I Visited Paris's Oldest Pastry Shops 🇫🇷 (One Is Nearly 300 Years Old)

Very boozy. Hello everybody, my name is Ainsley DuRose and welcome back to my channel. I am a pastry chef living in Paris and today I thought I would take you to some of the oldest and most beautiful pastry shops in Paris. And not necessarily to compare them, but I think a lot of them have such a wonderful history and kind of why Paris is so monumental and inspirational when it comes to pastry. So I'll take you to a bread place, macarons, chocolate, the actually oldest pastry shop in all of Paris and some other ones that are quite influential in the pastry world. So let's go. So our first shop is Poelan. It was originally started in 1930s by the name Pierre Poelan and I think a lot of people think that baguettes, which are famously synonymous with Paris, started a long time ago but they actually didn't get quite famous until 1920s. So in response to that, Pierre Poelan made his own bakery where they stuck to the rustic sourdough loaf type of bread and it's been like that since the 1930s. They still use the same levain and they do all of their bread and all of their pastries in a wood fire oven. So they've really stuck to the traditional ways of making bread and pastry since the beginning of time. It's only a 100-year-old bakery but they've really stuck to the true foundation of bread making, other things like croissants and their famous little butter cookies that they call punishments. What is it? Punish? Punition. A really great place to see how bread has truly stayed alive by Mr. Poelan. So let's go inside. So I got the famous bread, I got four pieces of it and then I also got the punishment cookies. So we'll test them out. Very cute. It's a butter cookie. Is it punishing? I don't think so. Some good ASMR. It's good bread. Filthy? I love buckwheat so, very good. Gluten-free. I think this was the only gluten-free thing in there, she said. So for gluten-free, unfortunately, all you get are buckwheat punishing cookies but they're very good. They also have croissant and some other little pastries for in the morning. So it's definitely a great place to come for your bread, your punishing cookies and for croissant in the morning. But also really, it's a really beautiful shop inside, especially with the chandelier made out of salted bread dough. It's crazy. But yeah, definitely a good place to come to. But before we visit the next pastry shop, I'd like to thank the sponsor of today's video, Vavia. One thing I've learned about living in Paris for the past six years is that your shoes really matter here. You can easily walk for hours in a single day, especially on all the cobblestone streets. So I'm always looking for shoes that are genuinely comfortable while still feeling elegant and timeless and they can basically go with any and every outfit. And recently, I've been wearing a few different pairs from Vavia constantly and I feel like they really fit into my wardrobe naturally because they're practical enough for everyday walking but they still look polished and feminine. Like these first pair, which are the Nelly Almento Mary Janes in the white mesh, which honestly have become my everyday walking shoe, which you'll see throughout this video, because the insole is incredibly soft. So even after hours and hours of walking around Paris, my feet still felt amazing. They're also unbelievably flexible. You can literally fold them in half, which makes them feel really soft and easy to walk in all day. And they're also super easy to take care of because you can just toss them in the washing machine and they'll look brand new again. I've also been wearing the Margot Flats 3.0 in the yellow apricot quilt, which feel a little more vintage inspired and pair so well with dresses and softer colors. 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You can wear them for long walking days or just going to the market or to a cafe, to traveling, to even dressing them up a little bit more. And they all still feel timeless and elegant. If you'd like to get yourself a pair, make sure to use my code AINSLEY12 at checkout to get 12% off and I'll have everything linked below in the description and pinned comment. But let's get back to the pastry shops. Our next shop is going to be La Duree which is the quintessential macaron shop. You've probably already heard of it. You already know of it. You probably already had one of theirs because I think they have international shops. But the first one you can find here in Paris right next to, it's in between Madeleine and Le Concorde. So it's right in the center of Paris. And this was started in the early 1800s. And what's interesting about this shop is, I think macarons have been around since the Middle Ages. But this was the first pastry chef to actually put the two shells together with the filling and how we know macaron today. And also this shop is particularly interesting because not only is it beautiful and ornate but it was one of the first tea salons where women could come un-chaperoned by men. So it's kind of a revolutionary store that kind of brought about this, I don't know, an independence of women and their time with each other and eating macaron and just living, you know, kind of the great life. Basically a life that I, do I have? Want to have? Yeah. So, let's go see it. Because it is quite a beautiful, it's a really beautiful place. Which one should we try first? What was it? The Lily of the Valley? Muguet? Muguet. I don't know what Lily of the Valley is supposed to taste like. It tastes almost like pistachio. Here, do you want to try it? Sure. Mmm. It's pistachio, right? It's the pistachio one, yeah. Mmm. Very good. Maybe it's this one. Yeah. Uh-huh. Tastes very floral. Almost like rose. Really? I like that. It's original. I want to compare it to