Mokonuts is a neighbourhood restaurant in Paris that has made its name by doing things its own way. When it opened a decade ago on a quiet residential street in the 11th, it only served breakfast and lunch. It then closed around the time other restaurants were gearing up for evening service, so the owners Lebanese chef Omar Koreitem and his Japanese pastry chef wife Moko Hirayama could get home to look after their daughters. (The restaurant takes its name from Hirayama’s nickname. “I’m crazy,” she says. “She is kind of crazy,” Koreitem confirms of his wife’s sometimes impulsive behaviour.)
Breakfast included labneh toast with freshly baked sourdough, granola, cookies and cakes. Not the petit déjeuner that Parisians were used to at the time. In their debut cookbook Mokonuts (£34.95, Phaidon) out this month, Hirayama tells the story of their “numéro un” customer Pablo, who came in, surveyed the menu and asked for the “set breakfast” instead. In France this typically comprises a hot drink, orange juice and tartine or croissant for less than the price of their granola. Hirayama explained that everything on their menu was homemade using quality produce and priced accordingly. He settled for the granola and was so impressed he came back later that week. He became a morning regular.
