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.

Tartiflette: French dinner for cold times

Yesterday I just came home from school around 8 pm. Passing by the kitchen, I saw Frederic, my French classmate, cooking. Mansi and Breanne – watching. I was lucky:

 Mansi: You wanna to join us for Tartiflette?
- I: Sure! What is it? :)

Restaurants: Aladdin (Algerian) in Fontainebleau

Today I was lucky to share the dinner out with Majed and Rasha. They come from the Middle East (Jordan and Palestine) so we are going to the Arabic restaurant in Fontainebleau. It is Aladdin, offering Algerian food, on Rue de France between Rue des Sablons and Rue Saint-Honore in Fontainebleau.


As it happens with most of the students coming here from outside Western Europe, we are not used to ‘hours’ of French restaurants. ‘Hours’ mean that you hardly can expect to be served for dinner before 7 pm. Thus we spend extra 30 minutes walking along Fonty streets…


Seems that today we are the first here for dinner. 7 or 8 tables, purple – white interior, Arabic music. Majed and Rasha are smiling – they are listening to the songs they know from their home countries. 4 page menu of Algerian dishes in French: I’m totally out of the game :) Guys start questioning the waiter in Arabic and soon we get oriented in the menu: starters, couscous, tajine, kebab.


Service is unhurried, we start from tea. I’m amazed by the elegant silver pot and beautiful movements of the waiter pouring the tea in the colored glass. The tea is green and (!) sweet. The atmosphere gets very relaxing.

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.