the, they're famous for the rose. Mmm. Right? It's quite nice. No, this is very... Very flowery. Yeah. I think I prefer that one, though. This is very, like a bottle of perfume, almost. It's good, but it's just... No. Floral. Let's try... What's this one? It's the Tea Marie Antoinette. Some type of black tea, and um... I don't know, it seemed... It seemed interesting. It's blue. It's very blue. It's really odd. I like it, though. I think it's lime? Mmm. But very tea-heavy. That one's quite nice. I don't think you can really go wrong with a macaron. I mean, sometimes they can be a bit too sugary, but... The branding is pretty, the shop is pretty, it's always consistent. No matter which shop you go to, they're always good. So... Yum. Off to the next. So our next place is probably one of my favorite places. It is one of the places that I knew about even before I came to Paris. And I used to have their pastry cookbook that I used to make a lot of their different sweets. But it's called La Mer de Famille. And it was created in 1761. It is the oldest chocolate shop in all of Paris. And when you go inside, you can really feel it has all of the old interior design of the wood paneling and the tiles. It's really... When I think of what pastry place I want to have, it's definitely what it looks like in there. And they make over a thousand different confectionaries. And they still use the same recipes, methods. Even though they create a lot at scale, they still keep their methods of using copper pots and pans and wooden molds and things like that. So it's really... It's a testament to how long they've been around. And that they still create the same things, same recipes, same ways. So, it's a really beautiful shop. And they also do bean-to-bar, which a lot of places don't do. So, you really taste their origin cocoa that they use. Which is also great for the flavor and the sustainability and everything. It's truly a confectionary shop. So, it's chocolates, it's pâté frit, it's marzipan, it's nougat, it's caramel. Everything and anything you can think of in your childhood dream of what a candy shop, confectionary shop should be, it's in there. It's truly one of my favorite shops that I bought lots of sweet things from. So, let's go inside. Passion fruit. Passion fruit and chocolate is my favorite combination. As well as with the orange. Passion fruit for sure. So, I unintentionally got a box of 16. I thought she said 6 at first, but I need to do a little taste test. It's a lot. Look at all of those. I'll just try the tea one. What is it? It's tea? It's tea. It's a ganache with tea. Perfectly tempered. Too strong, but it's really... Can't really go wrong with chocolate. Not too sweet either. I just love that store. No idea what this is. Again, we got 16 and I just kind of got overwhelmed and started picking different things. No idea, but it's very good. It's just a regular ganache, I think. But a dark one. Because they had what? 20, 30 different flavors in there? Yeah, I think at least. Even more. Even more, because you get one flavor, but it was milk or dark. So, um... So my favorite combination, I think, in olive pastry is chocolate and passion fruit. So, you have to get the chocolate with the ganache that has passion fruit in it because it's just... I don't know. It's the best combination. So what's next? Next is the oldest bakery in all of Paris. Because we had the oldest chocolate, now we're going to the oldest bakery. Our next place is the oldest bakery in all of Paris. It was founded in 1730 by... It was actually a Polish baker named Nikola Stoer. The name of the bakery is Stoer. And he came here to bake for the royal court. And he decided to make his own pastry shop. And this is the first shop that's not associated with any hotel. It's just a stand-alone bakery since 1730, which was quite revolutionary at the time. And he also reinvented the baba au rhum. Because before it was just a bread or a cake, and he invented soaking it in syrup. So that's definitely something that you should try when you come here, is the baba au rhum. He also reinvented a lot of things here about how we approach pastry. It's not just some, you know, big sugar pieces that they would put for the royals. It's actual pastry, individual pastries that you could have for anyone, for not just royalty. This shop is also on a very famous street. It's called Rue Montagueil, which I actually used to work not too far from here. I have a lot of interesting stories since working here. I was the head pastry chef at a bakery here. So I used to pass by this shop almost every day. And I used to get my croissants here, actually. So they also have good croissants. Famous area for the food, because this is a huge food hub. Because there used to be the main central market not too far from here. So when you come here, there's lots of restaurants, lots of different grocery stores. You can find things that you might not be able to find elsewhere. So it's a really great area to explore. But the shop is also extremely beautiful. They've kept the interior as much as they can since the 1730s. So it's not only a wonderful place and area to come, but the shop itself is also really, really beautiful. And again, a true testament to its craft that it's been able to stay for that long. And still always be a pastry shop. Sometimes they open and it would change between pastry and to some other shop. But this has always been Stower Pastry Shop. So let's go get baba rum. So I went with the baba shanti, which is just a baba with whipped cream. So let's try. It's bigger than I was hoping for. Very boozy. I think the cream kind of helps it not be so boozy. But it's quite nice. It's very soft. Are you stuffed from tasting all these pastries? I'm in a bit of a sweetness overload, but I'm doing a sacrifice for the sake of the video. But