An article from le Figaro on best Baba au rhum in Paris. Usually the test by LF is quite reliable.
Criteria. We selected four, each scored on 5 points for a final score out of 20. Either the appearance of the cake and the cream (shape, color, shine), the texture (homogeneity of the dough, consistency, freshness), the taste (balance in sugar, alcohol, quality and freshness of the cream, the dough) and finally the price-quality ratio. The babas of our test ranged from € 3.10 to € 8. This last criterion, taking into account these very large price differences, allowed us to weight the three previous ones.
Criteria. We have selected four, each scored on 5 points, for our final out of 20. Either the appearance (shape, color of the cake and caramelized crust …), the taste (freshness and balance butter-sugar-caramel), the texture (soft and crisp, finesse of puff pastry, correctness of cooking) and finally the price-quality ratio. The price of kouign-amanns ranged from 1.40 € to 3.50 €. Differences sufficiently significant for this last criterion to weight the three preceding ones.
Chef Kevin Lacote has worked in several prestigious restaurants: l’Ambroisie, chez Yannick Alleno or the famous pastry shop Victor and Hugo, before opening his lab and tea salon in 2016, in the 17th district.
My favourite was Kara Damia, the salty caramel contrast with the sweet ingredient. On the whole, the stardard was good and solid for the 4 cakes. The chef is more low profile than celebrity chef, actually I haven’t heard of him before Mr naf bought home the delights, also the price is slightly lower those celebrity pastries shops. Go if you are around in the area.
I vaguely heard of Mori Yoshida when somebody recommended him in a blog post about a year or 2 ago. It was when his team La Maison Mori Yoshida participated in the competition “Le Meilleur Pâtissier professionnels” on TV that everybody started to notice this talented Japanese chef. Not only winning every challenges and eventually the final against French teams, but also scoring the highest in the history of the competition. Even the usually very critical judge Pierre Hermé said one of their pastry was the second best he has ever eaten (the best was Christophe Michalak).
Mori Yoshida has studied pastries first in Japan, he continued in France. He then went back to Japan and worked in Park Hyatt hotel etc in Japan. In 2013, he decided to quit Japan and opened his shop in Paris.
Owing to the success of the competition, their pastries were sold out usually in the early afternoon and they closed the shop. Mr. naf succeed only after his third visit, during lunch hour. The shop was situated in the 7th district, avenue de Breteuil with modern minimalist design, a big glass shop front and light wood door.
Éclair au café - choux pastry filled with coffee cream and topped with a slice of chocolate. Quite pleasant the taste, choux was well done, not too hard or dry and not too soft, maybe if the coffee taste stay longer in the mouth, it would be even better. 4,50 €
Taste was subtle especially tea and white chocolate, and yet quite well balance, although I didn’t quite feel the lime nor the orange. The velvet spray finish on the top gave a nice sophisticated touch. One of my favourites.
Baba tropique - with mango cream and passion fruits. This version of Baba has no alcohol, instead of rum, it was filled with coconut milk syrup. Few slices of mango was found interior. Not bad, personally I still prefer the rum version, it was a bit too light for me. 6 €
It was a while ago back in June this visit to Yann Couvreur. We see him as an established pastry chef in his young age, high profile in social media, as judge in a several patisserie competitions. He has worked in several restaurants with stars chefs. He started in the kitchen of Gérard Víe, Alain Dutournier and later as sous-chef with Jean-François Foucher in Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme. He then worked several years aboard. In 2013, he got recruited by the palace Prince de Galles in Paris with his new take on 3 different recipes of kouign-amann, he stayed there till 2015 when he eventually quitted and opened his first shop in Goncourt.
With his impressive CV and the high price, we had high expectations. Beautiful packaging with pastel colours and slight metallic bronze ink, Yann Couvreur uses fox as his emblem.
Tarte framboise estragon - Raspberry tarragon tart, with crunchy sweet pastry base, almond cream, creamy tarragon, fresh raspberries and marmalade. It was refreshing if you like a light fruit tart. 6,80 €
Carré citron vert - lime tart with sweet crust base, creamy emulsion with lime, lime confit, Swiss meringue, fresh lime segments and lime powder. Black and milk chocolate chips, hazelnuts and crepe. 4,80€
Merveille aux pralines - Light chocolate mousse with milk, hazelnut praline with fleur de sel, hazelnut dacquoise, meringue, dark chocolate icing. Bursts of milk and dark chocolate, hazelnuts and crepe
Interesting with the texture. 6,50 €
Didn’t affect the taste at all, in fact it was my favourite, the complex taste of tonka and dark chocolate was incredible. Mr. n was less hot with the square shaped choux puff pastry. I didn’t mind it at all, although it was a bit far from a conventional éclair.
Overall, the cakes were very good. Some reservations due to some technical mistakes that was quite elementary and not too forgivable with high price tag like this.
Yann Couvreur Patisserie Goncourt
137 avenue Parmentier
75010 Paris
Since I have bought a coupon from a private sale site a few months back, a 25€ coupon that I can spend 40€ in the shop, this was the reason why I was back to Yann Couvreur the second time, I was glad I did.
With the coupon, we had to order online the pastries 2 days before and picked them up in the store ourselves. We chose the delivery in the second shop in the Marais in the 4th district.
