By: Gali Mashiah and Dana Mor
Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and as guides who lead culinary tours with a focus on pâtisserie, we spend a lot of time there. When people ask us what not to miss in this city, we have plenty of recommendations.
In this article, we chose to focus specifically on Place de la République, a central square and a popular place to stay, where hotels are relatively cheap compared to the rest of the city. If you find yourself here, here are three recommendations we wouldn’t want you to miss in the world of boulangerie, pâtisserie and chocolate. Two of these spots see fewer tourists than they deserve, and that’s a shame.
Du Pain Et Des Idées (“Bread and Ideas”)
One of the most special spots: a boulangerie founded in 1875, located in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, close to Place de la République. The main “problem” is that there’s only one location, and it’s closed on weekends and for a good part of the summer months, so fewer tourists make it here.
The baker Christophe Vasseur bought the place in 2002 and decided to preserve the original design, out of deep respect for its historical and artistic value. He felt the place had an atmosphere all its own, like a historic monument. In many ways, Du Pain et des Idées is a journey into the past.
Christophe feels the place allows a creative freedom that few careers offer: “You can choose to do what everyone else does, or you can say: I’m going to make a croissant that you can only find at my bakery.”
And indeed, everyone who walks in feels like they’ve stepped into a time tunnel, into a fine Paris bakery that still bakes today the traditional way, using the same techniques as 100 years ago.
The secret of these pastries is very long proofing and baking times, longer than what’s standard today. This technique was used generations ago. That’s why Christophe said in one of his interviews that there’s nothing like his bakery anywhere in Paris. He has won many awards, and in 2012 was voted the best baker in Paris.
The ingredients used are excellent, all from organic farming, and made using traditional techniques that guarantee quality, flavor and health.
Thanks to its painted glass ceilings and sloped mirrors from the late 19th century, the place has been declared a historic monument.
What do we recommend tasting here?
Basically everything is delicious and special, and you can try something different on every visit. We picked three of the classic, best-known pastries, which of course didn’t disappoint:
Escargot Pistache Chocolat (which also comes in other variations), made of rolled dough filled with pistachio pastry cream and chocolate chips.
Brioches à la Fleur d’Oranger: a fine butter brioche flavored with orange blossom, made from a North African recipe.
Pain des Amis (bread of friends): a smoky country bread with a dark brown crust. Christophe used to bake this bread for friends on weekends, until they convinced him to sell it in the bakery. Even once he started selling it there, he decided it would only be available on weekends.
This is an especially elaborate bread. The dough is left to rise and ferment for several days, then baked for an hour. It’s the bakery’s flagship product, one of the pastries most identified with it, and every attempt to copy it at other Paris bakeries has failed.
The motto of this place comes from Marcel Pagnol’s film La Femme du Boulanger: “I will make you bread like you’ve never tasted before, and inside that bread there will be love, and plenty of friendship“
Address: 34 Rue Yves Toudic
Website: https://dupainetdesidees.com
BOULANGERIE UTOPIE
Not far from there, continuing on from Place de la République, you’ll reach the pâtisserie UTOPIE. We recommend arriving as early as possible, otherwise you’ll spend a good while waiting in line.
Every so often, a trend starts around an existing ingredient presented in a new texture. Black sesame is an ingredient most people only know as plain sesame (like white or toasted sesame). Travel to Japan, and the world turning into one small global village, has exposed the West to an ingredient very common in Japan and across Asia: black sesame paste. It’s essentially a sesame purée that enriches creams and doughs. The flavor is very distinctive, and we fell for it immediately.
The vision at pâtisserie UTOPIE, where the pastry chefs (like Pierre Hermé) also began their careers at Ladurée, is to be accessible and offer high-quality, fresh products. The owners describe the business as simple and local.
All the breads and pastries are made with sourdough starters, long fermentation, and organic flours. Their fame spread once they started making pastries and breads with black sesame paste.
What do we recommend tasting here?
First, treat yourself to a sandwich made from dough mixed with black sesame paste, which of course turns it black. It comes with various fillings, each one tastier than the last.
On the sweets side, we recommend two desserts we fell in love with:
The first: Éclair Sésame, éclairs filled with pastry cream combined with smooth, chilled black sesame paste. As simple as it is delicious.
The second: Sésame Citron Vert, an elaborate, fancy pastry, delicious and special on a whole other level. A reconstructed sablé of crisp dough with white chocolate and sesame, velvety black sesame mousse, lemon confit with lemon zest, and finally a chocolate spray coating.
Address: Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud 20
Website: https://boulangerieutopie.com
While we’re in the area, we recommend buying a bottle of wine, taking all your pastries to Canal Saint-Martin, enjoying the fine flavors, and taking in the magical views of Paris.
And how can you end a feast that includes fine pastries and good wine without dessert? So let’s burn off a few more calories and walk about five minutes to the famous chocolatier Jacques Genin.
Jacques Genin
After tasting the fine pastries at Du Pain Et Des Idées and indulging in UTOPIE’s pâtisserie with its black sesame paste, we head toward the chocolatier Jacques Genin, a five-minute walk from UTOPIE.
Jacques began his career at age 28, when he opened a restaurant. At 33 he started working as a pastry chef, and in 2010 he began working as a chocolatier, becoming one of the best and most respected in the world.
The company Valrhona produces chocolate for him based on a recipe he developed himself, and this is the raw material he uses to make the pralines and other chocolate products sold at his shop. His products are sold, among other places, at quite a few of the city’s top hotels.
What do we recommend tasting here?
The unique chocolate pralines sold here are packaged like jewelry: the saleswoman puts on white gloves and places the pralines one by one into elegant metal boxes. You can also buy pralines individually, and if you’re looking for a worthy sweet gift, this is the place! By the way, if you buy pralines during the summer months, they’ll give you an ice pack to keep them cool.
Jacques makes caramel candies in a range of flavors. Some are classic, like chocolate, coffee, caramel and vanilla, and there are also exotic flavors like mango, blackcurrant and passion fruit. The candies are soft and don’t stick to your teeth. The rich butter flavor really shines through, and these are the best caramels we’ve eaten in Paris, or anywhere in the world.
The highlight is the fruit and vegetable jelly cubes, which also come packaged in an elegant metal box. They’ll happily let you taste before you buy.
Don’t skip the excellent pâtisserie here either: anything you order will delight your taste buds. In this department, we highly recommend trying the lemon basil tart, a refreshing and truly unique combination of flavors. This pastry is one of the finest lemon tarts you’ll ever eat.
The chef’s motto is that the customer waits for the dish, not the other way around, so the pastries are only prepared once you place your order. Be patient until you get them. It’s worth the wait.
If you arrive at Jacques’s on a hot day, treat yourself to the ice cream, which is nothing short of wonderful. The ice cream, made using special techniques, allows for less sugar, letting the original flavors of the ingredients really come through.
One last tip: if the chef happens to be there when you visit, politely ask him, and he’ll be happy to say hello and take a photo with you.
Go for it!
Address: 133 Rue de Turenne
Website: https://jacquesgenin.fr
By the way, all these addresses sit along my walking route through the 10th arrondissement or a short distance from it, so you can combine your shopping with a full morning of walking around the neighborhood.
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