The Parisian project manager’s breakfast

ByElizabeth Harrin Last updated: General

Following my (rather dismissive) comments about recognition breakfasts for project managers on Projects@Work (no longer available), I thought it would be interesting to consider what breakfast choices are available to the busy PM, in case anyone close to me feels like laying on a recognition breakfast in my honour to celebrate International Project Management Day – albeit it now slightly late.

Time-in-the-morning breakfast

Smoothie, inspired by the Breakfast smoothie available at Naked: blend a banana, soya milk and a handful of oats. Rince out the blender and glass straight away as it is a nightmare to clean if it dries on. No need to prepare a separate drink!

Oops-meeting-in-30-minutes breakfast

Croissant aux amandes, preferably from Le Pain au Naturel, but most boulangeries do a good job of croissants. Or on colder days: toast. Chocolate and orange bread really looks like something worth trying. And the bakery is close (enough) to the office to do a little detour en route. Paris doesn’t exactly do a roaring trade in take-away coffee but the supermarkets do sell little airline tubs of milk-related product which doesn’t taste too bad in a mug of tea.

For something a bit healthier, Michel & Augustin’s Vache a boire (drinkable cow: drinking yoghurt in a bottle) is a good choice, if you can find it. I met the red-haired one (Augustin?) in the street the other day and they are really passionate about their product and with good reason. Although all the stuff about the kangaroo and the banana tree leaves me slightly puzzled…

Deluxe-super Sunday breakfast

There’s a cafe just off rue du Renard that has a spaghetti serving measurer as a door handle that does a fantastic brunch on a Sunday. I’ve been in there while they’ve been serving (it’s an all-you-can-eat affair) but not actually eaten. How weird is that? Petite Anglaise also has a great brunch suggestion. If I wasn’t at the gym on a Sunday morning I might actually get to one of these places! No, honestly!

Elizabeth Harrin wearing a pink scarf

Project manager, author, mentor

Elizabeth Harrin is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management in the UK. She holds degrees from the University of York and Roehampton University, and several project management certifications including APM PMQ. She first took her PRINCE2 Practitioner exam in 2004 and has worked extensively in project delivery for over 20 years.
Elizabeth is also the founder of the Project Management Rebels community, a mentoring group for professionals. She's written several books for project managers including Managing Multiple Projects.