Well it was my last day in Paris today (boohoo!) and it started off to be a miserable rainy day-typical! However, my aim was to visit a few final patisseries that I hadn't yet been to and I think I did rather well in finding them!
I started the day by popping into my local boulangerie, as I thought I ought to give it a go considering it was just around the corner from me!
I decided to buy a loaf of the brioche aux noix (brioche with nuts that is) to take back to the UK and share with my family as they do enjoy this sweet bread. On entering the shop, I really liked the fact that the bakery was open and you could see the baker at work (see the photo below!)
After this, I set off to find some more patisseries and first came across Des Gateaux et du Pain, a large shop with a very modern layout. However, I didn't stop for long here and decided to move onto the next on my list- Sadaharu Aoki, a patisserie which gives a Japanese touch on classic French pastries. This was a really small shop, and the pastries looked interesting but nothing took my fancy so again onto the next!
La Patisserie des Reves had a really interesting shop layout, and the cakes looked delicious, without being too fancy. I had a lovely chat with one of the girls in here (who's english was excellent I must say!) and she gave me some advice as to what pastries to choose. She told me that her personal favourite was the madeleine- a moist sponge cake dotted with hundreds of tiny vanilla seeds for an intense vanilla flavour. As I had not yet eaten a French madeleine during my trip, this is what I decided to buy (and because it was a lot bigger than most of the madeleines you get elsewhere!).
I started the day by popping into my local boulangerie, as I thought I ought to give it a go considering it was just around the corner from me!
After this, I set off to find some more patisseries and first came across Des Gateaux et du Pain, a large shop with a very modern layout. However, I didn't stop for long here and decided to move onto the next on my list- Sadaharu Aoki, a patisserie which gives a Japanese touch on classic French pastries. This was a really small shop, and the pastries looked interesting but nothing took my fancy so again onto the next!
Just before leaving, I was also given a complimentary vanilla marshmallow which was an absolute delight! It was so much better than any of those packaged marshmallows you can buy here in the UK- it was so soft and just melted in the mouth..mmmmm!
The madeleine had a lovely vanilla aroma, and the cake itself was fairly dense and moist inside without being heavy. The vanilla seeds really made what could have been a fairly plain cake into a flavoursome and tasty treat. However, it would have been even nicer with some good vanilla ice cream on the side!
Later on in the afternoon, I made a stop at Un Dimanche a Paris to treat myself to a coffee and more expensive pastries, please read my review here!
I finished my last evening in Paris with some more petit fours and the last of my macarons. The petit fours I bought from Stohrer and although they were tasty, I didn't think they were of quite the same standard as the ones I had earlier in the week from Gerard Mulot.
Overall I've had a really great time in Paris- it has been really interesting and enjoyable seeing all the sites and of course, eating the lovely pastries inbetween! Everything I have tasted has been absolutely divine and I really don't know how I'm going to cope when I get back to the UK! Luckily, I'm starting a patisserie course on Tuesday and I hope that it will give me the skills I need to master the art of pastry so that one day I will be a true patissier myself!
