10 questions with Cathy Paraschiv of Ibrik
IBRIK, usually made of copper, is what Turkish people traditionally use to pour coffee. This unique and elegant kettle has been serving delicious and flavourful coffee for years. When walking around Paris 9th district, you will come across IBRIK Café, a concept imagined by the amazing Cathy Paraschiv. Having grown up in the Balkans, much of Cathy’s flashbacks were at the table surrounded by loved ones and delicious food. Eating together is a way to stay connected and celebrate different cultures. Through IBRIK, Cathy continues to drive this message by serving authentic Balkan delicacies at the Café, Deli and Kitchen, all situated across Paris.
We had the chance to speak to Cathy to learn more about what she created and what IBRIK symbolises.
Please tell us a little about yourself and how you got started in this business?
My name is Ecaterina Paraschiv, and I was born in Bucharest to a Greek-Romanian father and a Romanian mother. After a career as a tax specialist, I decided to quit everything to devote myself entirely to the restaurant business. Why? Because I’m passionate about hospitality. I like to entertain and host people, make them happy, and do everything I can to ensure they have a memorable time. For me, the table is a symbol of family, wellbeing and sharing. And feeding people is a fundamental act. Of course, there’s the idea of pleasure, but above all, it’s about survival, inheritance and transmission, which is at the heart of my work.
You have headed IBRIK Café, Deli and Kitchen; how are they different to each other?
The three are different in that they embody various components of the Balkans. The Café was the first establishment I opened, and it represents the living room of the Grandmother, where we, the children of the Balkans, grow up. The Grandmother has a very special place in our lives. They are the transmitter of our heritage and our culture. It was my with my own grandmother that I learnt to make Turkish coffee, named Ibrik. It is in her honour that I set up this café to pass on my heritage.
IBRIK Kitchen opened a year and a half later. It symbolises the village table. In the Balkans, we all have a part of our family that lives in the remote countryside. We often meet at their homes to feast, to enjoy with the whole family a meal made from animals raised on the farm and vegetables from the garden. I wanted to recreate this at IBRIK Kitchen. I have set up a ‘table d’hôte’ (set menu) there, like those found in these country homes.
The Deli is a big nod to Balkan street culture. We live outside a lot and eat on the go at midday. I wanted to recreate the slightly ‘messy’ but happy atmosphere. We eat shawarmas and pide—a kind of rustic pizza, while drinking beers and wine in abundance!
Where did you get your design inspiration when creating these spaces, and what was that process like?
All my establishments are indeed different, but they’re designed from what is already there. We went hunting for objects in the Balkans, specifically in Romania, with my cousin, Laura Paraschiv, who has an interior design store called CIRCA. For the Deli, I brought in two very talented creatives from Girlzpop! They did a tremendous amount of research to capture the essence of Balkan streets, and to imagine a setting close to what one could do for a film.
The establishments have one thing in common: my memories! I see them as small embassies from the Balkans, and we are the spokespersons of the culture. We owe it to ourselves to personify it as well as possible.
When people visit one of your eateries, what kind of experience do you hope they have?
While they’re very different, embodying different concepts to celebrate life, I want people to feel at home and feel free to stay as long as they wish. They can share timeless moments with us! The goal is to leave them with an immortal memory that they can talk about and to help them discover, or rediscover, the Balkans in a unique way.
What would you recommend first-timers to order when visiting the Deli or the Kitchen?
It’s a little hard to recommend considering that we change the menus often, depending on the season—especially at the Kitchen. But, without hesitation, the shawarma and the pide at the Deli are little taste bombs!
The Turkish coffee at the Café is delightful! We are curious about what you think is the key to making the perfect cup of Turkish coffee?
In my opinion, the secret lies in the quality of the coffee used. We work with speciality coffee that’s roasted here in Paris. This coffee is harvested when ripe, by hand, on small farms. And it’s roasted green enough to keep all the flavours. We often forget that coffee is a fruit! Therefore, its aromas are very complex. When roasted a bit too much, it conveys nothing but the taste of rubber and bitterness.
Your new book, ‘Ibrik: Ma Cuisine des Balkans’, is based on your personal experiences of Balkan cuisine, especially from childhood. What were your favourite dishes growing up?
Yes, this book was produced as a sort of collection of classic Balkan recipes. Once again, we come back to the theme of inheritance and transmission. I inherited all these recipes, and I intend to pass them on, especially to my eight-year-old daughter. The best way to preserve the recipes is to simply write them down. The written word never disappears, and it has no borders. By the way, the book has just been translated into German, which is a significant win for me!
My two essential recipes in the book are sarmale—meat wraps in fermented cabbage leaves, as well as keftas or chiftele—beef meatballs in tomato sauce. They remind me so much of my childhood!
Are the recipes in the book the same as what you serve at IBRIK, or can readers expect to find other recipes to recreate?
The recipes featured in the book can easily be reproduced at home. We use it, of course, as the basis in our establishments. But my personal goal is to make this cuisine progress, to bring my touch to it—my way, if I may. The food is very rich and allows many explorations and associations that are sometimes incongruous but work, like our rosewater gravy. I'm not restricting myself when it comes to experimentation.
We noticed that IBRIK Café is currently closed for renovation. Can you give us any hints of what’s to come when you reopen?
Yes, the Café is closed for renovations. This was our first establishment that opened four and a half years ago, and so it really deserved a cleanup! We're keeping the living room spirit of the Grandmother, but we're redoing the furniture and paintings. We are also improving the work ergonomics for our employees, which was more than necessary!
What is next for you and IBRIK?
I'm finally opening my fourth establishment! This is an exclusive secret, since I haven't formally announced it to anyone yet. This time, I'm honing in on myself and my skills. MAISON IBRIK will be a place of creation, a 'table d'hôte', and my studio. It's halfway between an artist's studio and a restaurant. As my father is a painter, I have always been surrounded by art, and I often compare an artist's creative process to that of a cook. It's very similar, after all. Mastering the technique and breaking free from it to create freely; cooking is a language just like painting. This language is learned, and when mastered, it allows one to express oneself wholeheartedly.