Unlike pâtisseries such as Pierre Hermé which pride themselves on constantly introducing new and unique flavor combinations, Ladurée takes a much more straightforward approach.  Most of the macarons are single-flavor, with a few being a combination of two, at most.  This emphasis on simplicity allows Ladurée to completely focus on ingredient quality and taste, ensuring each macaron is the best of its kind.

Not only does Ladurée have the most true-to-life flavors, but the texture of their macarons is also the lightest and most delicate.  The inside layer of crème is modestly thin, preventing the cookie from becoming cloying.  This is also a boon for someone impatient like I am who sometimes can’t help not waiting for the cold cookies to warm to room temperature since the thin layer warms up more quickly.  These cookies are delicate, airy, and delicious.  They are the most mouthwatering cookies on the planet.

Downstairs at the Champs Élysées location, ordering a box of macarons to go is a very efficient process.  The counter is configured like an assembly line with one person helping to find the right size box and another to help fill it.

At Ladurée, moderation is very important; I try to never get more than 30 macaroons during a single visit.  The vanilla, pistachio, rose, and licorice flavors are my favorite, each one an unembellished concentrated representation of the natural ingredient from which the small meringue sandwiches were made.

The pistachio macaron has a pastel green shell with light brown specks. The flavor is sweet and nutty with a very subtle hint of salt. The texture is a bit more gritty than the other macarons, a reminder that this cookie does come from ground nuts.

A floral aroma dominates the rose macaron, with a subtle flavor of vanilla.  Unlike other rose flavor sweets, there is not the slightest bit of soapiness.

I think the most interesting flavor is the ink-black réglisse macaron, or licorice, a flavor that combines the sweetness of vanilla with the cool mouthfeel of licorice.  I don’t really like licorice and generally try to avoid it, but for some reason the licorice macarons are absolutely incredible, I believe one of the greatest dessert pastry flavors ever created.

Upstairs at the Champs Élysées location lies the tea room. It feels a bit like stepping back in time to Paris’ belle époque: opulent gold leaf leads to delicate porcelain and an eclectic mix of antique chairs suitable for royalty.  The service upstairs is a bit more “relaxed” than downstairs, so be sure to leave plenty of time for afternoon brunch.

Ladurée has the finest macarons in the world, but they also have excellent pastries.  Pastries are baked in the morning, so try to arrive early if you plan on ordering croissants.  The croissants are buttery and flaky with a unique cavernous interior that makes them appear extraordinary large.

The pain au chocolat aux amande, piped with a green almond paste and thin layer of dark chocolate, is nonpareil.  Unlike most croissants aux amandes which recycle day’s old croissants by re-baking them with a layer of sticky frangipane, these are fresh, crispy, and flaky.  These are some of the only almond croissants in the city that are not are not flooded with powdered sugar.

Ladurée’s kouglof amande, a sweet brioche of raisin and almond sprinkled with sugar, is phenomenal.  When freshly baked in the morning it retains moisture like a sponge without the slightest hint of dryness.  Hard to imagine a pastry that pairs better with a cup of French Press coffee.

When Pierre Hermé was still the executive chef at Ladurée he created the recipe for the Ispahan, a giant raspberry macaron sandwiching a rose water crème dotted with lychee. When Chef Hermé left to open his own shop, Ladurée retained the recipe along with the right to continue producing it. This pastry is a wonderful balance of flavors and is quite beautiful, but the even more impressive ispahan left along with Pierre Hermé.

Ladurée will always hold a special place in my stomach.  No matter what crazy or inventive flavors competing bakeries create, Ladurée remains a beacon for consistency and unequaled taste.  It is truly one of the most magnificent bakeries in the world.

Related Posts:

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One stereotype, however, was so spot-on it was comical: I cannot count the number of Parisians I’ve seen racing around the city with groceries on one arm and a bitten baguette under the other.  The French love their bread.  And they should!  With the arguable exception of Tokyo, Paris has the finest bread in the world.  Fine boulangeries are to France as Starbucks is to America.  They’re everywhere.

Think about it:  a baguette is the perfect accompaniment for any course.  It goes with confiture and butter for breakfast, with a “jambon fromage” sandwich for lunch, in a small bowl to the side of a glass of red wine with dinner, or with a cheese board as a snack.

