Boulangeries and Patisseries

One cannot go to France without visiting one of the many boulangeries and patisseries that seem to appear every 100 metres in Paris. There are just too many wonderful desserts and pastries and not only do I love to eat them, I love to read about them. Professional chef and baker, David Lebovitz’s tagline on his website (www.davidlebovitz.com) is “living the sweet life in Paris”. His book, ‘Sweet Life in Paris” and “My Paris Kitchen” give such vivid pictures of food in Paris. And, he recently released an app called “Paris Pastry” ($3.99) which shows all the great boulangeries and patisseries in Paris.

Here are some of my favourites foods and places to pick up a few treats:

Croissants

Bet you didn’t know that there are two types of croissants you could buy. There is the Croissant Beurre (1.0 Euros) and yes, it has a LOT of butter and is much more satisfying and delicious than the Croissant Nature (0.95 Euros), which, I have been told, is dry. I’m staying with the rich, tasty croissant not matter how many more calories it has!

Croissant Buerre, France. Photo: J. Chung

Croissant Nature, France. Photo: J. Chung

Eclairs

Eclairs are now my favourite treat. While the chocolate eclair from Dalloyau was very good, the salted caramel one from L’Eclair de Genie was PHENOMENAL!