At the heart of My Fermentation, Hugo Chaise's coffee laboratory
Café My Fermentation, on rue Saint-Bon in Paris, is like no other. Here, Hugo Chaise puts fermentation at the heart of every dish and drink, to introduce the general public to his creations.
At 3 rue Saint-Bon in Paris, just off Rivoli, a sweet smell of hot cereal wafts across the sidewalk. Behind an almost shy façade, My Fermentation looks like nothing you've ever seen before. Neither a real coffee shop, nor a restaurant, nor a laboratory... and yet a little of everything at once. inside, a few tables, a rough counter and rows of amber-tinted jars. The décor is minimalist, almost monastic, but the air vibrates: everything here is fermenting.
Hugo Chaise, calm silhouette and concentrated gaze, appears behind the counter. He lifts the lid of a jar like others open a jewelry box. " Fermentation is alive ," he says, smiling discreetly. Lively, and above all central: in this micro-location opened in spring 2025, miso is not an auxiliary condiment. It's the heart, the signature, the obsession.
A café designed as an open laboratory
The menu confirms this. Barista Maximiliano has developed a series of "drinks" that reconcile coffee and fermentation: miso latte, chai miso latte almost caramel, filter coffee enriched with a hint of umami, or the bewitching Ice Amazake Latte, made with fermented rice. A new, precise, rounded taste.
As for the dishes, Hugo speaks of " mangeages ", with the humility of chefs who don't seek to shine, but to feed justly. Ultra-moist palace omelette, grilled kim-chesse with homemade kimchi, mochi brownie sticky as a Japanese candy, cheesecake topped with tamari sauce: quick cuisine, but not simplistic. Precision work, with miso as a natural enhancer.
clémence Sahuc
Miso, the language of a traveling chef
If My Fermentation seems to have been mastered, it's because its founder has put in a lot of hard work. " I've always wanted to do gastronomy," he says. A few names stand out in his career: Christophe Bacquié, Joël Robuchon and Christian Le Squer. Then Australia - his first steps in fermentation -, Japan - " the discovery of good miso, good soy sauce " -, and above all Noma in Denmark, where an internship dedicated to the subject became a turning point: " It was a revelation. "
Chefs have sensed this path before the public. Anne-Sophie Pic(Pic, 4 toques in Valence), Romain Meder(Prévelle, 4 toques in Paris), Guillaume Sanchez(NE/SO, 2 toques in Paris) and Omar Dhiab (2 toques in Paris) all use his misos. Some - like rye miso, created from unsold Poilâne products - are reserved for professional kitchens, as demand is so great. The lupin miso, on the other hand, is a big hit with the store's regulars.
clémence Sahuc
A tiny place, a huge vision
Before he opened his own shop, Hugo worked in Poilâne's back room. " Customers had to walk through the whole bakery to find me. that got me known, but it wasn't ideal," he smiles. So My Fermentation is also a liberation: the chance to show, explain and pass on. The place now hosts workshops where you can learn how to make your own miso or cook it.
In this raw enclave in the heart of Paris, every detail reflects a simple idea: to make fermentation part of everyday life. Sedramatize bacteria, tame the koji, show that a miso latte can be as natural as a cappuccino.
My Fermentation is not a temple, nor a secret laboratory. It's a café where you take the time to smell. A gentle, almost intimate place, where we understand that taste is not a matter of power, but of slowness. And that sometimes, a jar of miso can say much more than a long speech.