So I spent my time in Paris keeping a small journal for noting particularly interesting experiences on the carb front.  While the quality of most boulangeries is excellent, there are some which have baguettes that stand out in particular.  Of the nine places below, four were so exceptional that I was really pressed to find anything to complain about.  They’re listed first. The other boulangeries are excellent as well, but only visit them if time permits after having tried the first few.  Enjoy!

Thierry Renard, 113 bis Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 4e

Renard’s baguettes are, in one word: beautiful.  The pre-baking flour placed on the surface spreads around the tear-shaped crevasses making the baguette look like it’s wrapped in a snow-colored cage of rustic powder.  Not only is this effect visually appealing, it also means the texture and flavor change depending on which part of the baguette is eaten first.  The sides of this baguette are the softest part, with a texture like a toasted marshmallow: a thin crisp at first giving way to a springy center.  The top is the most crispy part, particularly the dark brown ridges surrounding the tear-shaped fissures.  This baguette is plump looking and, were it not for the different textures on the surface, it would appear rather cylindrical — it is nearly as tall as it is wide.  When I ripped a piece off and bit in, a small puff of white flour floated like magic.  My tongue picked up on the dry texture of the powder first: a very rustic flavor.  The baguette leaves behind small crumbs and lots of powder.  The exceptionally moinst interior has clearly visible glutens with some bubbles being very large and others quite small.  The flavor has the tiniest hint of toasted bread, so little that with some bites it was undetectable.  The dough has a neutral, lightly salted flavor: neither tasting sour, nor of whole wheat.

This is the best baguette I’ve had in Paris, as well as the most interesting.  Each bite tasted unique because of the infinitly different combinations of flour and crisp, making the baguette practically its own diverse meal.  It’s also stunning: the first baguette I’ve seen that is both white and gold with a snow-colored cage of flour wrapping around the light brown baguette.  The flavor was neutral enough that it could be eaten with anything, though I enjoyed it best with salted butter.  Renard is truly a master baker.

Laurent Duchêne, 2, Rue Wurtz, 13e

Very plain in appearance, the light brown baguettes from Laurent Duchêne have no frills.  There is no flour dusting whatsoever and there are no fancy shaped stencil-like cutouts, as seen at Thierry Renard.  The baguette is pure in appearance with several crispy ridges stiching the top of the bread.  The ridges were very dry and crispy, even hard, providing a strong structural support.  The edges were also sharp and pointy.  But despite a dry crust, the inside was paradoxically as moist as possible.  Tearing off pieces produced a loud crackling sound quickly giving way to the soft interior.  The inside was fully of randomly sized bubbles, some quite large, forming a honeycomb of soft bread.  Even though the crust was dry and crispy, it wasn’t terribly thick, and so there was excellent balance between the slightly salty interior and the thin and toasty exterior.  The flavor was neutral, as a baguette should taste, slightly leaning towards salty.

This baguette was outstanding.  The pieces of the shell were so sharp you could probably use them as small weapons.  Breaking off my first piece likely woke my neighbors.  Being a person who does not crave the just-before-burnt flavor of bread, I still loved this baguette because the crust, while toasted, was thin and non-offensive.  It was a beautiful balance.  The flavor could sway towards sweet or savory; but, is best enjoyed by itself since its taste is so pure.  It was a bit of a trip to get here, and was worth every minute.

Au Levain du Marais, 28, Blvd Beaumarchais, 11e

Au Levain du Marais’ baguettes are light brown with canvass-colored parts creeping through the tears where the bread expanded in the oven.  Flour can be found on the edges and ends, parts of the bread where the oven rise was minimal.  This bread is not springy; but rather, has a texture similar to swedish memory foam, each squeeze would take a few seconds to come back.  What’s interesting about this bread’s shape is that the ends are significantly taller than the middle, like a Boeing 747.  I’m not sure what causes this; but it was it was evident on all the baguettes.  The outside was very crispy, in fact a tear off caused continual cracking for several seconds after the tear was finished, like rice krispies.  This left a large mess; a good thing for a baguette, I think.

