Coralie Grassin discovers the tiny temple of pastry that has Parisians queuing outside for a bite…
Popelini: note the name down. It may be the tiniest pastry shop in Paris, but lovers of haute-pâtisserie make a detour for it.
What is it about? Chou à la crème – the most exquisite ones you can imagine. This sweet boutique is named after the inventor of the treat and offers them in nine flavours: dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla, salted caramel, lemon, pistachio-griotte, hazelnut, rose-raspberry and milk chocolate-passionfruit.
The cream is ever so fragrant, sometimes hiding a fruitier heart, mixing whipped cream and a top quality custard for a perfect melt-in-the-mouth effect. We loved that the filling is not too sugary but more focused on flavour. Even better, these little jewels are the perfect bitesize.
And then there is the flavour of the day, always a surprise, depending on the chef’s mood. We tried the pear-caramel with pieces of nougatine – this was worth featuring on the desert list of a trendy restaurant. Who knows what you will find on your visit: Grand-Marnier, jasmine, chestnut-blackcurrant, strawberry-litchee?
Soon, the French will have to replace the expression ‘in a nutshell’ with ‘in a chou à la crème’. Think of them as a gourmet version of a poem. Do not hesitate to take a few back home: nicely packed in narrow rectangular boxes, ours arrived back home in a perfect state. Well, minus a few we could not resist eating on the spot…
Popelini, 29 rue Debelleyme 75003 Paris
All photos by Coralie Grassin
Coralie writes the blog Tea Time In Wonderland.