Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery

by Jean Charles Carrarini, Rose Carrarini, Toby Glanville (Photographer)

Breakfast, Lunch, Tea is the first cookbook by Rose Carrarini, who co-founded the much-imitated delicatessen Villandry in London in 1988, and now serves her signature simple, fresh and natural food at Rose Bakery, the Anglo-French bakery and restaurant in Paris. Rose holds a passionate philosophy that, “life is improved by great food and great food can be achieved by everyone.” Simplicity, freshness and the ability to choose the right things to cook are the keys to success and, with Rose’s guidance and recipes, perfection and pleasure are easily attainable.

This book includes recipes for over 100 of Rose Bakery’s most popular dishes, from breakfast staples such as crispy granola to afternoon treats, including sticky toffee pudding and carrot cake, as well as soups, risottos and other dishes perfect for a light lunch.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Reference

192 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2005

Reviews

[7jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book of recipes for breakfast, lunch and teatime from the Rose Bakery in Paris, France (map included to find the place). There are plenty of nice photographs and recipes are not too complicated, most of the time.

Of the recipes, particular likes:
- breakfast: fresh mixed fruit salad, melon and ginger salad, fruit taboulé, honey granola, ricotta pancakes, blueberry scones, cheddar cornmeal scones
- lunch: green bean and almond soup, spiced chickpea and lemon soup, quinoa and pepper salad, mushroom and chive tart,
- tea: caramel praline tart, apricot and almond tart, pistachio cake, broccoli cake, jam sandwich vegan cookies, hazelnut brownies, apple brown betty, toffee puddings

A lot of talk on how organic and best quality are a good thing, nice recipe introductions and the pictures do make you long to eat the food already. Some recipes (like the broccoli cake) are for food that is best eaten soon, but some are good for several days. The book had a warm, close atmosphere throughout.

NOTE: if you're thinking of visiting the place, *please* read at least a few reviews first, including the negative ones. The place is small, it may feel unfinished, the prices are a *bit* expensive and the negative reviews have said that the service is slow and coldly rude (plus servings may feel small compared to the price). So consider the reviews first to see if it's better just to use these recipes here where one can control both what's in each and the serving sizes.

Reality of the place itself might be different from what's seen in the book, but the book is a good read. :)

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A BEAUTIFUL cookbook full of delicious and interesting recipes. It is also beautifully photographed, though since it's a Phaidon book some of the photos are very artsy portraits of dirty dishes. One would think that what had been on the dirty dish would have been more beautiful. I'm clearly not Euro enough.

[Jesse Kelly-Landes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The dreamiest cookbook of all time (maybe, I hate to commit).

[Manik Sukoco · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is divided into three sections with (most obviously) breakfast, lunch, and tea recipes. Breakfast includes a variety of fruit salads, pancakes, and scones. Lunch offers soups, savory pastries, and some meat based main courses. And my favorite section, tea, includes a multitude of tarts, cakes cookies, and puddings. Much to my liking, this is largest portion of the book.
One of the most important aspects of a cookbook (to me) is the aesthetics. I'm not going to be eager to open up a book if it's overwhelmed with busy images and overly designed pages. If you feel this way too, then Breakfast Lunch Tea is a breath of fresh air. As much as I love beautifully styled food photographs, it's always a pleasure to see "behind the scenes" photos. And that's exactly how I feel when I thumb through Breakfast Lunch Tea; it's as if I'm taking a peek into their bustling cafe and kitchen. In addition, the layout and design is notably clean without any frills or embellishments. Just simply and beautifully typeset.
Simply put, if the name of the title speaks to you then this book should be added to your library immediately.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique format for a cookbook; legal pad-sized.

Recipes have conversions for pros in weights and common cooks in cups/spoons. Also translates phrases such as superfine sugar to granulated sugar for the American to know what they're talking about.

Seeming simple recipes. Photos were so-so, seemed like a lot of pics were of burnt stuff, which is odd for a cookbook.