The weight was fairly light on the inside; this was not a dense baguette.  The air bubbles were very think and for the most part seemed uniformly distributed with the exception of a few large air pockets towards the center.  The inside was soft, having a slightly grayish color, perhaps indicative of the type(s) of flour used.  The flavor was pure and clean: the water’s flavor could not be tasted.  It did taste, however, slightly whole grain which when, combined with the color, makes me suspect that a mixture of whole grain was used in the flour mixture.  This baguette is not sweet, has a hint of salt, and would pair well with with both sweet and savory.  It was delicious in all respects.

Aux Castelblangeois, 168 rue Saint Honoré, 1e

This baguette looked more like a giant pretzel than a baguette, with shades of dark brown giving way to slits of gold.  The crust was very crispy; but since it was relatively thin, its flavor was not dominating.  Little to no flour was sifted on the surface before baking making the flavor taste of pure bread.  This was fairly messy to break resulting in hundreds of small crumbs littering my plate.  When squeezed the baguette demonstrated a delayed rebound indicating the freshness of the interior.  The inside was exceptionally moist with small bubbles and nets of gluten stretching across the interior.  The flavor tasted ever so slightly of cornmeal, even though this was not an ingredient.

I really like these baguettes for both their texture and simplicity.  The lack of sifted flour on the surface makes their use very versatile for both sweet and savory.  The dark brown color really makes these baguettes distinct.  It’s paradoxical how they can be baked so thoroughly yet have not the faintest flavor of toasted bread.  The interior is not light and fluffy, rather substantive and supportive, a quality I prefer in my baguettes when eaten with butter.  These exhibit an excellent balance of crust and interior with neither part tasting more strongly than the other.

Stohrer, 51, Rue Montorgueil, 2e

Stohrer’s baguettes are thin and cylindrical, minimally puffing towards the middle.  These baguettes are so thin that two can fit in a single baguette bag.  They’re plain in appearance with very little visible flour on the surface.  There is a central fissure running through the entire center of the croissant.  The texture is crispy and springy, perhaps from the small, uniformly distributed creating a bounce on the inside.  The inside was dense and moist, though it smelled slightly of yeast.  Breaking off a piece produced a mess of small flakes of toast.  The flavor was of toasted bread, dominated by the crust.

Some claim Stohrer invented the baba au rhum.  Being as famous as this place was, I was curious to see how non-sweet baked goods tasted.  While possibly the best baker in the immediate area, I wasn’t blown away by the flavor.  But the texture was particularly interesting.  Since the baguettes did have such a small diameter, half of each bite was crust: too much for me, but perhaps perfect for others.  The smell of yeast also threw me off a little.

Boulanger Julien, 85 rue Saint Dominique, 7e

The plump baguettes from boulanger Julien had a nice appearance of both rustic and modern — sifted with flour to make them visually interesting yet loaded with fissures bound tightly by the glutens revealing that this is indeed a pastry hundreds of years old.  The outside was very light with colors ranging from cream to light tan.  The baguette was soft to the squeeze and slightly mailable.  Pieces broke off very cleanly with minimal to no flakes left on my table; the breakage was also silent.  The inside was filled with uniformly distributed air pockets of small to medium size with notable density.  The flavor was nutty, similar to chestnut, with a distinct vegetal taste on the finish yet neither salty nor sweet.  The sifted flour dusting the surface was fairly thick, making each bite taste first of flour, then of the baguette itself.

This baguette had a lot of potential. My biggest complaint was the texture which was a little soft.  I think my first one was slightly undercooked as the inside remained very chewy and the outside shell lacking crisp.  The second was a bit more crispy.  The most interesting part was the vegetal flavor that would have paired really nicely with salted beurre de bordier.  When I broke off my first piece the smell was strongly of chestnut and potato.  Really interesting.

Frédéric Comyn, 27 rue Friant, 14e

Located at the last stop of the 4 subway line at Porte d’Orléans, Frédéric Comyn is officially at the outskirts of the city.  I heard about Frédéric Comyn from Chez Pim‘s post on the best croissant in paris.  It’s easy to walk by this pâtesserie; there are no signs and the well-lit display counter and cash register makes it look a bit like au bon pain.  Well, at least I missed it the first time.  When I asked for a baguette ancienne the woman told me there were no more left.  Then her friend came to the rescue, “I think some just came out of the oven.”  That was all I needed to hear.

