I’ve heard mixed reviews of Starbucks in France, ranging from comments that their coffee is terrible to comments stating that they are the only decent place to get a cup of coffee in Paris. I think that the reality falls somewhere in between, as their coffee seemed pretty decent (at least as good as in the US, better at some locations than others), but they get two thumbs up for having clean and accessible bathrooms which is a nice plus in a tourist area.
When I stopped into a cafe, I noticed a sign for a limited edition dessert, a dessert sold under the heading “Fusion with Michalak.” Christophe Michalak is a world-renowned pastry chef and winner of the international World Pastry Cup competition, so I had high hopes for the “amusé à fusionner le goût du chocolat et du café” (fusion of chocolate and coffee.” Served in a chocolate cup, the dessert started with a chocolate mousse base, topped with a layer of tiramisu, mini chocolate-covered biscuits (for crunch) a coffee gelee and a lemon-scented mascarpone mousse topping. The mix of flavors and textures worked together surprisingly well and tasted like something that probably should have cost more than 5 euros – but it was just under that mark. Delicious!
I’ve noticed that just about all bakeries sell a variety of pre-prepared sandwiches and other dishes. It seemed like a many people dropped in to pick up these sandwiches for lunch, or at least to eat later, but just as many opted to take them for breakfast. That said, pastries were definitely the most popular at the boulangerie/patisserie I stopped in on Wednesday morning. I believe the name was Cafe Richard, near the Place de la Revolution, but the name was not particularly well marked.
I tried a Croque Campagnard, which was a three layered toasted sandwich with ham in it, very similar to a Croque Monsieur, but made with an excellent rye bread. There was a ridiculous amount of cheese it in, but it was oozing and delicious.
I also picked up a chocolate croissant and – of course, un cafe to go with it. These, too, were delicious. The croissant was very soft and almost reminded me of a dinner roll, and it had just the right amount of chocolate. I’ll update this with the address, as everyone at the shop was extremely nice and their fantastic looking desserts (which I didn’t try) would definitely prompt a return visit!
I’m taking a bit of a break from regular work this week to spend some time in Paris! This means that I’m going to try to throw in a few posts about Paris food – not reviews, just some commentary – here and there over the next couple of days. Don’t worry – the recipes will still run as scheduled, so you won’t miss out on any of the usual goodies. But you might be tempted to take a trip to Paris sometime in the near future if you like what you see!
I’ll be posting more travel updates on my Twitter if you’re interested in following up, and if you have any suggestions for your favorites in Paris, I’d love to hear them in the comments!
Update: The trip was wonderful. You can read a roundup of all trip-related posts here. Hopefully they’ll help with planning future trips to Paris!
Snickerdoodles are incredibly satisfying cookies, considering how simple they are. They’re simple sugar cookies that are rolled in a cinnamon-heavy cinnamon sugar mixture before baking. This results in a soft and chewy texture for the vanilla cookie and a crisp, somewhat spicy exterior. I’ve played with the idea before and loved the way that it translated into a french toast recipe. This time, I wanted to translate the snickerdoodle idea onto a scone. A scone is much closer to a cookie than a piece of custardy french toast, after all!
The scone is a fairly basic vanilla scone, dropped in slightly flatten balls on the baking sheet to look more like cookies than scones that were rolled out and cut. I leavened the dough with baking soda and cream of tartar in place of baking powder (although cream of tartar is often the main component in baking powder) because that is the traditional leavening combination for snickerdoodles. The mix produced a really nice rise on the scones, puffing them up enough to produce a “crackly” look in the cinnamon crust.
The finished scones looked like giant snickerdoodles. They were tender and slightly crumbly on the inside, with a crunchy cinnamon sugar crust outside. Despite the sugar coating, these really aren’t too sweet, as there isn’t much sugar in the scone dough. This makes them seem very light and it’s easy to eat a whole scone without even noticing. In other words, they’re very tasty. I like them plain, and just like the cookies, I like to serve them with a big glass of milk
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