I’m a big fan of a French blog called “Raids Patisseries” which is about bakeries and pastry shops around Paris. I found a lot of good addresses and enjoyed the post about the best croissants in the French capital. I had to taste some of those, so we headed to “Des Gateaux et du Pains”.
We arrived at the bakery where there was a big queue. When I entered I took a picture and a member of the staff told me that it wasn’t allowed. They were so busy that I took a few sneaky pictures anyway (that’s my French side coming out).
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| Oops I took a picture |
While queueing we were just amazed by the beautiful breads, pains au chocolat and tarts. An elderly woman talked to me and I asked her if it was her local bakery, it wasn’t but she said it is so good that she buys her weekend cakes and pastries here. She was very sweet and recommended some of her favourite products.
We took a pain au chocolat, a croissant and a “pain perdu a la vanille”. It wasn’t expensive but we wanted to leave some room for more sampling so we stopped at 3 products.
I don’t really have a sweet tooth and could go for weeks without cakes and pastries, but I do enjoy something sweet occasionally. The pain au chocolat was beautifully round and golden.
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| Pain au chocolat |
The croissant was also very golden, crispy and deliciously buttery.
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| Croissant |
My favourite was the “pain perdu”. “Pain perdu” meaning “lost bread” is the French name for “French toast”. This didn’t look like French toast though, it was soft and melty inside and crusty outside, an absolute treat for breakfast.
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| Pain perdu a la vanille |
After that we walked to rue de Vaugirard on our way to rue Cambronne. I didn’t know but there was a Pierre Hermé shop on our way. I was delighted. It was a nice boutique filled with French people waiting to order their macarons and pastries. In France, it’s very common that guests bring the dessert when they’re invited to a dinner party. I remember my mum bringing pastries or tarts after stopping at bakeries on our way to our hosts house for Saturday dinner or Sunday lunch.
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| Pierre Hermé |
I ordered a “crème brulée” macaron, a milk chocolate and passion fruit macaron and finally a Violet & Aniseed macaron (€1.95 per macaron). I had heard a lot about them and was delighted to find they taste even better than Ladurée, they’re soft in the middle and full of flavours. There are plenty of original combinations that you won’t see anywhere else.
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| Busy staff at Pierre Hermé |
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| Parisian break |
After a little stop at a café eating our macarons while having an espresso, we walked toward rue Cambronne to visit “Pichard” a bakery that won “Best croissant in Paris 2011”, “2nd Best Mille-feuilles in Paris 2011” and “Best organic bread 2012”.
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| Best croissant in Paris 2011, we tasted their croissants and it was indeed delicious! |
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| Best Millefeuilles in Paris 2011 that I ate later that day, I loved it, crisp and creamy at the same time. Wow! |
When we arrived at Pichard, a man from the bakery was making apricot jam outside the shop on the side walk, it was very nice to see it being done.
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| Making jam oustide the bakery |
The display of pastries was beautiful. Everything looked so fresh and perfectly presented.
There were tags with the name of each product and a description which is helpful since they have so many things to choose from. I don’t need to explain, just look at the pictures!
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| Amazing presentations |
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| Do you like chocolate? |
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| Yummy religieuses |
Then you head from rue Cambronne to rue Lecourbe and go up the street towards Sevres Lecourbe metro stop, you will see plenty more amazing food shops on the way.
“La fromage du 101” is a cheese shop located just beside a cute honey shop: “Famille Mary”.
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| Cheeses... |
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| Honey |
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| Seafood |
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| More cheeses |
On our way we discovered a Lenotre shop. Lenotre is a luxury brand that sells chocolates, pastries and sweets but they also cater for receptions, food events, etc... They have shops in 11 countries around the world as well as a cooking school in Paris.
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| Lenotre shop |
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| Oh lala |
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| Starters |
I'd definitely recommend this foodie trail "Boulevard Pasteur-Rue de Vaugirard-Rue Cambronne-Rue Lecourbe" if you are a foodie. It's an authentic experience and people are nicer than in touristy areas.
The variety of shops will give you a good insight into French food and products.
Next post will be the last of our Parisian weekend, leave some room for more cakes, cheeses and wine, bien sur!
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Mes amis, my blog has been nominated for Expats Blog award, the results will be announced on the 13th of December.
If you enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy writing it, I'd appreciate if you could leave a review and rating on this website http://www.expatsblog.com/blogs/652/french-foodie-in-dublin
It only takes a few seconds and it would mean a lot to me. If you don't do it, I'll go on strike, just kidding :-) Merci beaucoup!
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An excellent food blog about French
www.raids-patisseries.com/
In French, désolée
Amazing pastries?
Des Gateaux et du pain
63 Boulevard Pasteur
75025 Paris
www.desgateauxetdupain.com/
Macarons?
Pierre Hermé
185 rue de Vaugirard
75015 Paris
www.pierreherme.com/
Best croissant? Best millefeuille?
Pichard
88 rue de Cambronne
75015 Paris
Say Cheese?
La Fromagerie du 101
101 rue Lecourbe
75015 Paris
Honey?
Famille Mary
101 rue Lecourbe
75015 Paris
www.famillemary.fr/
Lenotre
61 rue Lecourbe
75015 Paris
www.lenotre.com/