In Paris you now find more and more shops specialising in just one type of pastry, like L'Eclair de Génie which only sells éclairs but in lots of different flavours.
Popelini has two branches in Paris, one in the Marais district and another one in the 9th district. What do they sell? Choux à la crème, little choux filled with flavoured pastry cream. It was named after Popelini, an Italian pastry chef who invented the choux pastry in 1540.
The boutique is tiny but pretty looking, on my visit the window display and the inside of the shop were funky and colourful.
The choux were displayed like little pieces of precious jewellery under transparent domes and the pièce montée or croquembouche was more than appetising.
All the pastries are displayed in the centrepiece and the hardest thing is to make a choice between all the flavours. Some are permanent, there is the 'choux of the day' and seasonal flavours too.
They're all in a perfect round shape and topped with a little disc of flavoured icing, they're a cute little bunch of choux. Dark chocolate, vanilla, lemon, praline, rose & raspberry are some of the different flavours available.
I, of course had to try them in the name of
The choux are priced at €1.85 which is pretty much the price of a good macaron in Dublin but they're bigger and more filling.
We started with the milk chocolate and passion fruit confit choux. The filling was generous and smooth, the choux pastry nicely firm: it oozed with deliciousness at the first bite.
The salted caramel choux was a winner.
Last but not least, the one filled with pistachio pastry cream and cherry confit wasn't bad at all. The combination of flavours worked pretty well.
The choux à la crème from Popelini are nice but quite sweet, you wouldn't eat too many of them in one go. I think there was an attempt to make the choux the new macarons in Paris but I don't think it's going to happen, however they are still a tasty alternative and worth a try.
After our little tasting session, we were already looking at our Paris map to plan our next delicious stop!
Popelini
http://popelini.com
29 rue Debelleyme
75003 Paris
