The sweet joys of Paris

Whole books have been written about Parisian pastry shops and bakeries, and what could happen that instead of queuing in front of museums, we will be standing in lines for the most delicious French pastries.

Breads and cakes
If we order a croissant in Paris, we are very unoriginal. According to baker Christoph Vasseur, a former sales consultant in the fashion industry, originality is important both in his work and in the selection of delicacies offered by the many bakeries around the city. His bakery Du Pain et des Idées in the heart of Paris, which takes us a century back in time not only with its flavors but also with its decor, is famous above all for its bread, called pain des amis (bread of friendship), which is also served in the prestigious restaurant of the Plaza Hotel Athenaeum with three Michelin stars, led by the famous chef Alain Ducasse. We just have to be careful not to want its delicacies at the weekend, as the bakery is only open during the week.

In a city where as many as 1,300 bakeries are fighting for customers, the fast food mentality took over years ago. It is necessary to bake as many sweets as possible in the shortest possible time, which means that only 3 percent of bakeries make their own dough for butter croissants, while all the rest buy dough. This is precisely why it is so difficult to distinguish the exceptional from the average in Paris, of course the confectioners and bakers themselves are in an even more difficult situation. There is probably no need to fight for customers To Jean-Paul Hevin and his colleagues, who in the store on rue Saint-Honoré and in two other locations in Paris are building a reputation as the most 'chic' chocolate shop. On a street in the center of the Parisian fashion world, his elegant chocolate boutique satisfies the sugar needs of fashionistas. Always incredibly fresh products made from the highest quality cocoa beans convince even the hungriest models to step away from their daily diets for a moment. If the beautiful shapes and flavors such as rum, raisins or black espresso do not convince us, the chocolate candies certainly will. We can choose between chocolates of various themes: love, beauty or chocolate, and the staff will kindly advise us which pralines should be chosen by people obsessed with healthy eating, adventurers or lovers of the classics. In the tea room, guests are served at least thirty different fresh cakes daily. In addition to sweets, they also serve salads, omelettes and sandwiches.

Heartfelt dedication or mass production
We can be found in the elegant sixth arrondissement of Paris Le Bonbonnière de Buci, a patisserie run by Pierre Marandon and his wife Edith. They start their day at three in the morning, and at noon the bakers are still busy. Marandon's specialty is millefeuille - layers of crispy puff pastry filled with cream. They offer three flavors every day, and at the weekend the offer expands to as many as 11 different flavors. The Marandons have been working in confectionery for two decades. Their production is not large, but they are devoted to it with all their hearts, which recently could also be said for a chain of pastry shops Ladurée. They are mainly known for macaroon, a small round cookie with a crispy crust and a light and juicy center. In their 'laboratories', they bake fresh cookies of different flavors every morning, and every season they present a new flavor to customers; this year, for example, is under the sign of apple and cherry. In their desire to offer as wide a range as possible, they may have gone a little overboard, because in addition to sweet treats, they also offer cosmetic products and fragrances. The richness of the flavors of French cuisine is legendary, but chocolates, cakes and, of course, tradition cannot be done without French cuisine either. A restaurant and pastry shop founded in 1802 Dalloyau re-opened five teahouses in different parts of the city two years ago, offering light lunches in addition to desserts. If we get thirsty or have a sweet tooth even while walking from one tea house to another, we can also stop at their shops and raise our blood sugar levels.

Sweets for kings
If time does not permit a trip to Versailles, we can taste what the French court sweetened with. We just have to try puits d'amour or famous baba au rhum. These two famous confections were the favorite sweets of the French King Louis XV when Nicolas Stohrer was the court pastry chef. When in 1730 Stohrer left the court, he also took the recipes with him and opened his own patisserie, which today is one of the oldest gourmet institutions in Paris, and the patisserie, unlike many 18th century tastes that we reject today, has stood the test of time and is still being made today according to strictly protected recipes. Puits d'amour or wells of love (unfortunately the current owner Francois Duthu does not know the origin of the name) are small round rolls filled with vanilla cream and caramel. Modern Paris loves another Stohrer original creation − baba au rhum, which is sold in three versions: the original baba au rhum is a croissant with biscuit cream and rum, or grandma is the version with raisins, Grandma Chantilly and it is decorated with a dollop of whipped cream.

Probably the most French thing is nibbling on sweets in a luxurious salon 1728, named after the year they built this beautiful residence near rue Saint-Honoré, which became the gathering place of the cream of Paris thanks to 18th-century trendsetter Madame de Pompadour. The mistress of King Louis XV. she is said to have even lived in this salary while her residence, the Hôtel d'Evreux (today's presidential palace), was being built. The current owner of the palace is the Chinese musician and tea specialist Yang Lining, who knows how important sweets are during afternoon tea, so we will be able to enjoy the sinfully good flavors of the masterpieces of confectioner Arnaud Larher in the luxurious salon. Too many delicacies and not enough time, but Paris is a city to which one must return again and again in order to get to know it better. And on our next visit, we must definitely visit the chocolate shop Hugo & Victor, where the Hugo Chocolat cake is made from Tanzanian chocolate, an exotic Venezuelan tonka whose taste is reminiscent of vanilla and lime. This dessert does not leave even the greatest confectionery connoisseurs cold. Then there are the chocolate shops by Jacques Genin and the confectionary workshop of the master Gérard Mulot and lest we forget Laurent Duchene … Sweet Paris remains forever.