Paris Digest
Paris city guide since 1997
Paris food stores are a never ending temptation. Start with croissants and baguettes for breakfast. They are locally made during the night in the many bakeries in town. Visit the open-air markets, famous for fresh food including vegetable, fruit, meat and fish. Visit the many cheese, pastry and chocolate stores in town. No Frenchman would consider eating great food without a drink. Buy excellent and affordable wine from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Loire Valley in the many wine stores. Prepare your food yourself if you rent an apartment or enjoy French food in the many good restaurants. Shopping in Paris.
The city is famous for great food. Fresh products are brought overnight from all regions of France and Europe to Rungis, the largest fresh product wholesale market in the world, sold the next day in Paris markets and in grocery stores. They are turned into great meals the same day in the best restaurants.
We made a selection of the best stores selling great food and wine in the city. Some are famous gourmet food stores. Others are little known. There are many other great food stores in town. There will always be a bakery, a market and a supermarket near any location in the city selling great food.
La Grande Epicerie: fancy grocery store, largest in town.
Pierre Oteiza: basque food store. Good, friendly, affordable.
Nicolas Julhes: grocery store. Wine, cheese, charcuterie.
A la Mère de Famille: chocolate, candies since 1761.
The open-air markets are great places to buy food. A century long tradition, they are good shopping venues. Most markets are outdoor street markets and focus on food, including meat, fish, cheese, vegetables and fruit, bought the same day in Rungis, the largest wholesale food market in the world. Many local producers from the Paris region or other regions of France sell directly in the Parisian markets.
A few specialized markets don't sell food, but anything from flowers and stamps to unique antiques. A few are famous.
The street markets survive and even thrive in the face of hard competition by supermarkets and online distribution. Most retailers in the markets are independent family run businesses. They operate in a different market everyday and pay a reasonable fixed fee to get a space. Most people know their retailers and chat with them. All of this is a significant part of the social life in the city.
Bakeries and Patisseries (Boulangerie Patisserie) are rightly one of the celebrated pleasures of the city.
To taste the best French pastries, bread and croissants, go to Ladurée, Pain de sucre or to a Kayser store.
You can simply go to the Boulangerie Patisserie next door. Try some of the best local specialities: Pain Tradition, Croissants, Eclair au Chocolat, Paris Brest and Macarons.
Stohrer, the oldest pastry shop in Paris, was founded in 1730 by King Louis XV's pastry chef, Nicolas Stohrer. It has a sumptuous decor classified as Historic Monuments and is a temple of sweet and savory, where everything is made on site to offer the best of classic French pastry, including Rum babas invented by Nicolas Stohrer.
Absolutely nothing has changed in fifty years.
Located near La Sorbonne University, La patisserie Viennoise is a tiny pastry shop with a decrepit exterior serving delicious Austrian pastries such as the sachertorte, the apfelstrudel and the poppy seed cake. At lunchtime, they serve hot dishes, sandwiches and salads in a small room.
La patisserie Viennoise is crowded, especially at lunchtime. A must-go place for anyone passing through the left bank, very popular with students and tourists. Map.
JadisetGourmande: favorite chocolate store. Close to Champs-Elysées. 49 bis avenue Franklin Roosevelt 75008, tel + 33 (0)1 42 25 06 04. Web site. Map.
La maison du chocolat: large choice. Many stores. 225 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, 75008, tel + 33 (0)1 42 27 39 44. Web site. Map.
Patrick Roger: trendy chocolate store. Famous for his chocolate sculptures. High end. 108 boulevard Saint-Germain 75006. Tel: + 33 (0)1 43 29 38 42. Web site. Map.
Georges Larnicol: close to Patrick Roger. Another trendy chocolate store. High end. 132 boulevard Saint-Germain 75006. Tel: + 33 (0)1 43 26 39 38. Web site. Map.
Foucher: we love their Art Nouveau chocolate boxes. 134 rue du Bac 75007. Tel: + 33 (0)1 45 44 05 57. Web site. Map.
Tea time is an English tradition that is honored in the City of Lights. Ladurée and Mariage Frères are quite famous.
Ladurée: best macaroons, tea room
Mariage Frères: best teas.
Berthillon: ice creams.
Pierre Hermé is world famous for his macaroons, small cakes whose body is formed of two biscuits with almond powder and the heart a scented cream.
A sweetness that Pierre Hermé, who began his career at 14 years with Gaston Lenôtre, in 1976, before joining Fauchon a few years later, did not like at first. "I thought it was too sweet," he says. "What made me want to work the macaroon is that there was not much choice, just coffee, chocolate, vanilla. There was really a field of creativity to explore."
Sacred best pastry chef in the world by the World 50 Best Restaurants, Pierre Hermé has built his sweet empire on its macaroons with associations of new flavors, acclaimed by gourmets in Paris, Tokyo or Dubai. Coming from a line of four generations of bakers, the "Pastry Picasso" as he is called for his creativity, has 47 stores in 12 countries.
The macaroons are small cakes whose body is formed of two biscuits with almond powder and the heart a scented cream. A sweetness that Pierre Hermé, who began his career at 14 years with Gaston Lenôtre, in 1976, before joining Fauchon a few years later, did not like at first. "I thought it was too sweet," he says. "What made me want to work the macaroon is that there was not much choice, just coffee, chocolate, vanilla. I thought there was really a field of creativity to explore, "he says.
In the 1980s he embarked on inventive associations of flavors, "to make the taste of the macaroon more playful". Their taste is all the more intense as the filling is generous.
Pierre Hermé has many shops in Paris. Pierre Hermé Paris Boutiques Macarons & Chocolats showcase the full range of macaroons and chocolates, as well as a large selection of cakes, biscuits, candied fruit pastes and other delicacies.
Vaugirard - 185 rue de Vaugirard 75015 Paris Opening Hours: Monday to Thursday from 11:00am to 7:00pm. Friday and Saturday from 10:00am to 8:00pm. Sunday from 10:00am to 7:00pm.
Bonaparte 72 rue Bonaparte 75006 Paris Opening Hours: Monday to Thursday from 11:00am to 7:00pm. Friday and Saturday from 10:00am to 8:00pm. Sunday from 10:00am to 7:00 pm.
End 2017, Pierre Hermé opened his first Parisian tea room at 86, Champs Elysées. This new concept store is shared with the famous perfume brand l’Occitane. It is typical of French contemporary Art de Vivre. Champs Elysees stores.
There are many stores selling good wine. Three top stores:
Lavinia: famous wine store. French and international wine.
La Cave: Bordeaux grands crus in Galeries Lafayette.
Chateaunet: best kept secret. Fabulous choice.
