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- Sep 27, 2024, 11:00 AM
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 59 m
- FranceÎle-de-FranceParisParis 07 Ancien - Quartier ArcisEglise Saint-Merri48°51’33” N 2°21’1” E
Paris Pastry Tour
September 27 in France ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
This morning I arranged for us to do a pastry tour. We met our guide Sam at the allotted time and headed off. Sam is a warm and interesting American from Missouri who has lived in Paris for about 10 years. She initially moved to Paris for film school but then shifted to cooking and specifically pastry. Sam is multi lingual- she speaks French, Spanish, German and Mandarin.
Our tour was done predominantly in the Marais (4th Arrondissement) but we did crowd over into the 1st, 2nd & 3rd as well. The tour was a great combination of history and tasting pastries (and even some chocolate). We started our adventure at Saint-Merri church, where she told us where pastries, specifically the croissant originated. The croissant can be traced back to 13th century Austria, where it was called the kipferl, the German word for crescent. It was an Austrian artillery officer August Zhang who founded a bakery, which inspired imitators and the French version became known as the croissant, which is French for crescent. Croissants are part of the category of pastries that the French call Viennoiseries, a nod to their origins in Vienna. The rest of the products created by bakers are referred to as Pattisseries which don’t require yeast.
While learning about the history of Viennoiseries Sam gave us a croissant from one of the most popular Boulangerie called Bo & Mie which were so good. We then moved on to Rue Quincampoix where you can visit one of the covered passages of Paris, this one is called Passage Molière and is full of beautiful stores filled with paper products, writing journals, cards and pens. By 1867 there were approximately 183 covered passages in Paris but many were demolished during Haussmann’s renovation of Paris. Only 25 have survived into the 21st century, all but one are in the arrondissements on the Right Bank.
Our next pastry was a lemon madeleine that was from Bo &Mie and we ate it as we entered another covered passage, Bourg L’abbé which runs between Saint-Denis street and Palestro street and is named after an old village formerly located in the same place. We then walked through the Grand-Cerf covered passageway. It was built in 1825 and at 12 metres high, it is one of the tallest in Paris. Its metal and wrought-iron structure lets in a lot of light due to the glass roof. It is full of beautiful craft stores selling jewellery, furniture, clothes, lighting and a host of other artisan products. We returned there after the tour and Katie purchased a few things.
Our next stop was Odette, which is all about the Chou, I tried a raspberry one and Katie Hazelnut. We then went to Fou De Patisserie, an enterprise that partners with prominent French pastry chefs to bring their creations together under a single roof - on the day we visited there were pastries from Angelina, Pierre Hermé, Vincent Guerlais, Cédric Grolet, Pierre Marcolini and the French Bastards. The biggest challenge was choosing a pastry. Our next stop was Patissier Stohrer, established in 1730, it is the oldest patisserie in Paris and was founded by King Louis XV’s pastry chef, Nicolas Stohrer. The store is elegant and has a beautiful fit out. Here we tasted their macrons and they were amazing. We then went to François Pralus a Chocolatier who also invented the famous Prauline brioche with candied pralines. Our last stop was in Rue du Nil, where we visited a chocolate shop called Plaq for a chocolate tasting. This business was started by a couple during COVID and has been very successful.
This experience was wonderful, we saw so much, ate too much and learnt some lovely stories about Paris.Read more
Traveler This walking tour was delightful. Sam was an absolute gem
Traveler Pity you can't bring home some of those delicious looking pastries!