Tarte Normande and French opening hours

The most difficult part of my adaptation to living in France is getting used to the French opening hours. I’m still struggling with these after living in Moscow:

* Pharmacies close for 2 hour lunch
* Food stores close at 1 pm on Sunday
* Hairdressers are closed on Monday
* Coffee shops close at 7 pm

To give you an idea of how patisseries work:

Pain au chocolat aux amandes and Artisan Boulanger

Pain au chocolat aux amandes and Artisan Boulanger

Yesterday I went to a new patisserie in Fontainebleau and found a pleasant surprise there. The place is called ARTISAN BOULANGER and is located in the heart of the downtown (11 Rue Grande).

French pastry: Mille-Feuille

Once more I’m standing in the Sunday morning queue leading into my favorite Fontainebleau patisserie. Old ladies, mothers with baby carriages, men with dogs crowd in front of colorful window with beautiful gâteaus. ‘Deux traditionells’ (which means two baguettes classic) is the phrase with which most of them approach the counter.
As always, I’m staring at the sweets. Today I feel like Mille-Feuille. I see it everywhere, since I came to France.

French pastry: branch in Thomery

Last Saturday it was a great sunny day and I was wondering how to spend the weekend when I got an email from my Indonesian friend Genie Njoto. She invited me for a Sunday branch at her place. There was no need to persuade me :)

10 am, Sunday, we are in the Fonty morning market (I’ve written about it before, when we did the cheese plate masterclass). We pick up some pastry, cheese, baguettes and jam and drive out of Fonty. We pass the garden of Chateau de Fontainebleau and drive through the Fontainebleau forest to an amazing small ancient village, Thomery. The village is on the river. It looks friendly and hospitable under the morning sun.

Trip #1: Paris patisseries

Feb 7

Club members count: 73
Nationalities count: 30
Today I feel that it is quite competitive to organize entertainment in Fonty. After the yesterday party in chateau Villicerf hardly a half of people who planned to join the trip managed to get up to leave to Paris at 11 am. So there is 6 of us today. It is chilly and cloudy outside. We are going to visit several Paris patisseries that we’ve chosen from a guide by Jamie Cahill. These are old cafes and shops, each famous for some sweet specialty.

Unlike the rest of the group, I visit Paris for the first time today. I must look funny holding all these maps and guides in my hands… We get out the Gare de Lyon building and take the direction towards Seine to get to the 4th arrondisement. It is around lunch time and we are hungry so our first stop ideally suits us. After some wandering around rue de Barres we finally find L’Ebouillante (6, rue des Barres).

French pastry: drives me crazy

Buns are a very important part of my life. Their role has strongly increased when I moved to Fontainebleau. I can’t say that there is a lack of pastry in Moscow. But what I have found here is much more than I expected. Small ‘pâtisserie’ shops surround you wherever you go. You get the best choice if you come before 3 – 4 pm. Many of them are crowded, but it is normally worth it to queue on. Don’t worry, the queue moves very fast!

So what do I choose? Today I managed to stop myself on three marvelous buns.

The best thing I’ve tried here so far is ‘palmier’. You will find if baked in different forms, but this one is ideal in my opinion.