Frédéric Comyn’s baguettes are nearly perfect cylindars: in most parts, they’re as tall as they are wide.  There is a single fissure that traverses the top revealing a lighter colored interior.  The top golden-colored surface has moon-like craters with patches of dark brown; the bottom is white with flour.  The texture is a lot like a plain New York bagel: a thin and tight shell that doesn’t crisp very much when squeezed.  There is some rebound; but if squeezed too firmly, the shape will stick.  Inside is a little sticky which might explain why there was little rebound when squeezed.  When I tore off a piece I was able to twist the baguette without it breaking until I pulled hard enough that a piece tore off: this was not a crispy baguette.  The flavor was light with little to no toasted flavor.  There was no sourness or whole grain flavor in the dough, the flavor was as basic and simple as possible.

I like a thin crispy crust on my baguettes and so I found these a little too crust-less; though these could very well be the perfect baguettes for those who dislike the flavor of toast.  The interior actually seemed a touch undercooked as it was slightly sticky to the touch.  Though chewy, the density of this bread worked nicely with salt and the best butter in the world; then again with that butter, anything is delicious.

Le Quartier du Pain, 74 rue Saint-Charles, 15e

Hiding a few blocks behind the Eiffel Tower lies the best bread in the 15th, found at Le Quartier du Pain.  This small corner shop bakes fresh bread throughout the day, so it’s no longer necessary to wake up at the crack of dawn to eat something hot.  The first thing that struck me about Le Quartier du Pain’s baguettes were the tear-shaped crevasses lining the surface.  Each symmetric crevass has a crispy ridge along its sides which, when torn apart, produces a crackle similar to wood burning at a campfire.  These baguettes are very crispy.  In fact, when I was squeezing the baguette on my 30 minute trip back home, I realized there was essentially no spring or rebound to its texture.  The crispy crust makes squeezing this bread a risk: too hard and you’ll shatter it right then and there.  Inside is a light grey-brown with randomly distributed bubbles of small to medium size.  The crust is very significant here, and its flavor of toasted bread dominates each bite.  This is not a baguette for the Japanese those who do not like crust.  The flavor and smell is slightly sour, and the inside borderline chewy.  It is wet and moist, perhaps because this crust locks in the moisture so well.

I really enjoyed this baguette with butter and salt.  I’m not sure if I would use it with cheese or cured meats due to its significant crust; but with simple garnishes it’s predominately toasty flavor is delicious.  The skill of the bakery comes across very clearly in this bread’s incredible uniform crust and texture — it is both crispy and soft, without being dry or heavy.  I can only imagine what this would taste like hot.

Philipe Gosselin, 125 Rue Saint-Honoré, 1e

The baguettes here were rated the best in the city in a 1996 survey by Le Grand Prix de la Baguette de Tradition Française de la Ville de Paris, which Gosselin still proudly displays on each of its product bags.  A lot has changed since then.  These baguettes anciennes are easily distinguished by their gold to dark yellow exterior, with visible traces of flower on the surface.  The underside is a darker color, a rich brown, and is the most crisp part of the baguette.  The texture is springy, so much so that during my walk home I probably lost a few surface crumbs from the fun I had squeezing it.  After breaking, the baguette kept pretty clean with minimal crumbs and fracturing.  Since the bottom was significantly more dry than the top, breaking off a piece was a tear for the top half and a crisp for the bottom.  There was no crackle sound; the crust was not very dry.  The inside of this baguette has a nice distribution of randomly sized iridescent bubbles, indicating a high moisture content.  This baguette was fresh.  The texture of the interior was very similar to latex in both color and its slight transparency.  The first flavor that struck me was the cholorinated water used to make the baguette, clearly not filtered.  This baguette was fairly light on the tongue, not salty, and slighty sweet.  The surface flour left a powdery texture on both my hands and in my mouth after each bite.

