[ Paris ] Idée fixe of the Weekend: French Dessert

From the king of chocolates to the kings & queen of macaroons, French sweets is the idée fixe (like Berlioz) of this weekend excursion to Paris. We have traveled from one store to another, combing down the list of must-gos, and with our limited time, we have….

.. accomplished quite a lot I think!

Laudree

Laudree must be one of the oldest macrons shops around because it was founded in the 1800s and claims to be the “founder” of macrons. It is also closely tied to the rise of tea salons (salon de thé) as social centers for fashionable ladies in the old days.

 

We first stopped by its shop on Champs-Elysee. Supposedly the salon on the 2nd floor is very nice (and the interior decor very cool) but they’re closed for refurbishment for an indefinite time so boooo for us. No macaron cocktail this time…

 

So we stopped by its store on rue royal (Madeline/Concorde) the other day. The salon on 16 Rue Royal is supposedly where the first Laudree store is. Nowadays it is still a place where you can sit down and have some tea and macarons (but probably have to line-up/queue for it). Alternatively, you can go to the store next door to get some “take-away”. Laudree is now run by the same person who also owns the Paul bakery chain.

Didn’t get too much macrons here. So here are the flavours: black forest, blackcurrent, citron and rose petal. The rose petal one has a very strong rose smell. The black forest one is quite good as well.

Laudree - www.laduree.fr/

Pierre Hermé

Pierre Hermé is a pastry chef who used to be involved in Fauchon and Laudree in its expansion of its luxury stores. Then he went away to Japan for a few years and came back to start his own brand.

We passed by Pierre Hermé several times when we were in the opera area. So it was a sign that we should do something now or never (actually the opera area has 2 stores quite close to one another; everywhere was kinda spread out). We stopped by the busy Pierre Hermé stand in Galerie Lafayette for some macaroons and chocolates.

There wasn’t really much time to choose what you want because the line-up (queue) is like a conveyor belt. So I picked the ones that looked cool or the flavors I think are pretty interesting (or I like! -> can’t go wrong). The flavors like Creme Brule, blackcurrent, foie gras, framboise (I think), caramel and praline.

Although some people say Pierre Hermé  is overrated or not that good, I think it’s actually pretty good. The foie gras macaroons is amazing! Other than the pretty gold leaves on the orange cover, the taste is actually quite magical I think. He is famous for his unusual combinations of flavors in macrons. I think to this day, he has not yet failed to impress.

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Angelina

One of the more famous desserts by Angelina – Mont Blanc. It’s considered a “must-try”. At its tearoom, it’s said that up to 600 of this is consumed per day! It’s basically menrigue, light whipped cream + chestnut vermicelli. It tastes pretty good for a few bites. The taste is a bit too much to have the whole thing yourself.

We just stumbled upon Angelina when we were just walking around in Galerie Lafayette. By the time we got there, it was a bit late for afternoon tea or dinner.  Apparently the one on Rue Rivoli (beside Louvre) is more popular due to its history (greatest fashion designers like Coco Chanel and famous or rich people go there because of what it symbolizes). In other words, it was like a place for high society people to see and be seen in the old days.

Angelina Paris - http://www.angelina-paris.fr/

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Jacques Genin

Jacques Genin is one of Paris’ “most reputed pâtissiers-chocolatiers”. Before opening his own store here, he used to make all the finest luxurious chocolates and dessert for the finest restaurants and hotels in Paris. According to a friend in the industry , his chocolates are “appointed by all major hotels in Paris”.

If you didn’t come to look for it specifically, you probably would not even notice it. There’s no flashy sign and you probably feel you have to look at the door twice before you set foot in there just to make sure you’ve not entered the wrong place.

The interior is very spacious and almost like a jewelry store where they have different “counters” for different kinds of desert and chocolates.

Almost like a store in a hotel. This store is not on a busy street (rather residential actually) but it definitely has what it takes to draw crowds.

A very large selection of chocolates that comes in a very pretty silver hard case that probably costs way more than the chocolates. But I must say the cases are the one of the most classy packaging I’ve ever seen. The smallest box contains 9. The next one contains 36 pieces (pre-sorted). When he opens the case, it was looks amazing – like jewelry in a box!

 

You can also have the dessert here and try their hot chocolate! There’s not many seats around (only on ground floor) and we were quite happy to get a seat early in the morning when the shop pretty much just opened. The Paris-Brest in one of the photos above is one that many would order here (there are not many selections here but most of them are very popular and many would just go to this place to have these).

Le tarte au Citron is a must-have here! I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a lemon tart that is so perfumey! & Heavenly indeed!

The hot chocolate (chocolate chaud) is also very nice (for people who like dark chocolate and thick/creamy hot chocolate with not much sugar – u can actually add your sugar actually…). I quite like it. But it was a bit much for the first thing in the morning. :p

All the kinds of dessert you could order here.

Jacques Genin: http://jacquesgenin.fr/

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Pain de Sucre

Following the list of to-go-places, we wandered through the streets of Paris and arrived at Pain de Sucre. The pastry chef of the patisserie Didier Mathray & Nathalie Robert used to be pastry chef at a 3-star michelin restaurant.

The specialty is creative pastry and the cup dessert. These ones look really nice and just like glass tiles! But they’re a bit too much (too big) for us… (considering we have consumed quite a bit of sugar here and there already).

You could also sit outside of the store.. but the street is quite busy with shoppers (it’s a shopping street). The other famous thing here are the “Guimauves” (square shape marshmallows). But again, we were a bit over-dosed with sugar for the day, so decided to skip that.

Instead, we got 3 macarons. The mint chocolate one is pretty nice (quite minty). The pink one was a some red veggie (sweet & forgot the name) & pistachio. The shapes are not as wrong and pretty and one of them was kinda out of shape and kinda sugary. Maybe should try the cup desserts or the marshmallow next time!

Pain de Sucre: http://www.patisseriepaindesucre.com/

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Jean Paul-Hevin

It took us some time to find this place (our got our direction wrong) and we were kinda short on time as we had to grab lunch and head back to London that afternoon. This John Paul Hevin store is located on rue Saint-Honore, a busy, narrow street with lots of luxury brand shops.

The famous thing here at the JPH is its chocolates. I remember several occasions of receiving its chocolates and thought they were amazing. The truffes (dark ones with cocoa powder around it) are the best things I had. It’s soft and just melts right in your mouth… would definitely recommend it!

The macaroons are very nice here as well.

The packaging for a box of 5 macrons is also quite nicely designed. Looks pretty classy.

I got a few interesting flavors like the pearl! (what is that??? but it tastes so nice and looks so pretty with the pearly shimmery) Had other ones like framboise, citron, passion, and chocolate I think. All very nice! I’d say more classical approach to macrons but still ranking among the best of macrons.

You can also order these other chocolate desserts which are also supposedly very awesome. If you have time, you could also have tea in the tea salon on the second floor.

Jean Paul Hevin - http://www.jphevin.com/

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