes and praline cashew cookies. Joining them for breakfast were Viet-style turkish eggs, sandwiches with a twist on the traditional banh mi, egg banh cuon, eggs saté and granola. Added to this are a few viennoiseries from Anthony Nguyen, who is already delighting us with his creations, sometimes twisted with exotic flavours, at La Datcha.
The coffee shop is open Monday to Friday, and maybe on Saturday... How about a good Vietnamese coffee?
Dates and Opening Time
From July 1, 2024 to December 31, 2027
Recommended age
For all
Official website
www.instagram.com
