Falling in Love with Les Halles de Paris
I consider eating two ice cream
cones before noon a VERY good foodie day! Back in May in Paris¸ I did
exactly that!
Salted butter caramel glace from À la Mère de Famille and pistachio from Stohrer. |
Instead of visiting
museums, I wanted to explore the foodie neighborhood of Les Halles, in the 1st arrondissement, which the French King
established as the traditional central market of Paris in the 12th
century. My only agenda was to browse, eat, take photos and perhaps buy some
French goodies to take back to Poland. Many of my foodie destinations were based on David
Lebovitz’s recommendations in his book “The
Sweet Life in Paris” and his blog post: Cookware
Shops in Paris.
As I walked from our hotel
near the Moulin Rouge, I stumbled upon the chocolatier/confiserie, À la Mère de Famille,
founded in 1761. This old-fashioned candy store offers a wide variety of chocolates,
bon bons, candied fruits, and yes, ice cream. I bought a small box of mixed
chocolates as well as the best salted butter caramel ice cream cone I’ve ever
had and sampled a few chocolates courtesy of my nice French sales assistant.
Don't you just love this vintage storefront at À la Mère de Famille?
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From there, I continued
down Rue Montmartre to Librairie Gourmande, which
unfortunately was closed because of some silly French bank holiday. I’m sure my
husband was happy because I already own 250+ cookbooks and he doesn’t think I
need any more. But if you love cookbooks as much as I do, I'd definitely recommend stopping here.
Next, I continued on to
some of the kitchen supply stores located in and around the Les Halles
neighborhood. I stopped at Mora, A.Simon, and E.
Dehillerin, but surprisingly I didn’t buy a thing! I didn’t find
anything that I just couldn’t live without.
E. Dehillerin has a fantastic selection of copper pastry molds and pans! |
Then, I stopped by G. Detou, a
gourmet shop selling all kinds of olive oils, nuts, mustards, baking supplies
and chocolates galore! Again, I just couldn’t justify spending nearly 9eu for
250 grams of chocolate, but it was fun to browse!
My stomach was starting to
grumble again so I headed to the heart of Les Halles on rue Montorgueil, where
some of the oldest stores in Paris are located. At 51 rue Montorgueil is
the Bakery Stohrer, the oldest patisserie in Paris.
Stohrer was the pastry chef for Marie Leszczynska, the wife of King Louis XV
(1710-1774). Inside this small shop, you’ll find dozens of decadent-looking
pastries, freshly baked breads and croissants and more. I bought two baguette
sandwiches, a pain au chocolat, a cherry clafoutis and my second ice cream
cone. Delicious!
I continued to wander
through Les Halles, but quickly realized how difficult it is
to eat an ice cream cone and take photos at the same time! I loved the vibrancy
of this old neighborhood, which seemed full of happy people shopping, eating or
sitting at one of the numerous cafés.
I stumbled upon a farmer’s
market set up in the street near the Church of Saint-Eustache, a beautiful
Gothic-Renaissance style church constructed in the 16th century.
After visiting several of
the food stores in Les Halles and smelling the aroma of roasting chickens, I
was now ready for lunch! I headed back to our hotel so I could share my
baguette sandwiches from Stohrer with my hard-working hubby.
Bon appétit!
This photo simply doesn't do these baguette sandwiches justice! They were simply delicious! |
Perfectly arranged French strawberries at a market in Les Halles, Paris. |
I loved this old mural on one of the buildings along rue Montogueil.
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Location of mentioned stores in/near Les Halles de Paris:
- À la Mère de Famille, 35, rue du Faubourg-Montmartre.
- A.Simon, 48 rue Montmartre.
- E. Dehillerin, 18 rue Coquillere.
- G. Detou, 58 rue Tiquetonne.
- Mora, 13 rue Montmartre.
- La Fermette Fromagerie, 86 rue Montogueil.
- Librarie Gourmande, 90 rue Montmartre – For cookbooks!
- Stohrer, 51 rue Montogueil.