this is really good. It's how a baba should be. It should be very rummy. It should be really moist, but also very soft. The bread should be very light. And the cream is not too sweet. So it's really quite good. Let's go eat more. So our next bakery is right behind me. It's called Dupont et Désédé. And it opened originally in 1875. And then it was just a neighborhood bakery for a couple of years. And then I think it just sat dormant for quite a while. Until 2002 when Chef Christophe Bazur revived it. He also revived the slow fermentation process of using levain for the bread. Because I think the bakeries back then in Paris were kind of becoming a little industrial. So he wanted to bring back the authentic way of making bread and pastries. And they've kept the interior the same, so that's why it's so beautiful. It really does feel like you're going back in time to the early 19th century to get your bread. So let's pretend we're 1875 getting our bread. Let's try the controversial... How do you say it? Le chocolatine! Don't say that here. It's only in what, Bordeaux, that you say chocolatine? Yeah, anything south of somewhere. But why do they call that? They just don't know what they're talking about. They just want to be... It's called a... Pain au chocolat. Pain au chocolat, okay. Let's try it. They're not my favorite things. I prefer just a regular croissant. But I had to try it. It is very buttery. It has lots of good layers. The chocolate is good. I like the crusty bottom. Caramelized bottom. No, it's very good. Let me try the croissant. There's a lot of butter coming through. The croissants are kind of different shapes. It's not the most normal shape that you see here, but... Good crusty bottom. Alright, let's try. Good layers. It's almost a little bit more ready. Which is fine. It's just the way they make it. But still very good layers. Really good butter taste. And still very crisp, which I like. I don't like when it's too soft. So it's quite good. I like it. So this is the... I think they're quite known for this. It's their escargot, which just means... Because it's in the shape of a snail. I got the spiral, and I got the pistachio one. There was a lemon and an apricot one. But... This is quite a lot. Not quite good. Oh, it has chocolate too. It almost tastes kind of... Like there's cinnamon or something in it. I don't know. But it has a good nutty flavor from the pistachio. It's quite nice. Because sometimes pistachio can be like an artificial flavor. This is quite nice. Out of the three, which one was your favorite? Between the croissant and the chocolatine? The escargot. Probably the croissant. The croissant is always my favorite. I just like a plain croissant. It tastes all of the butter and the flakiness. And I think you can't go wrong with the croissant. I mean, you can. I've had some pretty bad ones before. But this one was quite good. And then I liked this pistachio one. I think that was quite nice. And not too sweet. Buttery. A little bit of chocolate. One more left. I am almost out-sugared. But again, I will sacrifice for you. And I will try the next one. And it's more of a... Kind of has the same feel as the last one we went to. But it's more of a patisserie street. So, let's go. Well, it wouldn't be a video if Lev didn't join us. At the end. Lola. So this is a bakery that they don't quite know when it was founded. They think around 1760s to 1780s. But it switched hands of ownership. So it hasn't been one family continuously. But it has been a bakery all its life. Because a lot of these shops kind of come and go. Or they turn into something else. But this one has always been a bakery. And it's not really known for anything in particular. It's just known as being a really pretty, cute pastry shop. Because it's called Versailles. Because of the ornate interior and decoration. So I think we'll go taste some more pastries. Even though I'm quite sick a bit of sugar. But this is more of a pastry shop. So we'll have a little bit of pastries. Maybe some bread. And maybe we'll compare. From the other things we've tried. I'll compare and you'll just enjoy. Which is usually how it goes. So, let's go. Well, we hate to end on a bad note. But the service was quite... I don't know, not very friendly in there. But I still went to test and compare. So I got a croissant. Compare to... Yeah, you want this? Okay. No, they look good. They look good. It's quite... Regular. It's dry. It's quite dry. It's like 4 o'clock. It could just be... Stale. But it's quite dry. But it's good. Good flavour. You want to try? No, it's okay. No, it's good. It's a little like... I've only had sweets all day. So I thought I'd get something savoury. So I tried rakish. Rakish meringue. It's quite big. It looks quite good. It's quite peppery. I like it. Good? Yeah. The place is good. And it's very pretty. It's still beautiful. They could have had a bad day or something. They could have had a bad day. It's been a good day. Of oldest shops in Paris. Well, thank you for joining me on my... Basically, my tour around Paris today. We've taken a tour all over the city. So if you want, this is a really good way to see the city. We've been every area. We've seen lots of different monuments. But again, thank you for joining me and seeing the oldest pastry shops in Paris. Everything has been delicious and beautiful. And if you are in Paris looking for not only quality, but a really beautiful space, I would suggest these. Well, let me know down below which one was your favourite. Or if you've been to any of them before. Or if you have other suggestions of where to go. I'm always up for new places to see and try. But I hope you enjoyed this video. And you learned something new. And you're able to save this for your next trip to Paris. But till next time. You have a lovely day. See you soon.