Paris Brest - A classic choux pastry, hazelnut praline cream, salty praline with hazelnut, roasted hazelnut nougatine. Indeed a hazelnut heaven if you are in love with the nut. 12€ (for 2)
Carré amandine aux poires - Sweet pastry crust, almond cream, vanilla poached pear and roasted flaked almonds. It was a take on the classic Parisian Tarte Bourdaloue. It was alright, more on the sweet side when compared to the other pastries of YC. Strong presence of almond but I didn’t feel vanilla with the pear. 22€ (for 4)
Except the pear tart, everything was sublime. I was glad to return for the second time. I read many people complained about bad services (Trip Advisor) or erratic quality. I was a bit surprised that the cakes I have ordered were not put aside but they just put the order together when I arrived. There was a risk that parts of your order could be sold out. A promising pastry chef but need probably to brush up his entrepreneurial skills.
Will return one day for his famous Millefeuilles and Fraisier.
Yann Couvreur Pâtisserie le Marais
23bis Rue des Rosiers
75004 Paris
Originally, I wanted to try Pierre Hermé’s Mooncake this year. In the Bonaparte shop, they sold the last box an hour before… too bad for us!
Got some pastries instead.
The flavours were subtle of the pistachio, the candied fruit added a hint of freshness and citrus. The Fleur de sel in the shortbread was another slight surprise.
Baba Ispahan - Baba brioche pastry soaked in a wild raspberry eau de vie, rose raspberry mascarpone cream, with litchi fruit in the core, and raspberry on the top - 7,20 €
The combination of flavours between the Maya mountain chocolate and Madagascan vanilla was quite sophisticated and a pure delight, first sensed the bitterness, a bit saltiness came right after and eventually the sweetness.
Kara Damia - have wrote about it in the past, it was as good as the last time, a signature from KL pastisserie. Salty caramel, coconut dacquoise, milk mousse, and Macadamia nuts - 6 €
Equinoxe - the signature pastry, I have a feeling that the grey has been tuned down (compared to the one I have tasted in 2016 up thread), light Bourbon vanilla cream, filled with caramel, the base was a crispy Speculoos biscuit. 6 €
Baba au rhum - this is another signature of Lignac. Pastry soaked in rum and covered with abricot syrup, it is garnished with vanilla whipped cream. They emphasised that the rum was not cooked to preserve the alcohol. A very light and moist cake. Unlike most baba au rhum, this one was not sold soaked in a plastic tray interesting rendition. 5,50 €
Caramel éclair - Choux pastry garnished with salty butter caramel cream, coated with caramel icing. Simple but good, a dessert with salty touch is always interesting 5 €
Tart citron - lemon tart - lemon cream and compote, topped with a vanilla lemon glaze on a white chocolate decoration and hazelnut shortbread. The white chocolate is an evolution, the last version was like this. 6 €
Strong flavour of cafe, which I appreciated. I found the coffee praline (using bits of crashed coffee grain) a bit disturbing, I think a finer texture would be interesting.
I found everything was good, much better than an average neighbourhood pastry shop. On the whole, I find the price a bit excessive, especially for savoury tarts. I would like to try the viennoiseries next time.
Most of the savoury tarts are priced at 10€ (truffle is an exception), and if you take a sweet tart to complete the meal, that will be 17.5€. At that price, the bakery will be in competition with lots of other options for lunch.
Not new but husband’s all time favorite sin is les merveilleux de Fred. They have a handful of shops in Paris (and elsewhere) that make product as you watch. A tender base topped with a cloud of meringue and more. We’ve taken a box to dinner parties as house favors and always try to take a box back to our hotel. They don’t last a day! Divine
FUN reading, thank you ! I’m preparing the patisserie crawls, yes with my wife there will be probably several Still have sweet memories from Des Reves the first year they opened with Conticini, we only care about the taste and still consider it as truly among the best flaverful yet balanced desserts ever.
So would be glad please to know what places should i consider adding, seems that nowdays Mr. Conticini is quite busy at several spots and maybe a collabaration with Jeffery Cagnes ? Hope level is high… Yann Brys place sounds interesting, Mori Yoshida for the much loved French/Japanese patisserie style, Le Jardin Sucre as my spouse adores pistachio desserts, the usual suspects of Genin, Herme, Claire Damon ? Any other suggestions ? Maybe something newer from past years, less known places that do wonders tastewise ? Off the beaten track teatime gems ? Or “underground patisserie scene”, something unordinary that requires pre-order and worth checking ? Thanks ! Btw Mochi and bubble tea is also of high interest, remember something about a dedicated Mochi place opened in recent years, will look up the name…
Don’t forget to check out Fou de Patisserie, they have several shops now in Paris. Bontemps in Paris 3 for their tarts, the good old Carl Marletti rue de Censier 75005, Yann Couvreur (several shops), Yann Menguy’s Goutte d’or in 18e. CinqSens by Nicolas Paciello 15e.
I don’t know if there are underground places, for Claire Heitzler or Nina Metayer, you may need to order online and get your order in shops. If you’re into tea time, there are the very talented Michael Bartocetti of George V, Maxence Barbot of Shangri-La and Maxime Frédéric of Cheval Blanc.
I am a huge fan of Bontemps on rue Bretagne in the trendy upper 3rd. Not only for the pastries but for a teatime “pause” in the delightful salon de thé and for the chance to further explore the trendy Haut Marais.
Still have sweet memories from Des Reves the first year they opened with Conticini, we only care about the taste and still consider it as truly among the best flaverful yet balanced desserts ever.