Still, most recipes sounded yummy and only a little pretentiousness.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yummy. If only I was actually capable of making any of this shit.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Makes me wish I had stopped by when I was in Paris... Maybe next time. I don't think I will make any of the recipes, but I would enjoy trying them.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been fun to read and cook through. So far I've made:

Spicy chickpea soup with lemon
the plain scones
carrot and seed salad

And they were all great.

There are many recipes for desserts and pastries that I know I'll never (or rarely) make due to the large amounts of cream and butter but if you dont mind this i bet they are great!

I still plan on making a bunch more from this including pancake variations, granola, other lunch salads, a juice blend, and more.

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty book with lots of tempting recipes. The one I tried, Chocolate Chip Biscuits, I wasn't all too thrilled with though; I thought other recipes from my past made better cookies. For my taste, these needed more salt. But I liked chilling the dough and cutting the cookies instead of the typical way of dropping them from a spoon. I'd try other recipes from here if I owned the book. but I have to return it to the library.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, as many photographs as recipes. Rather plain & simple recipes, but many are different than my repertoire. Rose Bakery is a breakfast, lunch & tea establishment in Paris, run by a British couple. Very British-type of food, indeed. My daughter bought the book for me while in Paris; probably wouldn't have purchased it for myself.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A- Really interesting cookbook; the story of Rose Bakery, with gorgeous photos (so not just recipes). I didn't come away with heaps of things I wanted to make, but a few. And it really is a delicious cookbook. I would love to visit Rose Bakery next time I'm in Paris. (Part of the reason I didn't want to make some things is, um, they looked a little complicated...)

[P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't yet made anything from this, but I've already decided that I want to buy it for the little cakes alone--a bonus is that a lot of them are gluten free. Plus every cookbook (or, ya know, book at all) that Phaidon publishes is always designed so well that I feel I must buy it.

[Falcon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great simple recipes for brunch and tea, the author uses organic ingredients whenever possible and has a few gluten free and vegan recipes. The photos are lovely and give a rustic feel to the food. I'm looking forward to making the granola this weekend for brunch!

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

My current go-to book for hosting a brunch.

[courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

a reason i wish i lived in paris

[Michel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Le meilleur brunch en France" — Le Figaro

[Sarah]

british baked goods in paris...

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

unique and fresh recipes

[Yesim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good cookbook to read and get ideas from. But unfortunately not very accurate recipes.

[Ysanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, very simple and elegant recipes for English favourites like scones and quiches.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting things about Paris and the bakery's and some good looking receipes.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty pictures and some good looking recipes....none of which I will more than likely ever make! Fun looking at the book though and reading the story of her bakery in London and Paris.

[Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

You must have this cookbook. There's a recipe for every whim and all are very well written.
You need only to cut the amount :-)

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rose Bakery will be on my itinerary when I return to Paris. Until then, this splashy book transports me to the 9th arrondissement where Pigalle approaches Montmartre along the Rue de Martyrs. This is the site of an Anglo-French bakery specializing in items that would bring joy to any snacker's heart and appetite. The photography by Toby Glanville is exemplary, ranging from displays to plates to clientele to staff. The 100+ recipes (British-y scones and carrot cake to French-y pizzettes and tarts) should be written out by readers who plan to cook from them because this book should avoid the kitchen. That practice will also give readers a moment to absorb Rose Carrarini's advice to give techniques priority over ingredients. It is unfortunate that some pictured items appear in the index, but have no recipe. Readers should also be aware that metric measures dominate with UK/US measures in parenthesis and lighter type. The mystery to be solved is why authorship shifts from Rose to her husband Jean-Charles in other editions of this book.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing really stood out to me.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the recipes are a little strange but most of them look very tasty, and the staff all look like they are Vogueing. I am going to eat my face off when I go to Europe next summer

[maureen cheng · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this book ONLY because of its famous carrot cake recipe!