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Pierre Hermé, Paris
During my visit to Paris last weekend, I was delighted to finally check out the famed pâtisserie Pierre Hermé on rue Bonaparte in the sixth arrondissement. Pierre Hermé is an acclaimed French pastry chef who Vogue dubbed, “The Picasso of Pastry,” and upon entering his boutique it is not hard to see why. Rows upon rows of meticulously crafted brioche, millefeuille, ganache and truffles sat next to hundreds of brightly coloured, shimmering macarons. He has several boutiques, including a couple in London and Tokyo, however, the one I visited in Saint-Germain des Prés is his first boutique, opened in 2002, and perhaps his most special.
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Relais de l’Entrecôte Saint-Germain, Paris
At this classic Parisian brasserie, there is no menu and vegetarians are somewhat discouraged to attend. Relais de l’Entrecôte Saint-Germain is part of a group of 3 restaurants in Paris, all specializing in (exclusively) steak frites with their famous secret sauce. I was a bit weary of this place because it seemed gimmicky and appeared way too often in tourist books and cheesy “best of” guides. Since they do not take reservations, it is not uncommon to wait several hours for a table.
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La Gazzetta, Paris
A Parisian friend of ours recommended we check out La Gazzetta, a bistro in the 12th near the March d’Aligre run by Swedish-born chef Petter Nilsson. La Gazzetta isn’t a traditional Parisian bistro per-se, but rather a hip eatery with an inventive Nordic-inspired menu featuring plenty of French influences. Nordic food is all the rage
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Blé Sucré, Paris
Every time I visit Paris I try a new bakery or pastry shop and this time it was Blé Sucré, an acclaimed pâtisserie and boulangerie in the edgy 12th arrondissement. I heard Blé Sucré (which translates to “sweet wheat”) had some of the best madeleines in Paris (which essentially amounts to the best madeleines in the world) as well as many other sweet and savory brioche-based and pasty-dough-based creations. It’s a huge title to live up to, but the minute I walked into the charming little shop I could tell it was something special.
Rows and rows of golden butter croissants and crispy baguettes were lined up beside baked Kouign-amann, meticulously layered millefeuille, colorful macarons and mini Paris-Brest, not to mention