These baguettes have a beautifully symmetrical appearance on the outside, and the flour certainly makes them appear more rustic.  My biggest gripe with this baguette was that sometimes the taste of tap water is too strong.   Chlorinated water has no place in the flavor profiles of a baguette.

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My tasting methods were efficient: there were no left overs. (I don’t want to talk about the health sacrifice I gave to complete this delicious study.) I tried to keep things as consistent as possible by visiting all the bakeries before 10am; nearly 50 of them, in fact. If it was raining, I returned when it was sunny. I visited each bakery at least twice.

So, listed below are the five bakeries I believe to have the best croissants in Paris. They are in no particular order.

Laurent Duchêne, 2, Rue Wurtz, 13e

These croissants are big and bulky; yet, light and airy.  Thick, dark caramel bands wrap this pastry with blisters of tan revealing just how thin each layer is.  A side view immediately shows that despite the croissant’s bulk, it was still composed of thousands of paper thin layers.  The croissant was sturdy; though, squeezing the exterior would have broken the shell rather than spring back.  There was a very strong scent of toasted butter.  This croissant was very messy, and tearing off segments resulted in a distinct crackling sound.  Despite the shell’s dryness, however, the inside was cavernous and moist with spiral-shaped webs revealing the inverse of the piece I’d torn out.  The flavor was salty with a hint of sweet towards the end, followed by toasted butter.

This is one of the best croissants I’ve ever tasted.  Almost hard to tell whether it was salty or sweet since the two flavors were in perfect balance.  The shell had structure and protected the croissant’s shape despite my 30-minute journey home through the Paris subway system.  My guess is the firm shell locked in moisture allowing the croissant to stay fresh throughout the entire morning.  The inside was a nice mix between a hollow cave and a honeycomb, ensuring that the crust’s texture was crispy and pronounced; but not dominant.  The ends of this croissant were blunt, making each bite texturally equal: there was no bad bite.

Thierry Renard, 131 bis Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 4e

Thierry Renard won the Concours du Meilleur Croissant, Ville de Paris 2008, for having the best croissant in Paris.  It’s easy to see the elements that make this croissant so impressionable: it’s ultra-light with thin flaking layers, has an airy soft interior with a rich flavor of butter, and smells lightly toasted.  The exterior is diamond-shaped with one side slightly more pronounced as a boomerang.  The color is a light brown with random strips of shiny dark brown showing where the pastry was glazed with butter.  The consistency is fluffy and the pastry looks more like it was rolled than folded: it’s very round.  The thin and crispy shell holds together pretty well as flakes do not brush off easily.  When broken, however, make sure you have a napkin underneath to catch the thin small pieces that come off.  Inside is sort of like a collection of flower petals: the glutunous webs stretch across the ringed interior, each waiting to be pulled out and enjoyed.  The texture was chewy, and the inside tasted of buttered dough with a slightly sweet, rich butter aftertaste.

These croissants were very enjoyable; but they could have been even more enjoyable had they been cooked just a bit longer to eliminate the doughy interior.  This croissant’s outer shell is a very good balance between ultra-thin and slightly thicker, bringing the best of both worlds into a single pastry: thin enough to flake yet thick enough to absorb maximal butter.  The interior was beautiful, and the thin mesh of butter scented rings gave the croissant substance, while still keeping it feathery and texturally interesting.

Frédéric Comyn, 27 rue Friant, 14e

I read about Frédéric Comyn from Chez Pim, who says this is the best croissant in Paris.  It also happened to win the Concours du Meilleur Croissant, Ville de Paris 2007. Pretty strong recommendations.  Strong enough that despite the terrible weather I trecked out to the last stop on the 4, Porte d’Orléans, to taste for myself.  Sure was worth it.  This croissant has a very distinct spherical appearance; it is nearly as tall as it is wide.  Its center arcs upwards like a crescent instead of sideways, lifting off of the table.  It is quite tall, and perfectly symmetrical.  The surface is shiny with copper and bronze tones.  A view from the side reveals a spiral with hundreds of fine layers.  The outer shell is slightly thicker than paper which gives it a crispiness that is almost moist, since there is more volume to absorb butter.  Dispite the thicker shell, this croissant is not greasy.  When it fractures, it leaves behind large pieces with thick flakes.  This was not a delicate croissant; rather, it was substantive and strong.  The interior is cavernous with large webs of pastry stretching between sides of the outer shell.  The flavor is of salt and toasted butter.  The outside surface tastes sweet in some parts, as if it was lightly brushed with butter containing a hint of sugar.

