Breaking (French) bread in Benaras

You could easily miss the corner shop as you walk down Namgali Tola, the winding maze of narrow lanes that connect Dasashwamedh Ghat, the busiest and holiest of the 84 ghats that line the Ganga in Benaras, with the Kashi Vishwanath temple. 

French Bakers, as it’s called, is neither bigger nor much cleaner nor plusher than the scores of other eateries in these back alleys — a few chairs and sofas scattered in front with a small kitchen on the side or back. Which makes what it is such a huge surprise. A pucca French bakery that offers breads, besides a range of pastry items, such as croissants, pepitos, chocolatine, chouquettes, flans and pain aux raisins, dubbed ‘kismiss’ on the menu. 

It’s been open for just about a month, and already it’s getting warm reviews on Trip Advisor, especially from foreigners who can’t get over the novelty of a real French breakfast and lunch in the middle of Benaras. 

Owner Benjamin Hue — ‘ewe’  he says, puckering his lips in the French pronunciation of the name — is, of course, not taking chances, running down every now and then, in the middle of our conversation, after passing tourists, especially if they look like foreigners: “Hello sir, French pastries, hot coffee and croissants?” 

The 32-year-old’s story is like that of so many foreigners who come to India and fall in love with the country and stay back for months on end, sometimes forever. Benaras, especially, has so many of these and you can see it in the many eateries that offer a range of international cuisines. Bangali Tola seems like a hub of these hangout joints, going by the plethora of signage in foreign languages, especially Korean and Japanese. 

“I first came to India around 2006-07, and I’ve been coming back every year since,” Hue says as we sit chatting on the tiny verandah in front of the shop. “The first time, I stayed for nine months, and travelled all across — Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Mysore, Pondicherry, Varanasi and Jaipur. Every year, I’d go back home, earn enough to support myself and come back. And then two years ago, I realised I wouldn’t get anywhere this way and decided to do something,” Hue says. 

So he went back to his native Saint-Lo, a town in Normandy, and got himself a professional boulanger’s diploma. Even so, it wasn’t easy. Hue had to find the right kind of ingredients — wheat, butter, etc. — to make his pastries. “I spend six months and 5,000 euros on it, and look, now I’m in business.” A loan from his bank in France helped. 

A month on, Hue says he’s happy. “Rupees two lakh isn’t a small amount to make,” he says, especially since everything he sells costs under Rs100. Curiously, Benaras, he says, reminds him of home. “It’s like Normandy, full of churches and cows.” And what about the poverty and dirt? “What poverty, what dirt?” Hue grins.