From its origins in Montmartre to Ningyocho,

In the 19th century, Montmartre was still a village outside the city limits. The warm atmosphere of this period remains. Montmartre in the 1930s was a busy place with the textile/fabric district where many stores and tiny shops were selling 'mercerie' (haberdashery, buttons, needles, ribbons etc). It was also the home of many musicians, painters and street singers that made the neighborhood so attractive and vibrant.
That is where my mother, Lucienne was born in 1929. Her parents originally from Auvergne had started a small "café-billard" called « Au Vrai Cidre »where customers enjoyed playing cards and pool. Their café was a favourite meeting place for locals. There was always hot soup on the stove and it was famous for their exquisite cider served in tiny glasses.
Lucienne was helping her parents and served coffee to my father who had just arrived to work in Paris from Aveyron. He was immediately smitten and they got married a few months later. They took over the old café and transformed it into a restaurant serving traditional French dished such as the Roast Chicken, Steak frites the red winebeef stew. Cakes and pastries were also homemade. The Self du Sacré Coeur was truly a convenient café to enjoy family cooking for the numerous tourists climbing up to the basilica and the people living nearby.

As a child I was always captivated by the lively atmosphere of the café. There were so many tourists and all manner of European languages being spoken there. Shopkeepers, local artists as well as sales people from TATI came there to have lunch. I found this all so fascinating!

When my parents came to retire, the café was simply sold off with no one in the family who wanted to keep it going. Father deeply regretted this, as did I.
He was truly astonished when my husband , who is Japanese, thought of re-establishing the café under the same name "Chez André du Sacré Coeur". My husband is himself from a long line of shopkeepers. His parents have had a Soba (Japanese noodles) restaurant here for over 50 years. That is why we decided to have our café in Ningyocho. Come and see us whenever you like. You will always be given a warm welcome.

Laurence and Yoshio Masukawa