This croissant was wonderfully different: hundreds of light layers thick enough to absorb butter without feeling greasy.  The salting was significant making this pastry perfectly straddle the line between savory and sweet.  The inside was hollow with pronounced layering.  This bold croissant needs absolutely nothing else to be enjoyed, no confiture, no coffee … nothing; it can stand completely on its own.  Maybe it’s a good thing Frédéric Comyn is a bit out of the way.  Otherwise, I’d be 500 lbs.

Le Quartier du Pain, 74 rue Saint-Charles, 15e

I learned about Le Quartier du Pain from my bible Paris est à Nous – Paris Gourmandises guidebook which says that Le Quartier du Pain has the best croissants in the city.  It’s certainly possible.  The diamond-shaped croissants here have an inflated appearance, and are slightly larger than average.  However while large, they are still essentially weightless since these croissants are light and airy.  The first thing I noticed were the hundreds of layers clearly visible on the surface, some were shiny and brown, others were matte and bronze colored.  The croissant had a very strong smell of toasted butter, the 30 minute subway back to my apartment holding this bag was torture.  It’s hard to call the shell of this croissant crispy since it’s ultra thin, I think flakey is a better word — much like the brown skin that surrounds an onion.  Because of the ultra thin shell, this croissant did not shatter but flaked all over the place: it was very messy.  One edge of the croissant was minimally frayed; but since the croissant was uniformly thin it didn’t add any additional textural element to the exterior.  The inside is chewy and fluffy, and pulling a piece does not uncoil the croissant rather tugs at the surface from the inside — that’s how thin this is.  The flavor is of butter, but not overly toasted or salted.  This would be excellent company with a coffee.

I very much liked this croissant for its texture, weight, and smell.  It has significant body on the inside, so for those who seek something crispy this is not going to fit the bill.  I found the flavor gentle, which would be perfect if eating this pastry with a hot beverage or confiture.  The only thing to be aware of is that it is greasy: eating with several napkins is obligatory, unless you are next to a sink to constantly wash your hands.  But this croissant may be the single most masterful pastry I’ve seen in terms of skill — there is no other croissant whose layers are so cleary detectable and thin.  It is truly a work of art.

Au Levain du Marais, 28, Blvd Beaumarchais

I first read about the croissants at Au Levain du Marais from David Lebowitz, who says that this is the best croissant in Paris.  Frankly, it might very well be.  The croissants from Au Levain du Marais are not so crescent shaped as they are diamond shaped.  With the exception of fanned out frills on one end, these croissants are nearly perfectly symmetrical.  The croissants have beautiful broad stripes of pretzel brown and amber that alternate the surface.  Each tip has a beautiful fanning of layers making it clear just how much work actually went into this edible art.  The width gently tapers off at each side, without any striking changes in size.

When I first tried to pull out a piece, I had trouble grabbing hold !  My hands crinkled through the soft and delicately crispy shell, much like crumbling tissue paper used to package gifts.  I realized more care would be necessary, and I began to tear off a piece with as little force as possible, so as not to destroy the texture.  The fanned end was light and crispy but not dry, more like a butter wafer.  This was the first bite of the croissant I took, and my favorite — each part of this croissant has a different texture, and since none of these parts are dry, each is absolutely rife with the flavor of toasted butter with a hint of sugar and salt.  The inside of the middle is very soft with clearly visible layers of rings.  Stretched across these rings were thin webs of soft dough, full of moisture.  This was a very messy croissant to eat, since it shattered all over the plate.  Some parts of the outer shell tasted sweet — hard to tell if they were sitting next to some other sweet pastries or if the shell was lightly brushed with some kind of sugar.  Regardless, absolutely delicious.

It was a bit of a travel for me to get to this bakery; but shortly after finishing this croissant I hopped right back on the subway to get a couple more.  These croissants were wonderful.

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