'Here & There' is a Wednesday series dedicated to shops. Be it known that retail outlets in malls will NEVER qualify. The 'here' is the area around Paddington. The 'there' is generally La Rive Gauche de Paris, especially the single-digit arrondissements. I am interested in how people live, not in retailing per se.
In Paddington, and the broader Eastern Suburbs, we are dedicated to the grained loaf (what the French call 'un pain') or to variations upon the sourdough loaf. The ratio of core to crust is just sooo different, and here at home, I would not be caught dead eating white bread. 'Sonoma' is a bourgeoning bakery which has taken hold of the attention of the good burghers in the East and the Inner West of Sydney.
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For mine, there are two loci in the French psyche: the coffee shop and the bakery. I find it astounding to wander the streets of a neighbourhood where people queue three times a day to buy white bread - white bread with as much crust as there is core. The French are besotted with the baguette, and I became likewise. 'Une baguette tradition, Madame, SVP' was my clarion call each morning. I would shove the baguette into a pocket in my caddie, with a bottle of water in the other pocket, take the metro to my destination du jour, sit on a parkbench in the sun, and munch 'til my heart's content.
