Rose Bakery: A Parisian Café In The Middle Of Manhattan

Rose Carrarini and her husband Jean-Charles first opened Rose Bakery in London in 2002. Jean Charles explains their goal simply: "to make people happy through food." They expanded to Paris after 10 years in London, and now have locations in Seoul and Tokyo as well. Over the past 12 years they've made a name for themselves in Europe and written two cookbooks, Breakfast, Lunch, and Tea, and How to Boil an Egg. With a couple cookbooks and a successful European business, they felt it was time to expand to the States to open their twelfth location.

Rose Bakery: A Parisian Café in the Middle of Manhattan (Slideshow)

Dover Street Market, located on Lexington Ave. at 30th St. in Manhattan, is a multi-floor market filled mostly with designer apparel, including Commes des Garçons, Prada, Alexander Wang, and Louis Vuitton, just to name a few. On the ground floor of the market is where Rose Bakery has made its home since just before Christmas of 2013. Rose and Jean-Charles were drawn to Dover Street Market because of "the contrast of high fashion and simple food," Rose explains. 

The kitchen is in the hands of head chef Matthew Lodes, who also runs the pastry program. He changes the menu daily and uses the freshest possible ingredients. They offer a variety of salads and traditional European breakfasts like soft-boiled egg on toast and smoked salmon with soft scrambled eggs, as well as lunch salads and quiche.

On the pastry end, chef Lodes creates various cakes and tarts daily. They offer traditional European desserts like Eton mess and Kugelhopf, as well as cookies, lemon-polenta, pistachio, and many other kinds of cakes. The sweets should be paired with one of their many types of teas or coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee Roasters. We recommend the iced NOLA, a perfectly executed New Orleans-style iced coffee.

Interior

The uniqueness of Rose Bakery is obvious as soon as you walk in and are struck with the site of the quilted load-bearing pillar in the center of the café. As few tables are available for seating on the ground floor, as well as some additional tables in the mezzanine.

Pastry Case

The cakes in the pastry case are made fresh daily by pastry chef Matthew Lodes, and often include varieties such as chocolate-almond polenta, pistachio, and red currant.

Click here to see more photos inside Rose Bakery.

Jane Bruce is the Photo Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @janeebruce.