Cojean Paris

Last Updated on September 2, 2022

Healthy and sustainable fast food restaurants 

Cojean is a chain of fast food restaurants that can be found across Paris serving seasonal produce. Open for breakfast and lunch, coffee and cookies, it provides sustenance for Parisians who pop in to buy a coffee, a snack or even a three-course lunch in a cheerful environment. It is also a good place for tourists who are flocking back to Paris. The food is fresh, the service brisk and friendly, and the price point is reasonable. Invited to review Cojean, I chose a branch a few minutes from my apartment in the 9th arrondissement. Wherever you may be in Paris, especially on the Right Bank of the city, you will find a branch with ease.

On approaching Cojean I was struck by the jaunty blue awning and the café chairs filled with people eating their lunch. Stopping for a meal is not only a ritual in France but a necessity. I doubt many people are eating a sad sandwich at their computers at lunchtime and I have never seen anyone drinking a takeaway latte on the metro. At Cojean there are comfy banquettes on which to relax while eating and a choice of individual tables or a large communal one. The restaurant space is designed in shades of light blue with wood and cream along with attractive globe-shaped suspended lights.

At Cojean most of the food is displayed on open refrigerated shelves where there is an array of sandwiches, salads, desserts, yoghurts, and an impressive selection of drinks. There are also cardboard pots with dishes that can be warmed up such as lasagne. A blackboard notes the toasted sandwiches of the day which can be ordered and are prepared in the kitchen as are the fresh juices that are available on the menu. The dish of the day was dahl.  If you are seeking breakfast you can choose from a range of viennoiserie and all day there are cookies and sweet treats to entice. There is also an interesting selection of spices, teas and coffee to buy and even a cookbook.

We chose a range of dishes to try out the available options – 40% of which are vegetarian and include a wide range of vegan and gluten-free options such as vegetable lasagne vegan chia seeds pot, and coconut drinks. While we ate our lunch in the airy seating area, I couldn’t help noticing the attractive take-out bags that Cojean supplies for those taking their meal to go. Packaging is very important in France and the Cojean paper bags with thin light blue and navy stripes looked as chic as the Parisians carrying them.

We began with a couple of freshly prepared juices which are 100% organic. Green Power tasted very healthy, was not too sweet and had a lovely green hue from the spinach, cucumber and apple. A juice called ‘le jardin dévasté’ contained banana, kiwi, Strawberry and apple, was a pale pink-orange and was very nourishing and refreshing. I wasn’t sure if the juice was named after the book of the same name by Jorge Volpi, but either way, it was delicious.

We moved on to a salad course with the contents packed into round plastic pots. We were given proper cutlery which is not only more pleasant to eat with but reduces plastic use. There was a range of delicious and creative salad combinations including pasta salads, tabouleh with chicken and even a shakshuka salad.  Tzatziki pasta salad contained fusilli, smoked salmon, cucumber and good dill mayo, plus chopped chives that added extra colour and flavour. Spelt and courgette salad had spelt, green lentils, cubes of feta along with nuts, roasted courgette, and basil pesto. It was colourful and tasted wholesome.

The highlight of the meal was the toasted sandwich. Anyone who has travelled in France knows how ubiquitous the baguette sandwich is at lunchtime. What differs enormously is the quality of the bread – and of course the contents. Most often cafes and bakeries use a baguette called ‘tradition’, the white baguette which itself varies in quality from the award-winning (Paris has a prestigious annual baguette award) to the desultory which you will usually find at kiosks outside major museums. At Cojean the bread was excellent. We shared a toasted sandwich filled with mozzarella, roasted aubergines, spinach, tomato concassé, and basil pesto. There was another option that contained chicken. The bread was a seeded baguette which toasted really well. I have eaten these baguettes almost daily throughout my summer in Paris but had no idea how good they are toasted. The second sandwich we tried was from the readymade section and was a round, maize bread, a lovely yellow colour – filled with avocado, cucumber and sprouts. The yellow and green colour scheme was most pleasing.

The lunch thus far was already filling, but we noticed that many diners had a three-course meal on their trays so we continued on with dessert. I liked the look and taste of a blue chia seed pot with blueberries and raspberries which was layered on top of a strawberry compote. This was a fun dish with interesting textures. Another pot was filled with an apple and strawberry crumble, the compote in the bottom and the crumble added on opening. The fruit had a good texture, and the crumble was pleasingly crunchy.

Cojean has an impressive selection of organic, speciality teas and being a tea drinker myself, I was pleased to find a flavour I had never encountered. I chose La Saisissante which contained blackcurrant leaf, bitter orange leaf, peppermint, chilli, ginko and pink pepper. It has a gentle flavour with a back note of spice which was not overpowering.

Tasty food is just one of the reasons to eat at Cojean. The chain is also committed to a sustainability programme. The diner benefits from Cojean choosing organic, sustainable or integrated farming methods wherever possible and 100% GM-free chicken, sustainably sourced fish and free-range eggs. The sustainable fast food ethos is part of the eco-designed packaging with recycled materials so as to reduce carbon footprint and plastic pollution. At Cojean, 81% of all cardboard and paper is recycled, the straws are paper and the takeout cutlery is made from renewable corn starch. Cojean’s sustainability commitment extends beyond the restaurant itself with part of its profit going directly to the Cojean charitable foundation ‘Nourrir, Aimer, Donner’ (feed, love, give) which aims to fight poverty and to make a contribution to the sustainable development of the poorest communities internationally through the provision of water and food and the combatting of injustice.

Cojean opened in Paris in 2001 and has 36 restaurants in France. Its popularity has now spread across the Channel and, in 2015 Cojean launched in the UK. There are six branches in London and the aim is to expand. Healthy, fast food, sustainable and tasty is coming your way.

Cojean Laffitte

27 Rue Laffitte 75009 Paris

Looking for something different?  Check out some of our other Paris restaurant reviews like Yakuza