Parisian Patisserie

Food writer Katy Salter recommends the best places to pick up Parisian patisserie

Paris. Early morning. I’m standing in a long line snaking out of Du Pain et des Idées. This 19th-century boulangerie near the Canal Saint-Martin, restored by baker Christophe Vasseur, is home to some of Paris’ best morning goods. The windows are filled with antique copper molds and vintage biscuit tins. Inside, I order Du Pain’s famous “escargot” and a croissant. The croissant is flaky, buttery, and light while the escargot, a golden pinwheel with a swirl of gooey pistachio cream, is a sensation.

Of course, these are just two cult pastries in a city stuffed with treats. From time-warp bakeries to minimalist cake boutiques, there’s something for every sweet tooth in Paris. The trick is knowing when and where to find them.

Parisians are not grazers. Snacking is generally frowned upon. With one exception: le goûter. This 4 p.m. indulgence, typically a pastry or small cake, is officially for les enfants to sate after-school hunger . . . but adults are also known to indulge. Food writer and TV presenter Harry Eastwood, who grew up in Paris, has fond memories of le goûter. “For me, it was usually a chausson aux pommes or a pain au lait with a bar of Milka wedged inside it — when I eat that now, it’s pure nostalgia.” These days — when she does indulge — it’s chouquettes, preferably the ones from Le Ble Sucre, in the 11th arrondissement. “Les chouquettes are round puffs that are tanned on the outside with a slightly damp center and slightly caramelized sugar rim. I’ll get a bag of eight or 10 and gently make my way through them, snack fashion.” 

Paris-based pastry chef and author, David Lebovitz, is a fan of the 4 p.m. sweet treat, and les chouquettes are one of his favorites. “Parisians do dine rather late — often not until 9:30 p.m. or later, and that’s an awfully long stretch. So, people visit their local patisserie for le goûter, although nowadays Parisians often call it le snack,” he writes on his popular blog, davidlebovitz.com.

To turn Le Snack into an occasion, try Sébastien Gaudard, an elegant tea salon and patisserie near the Louvre. On my last visit, I ate tart aux pommes with vanilla tea, but for extra decadence, order the Mont Blanc — a cream-filled vanilla meringue topped with piped chestnut cream.

There are two other times of day when you’ll find Parisians in a line for a pastry fix. The first is early mornings, especially at weekends, picking up croissants, brioche, or pain au chocolat for breakfast. These morning goods are called viennoiserie and are usually sold at boulangeries like Du Pain et des Idées where you can also buy crisp baguettes or crusty sourdough.

Patisseries sell more theatrical creations. This is where you’ll find French icons like the many-layered mille-feuille, eclairs, pastel-hued macarons, or Paris-Brest. Parisians visit their favorites to pick up dessert in a beribboned box. “Buying fruit tartes for a dinner party is definitely a thing in Paris,” says Harry Eastwood. “There’s a seasonal honoring of prized fruits like Reine Claudes [greengages] or Mirabelles de Lorraine [plums] in early fall. In winter, chocolate is the go-to flavor, often a classic Opera cake.

“There’s no guilt about buying dessert,” says Debora Robertson, a British food writer living in France. “The kudos comes from knowing the best bakery to go to, not from making it from scratch.”

Yann Couvreur is the name to know for seasonal patisserie. The award-winning pastry chef has three outlets in Paris, each selling beautiful gâteaux and pastries made with organic and seasonal ingredients such as apricot tarts and strawberry-basil pies in high summer, or a vanilla shiso tart piled high with perfectly ripe figs in fall.

For a patisserie experience akin to a trip to a designer boutique, try Des Gâteaux et du Pain. Claire Damon’s patisserie is one of the chicest in Paris, all black walls and glass cases filled with stunning confections like the green absinthe tart. Elsewhere, current favorites with young Parisians include the Croissant XXL at Philippe Conticini (this pastry-as-big-as-your-head is a TikTok favorite), and — mon dieu — vegan patisseries. The move to plantbased patisserie began when VG Pâtisserie opened its doors in 2017. Now, you’ll find vegan pastry shops across the city, including Land & Monkeys, which has five stores.

If you seek tradition rather than innovation, head down Rue Montorgueil, a bustling market street in the 1st and 2nd arrondissements. It’s here, tucked in between the cafés, fruit stalls, and cheesemongers, that you’ll find the city’s oldest patisserie. Stohrer was founded in 1730 by Nicolas Stohrer, pastry chef to Louis XV and inventor of the rhum baba. You can order these squishy, rum-soaked sponges here, but I prefer the kouign-amann, a flat, buttery pastry with threads of crunchy, caramelized sugar. There’s no shortage of incredible pastries to discover in Paris, so perhaps the hardest trick isn’t knowing where to find them, but when to stop.