Rue Du Bac - Paris Pastry Street

If you're looking for just one pastry street in Paris, most Parisians with a sweet tooth will guide you to Rue du Bac - also known as Paris Pastry Street. Situated on Paris's Left Bank (Rive Gauche) in the 7th Arrondissement, it has been a shopping street for centuries.

We'll discover the pastry part of this street starting from the metro stop of Rue du Bac (line 12). If you're starting at the other end from Metro Sèvres-Babylone (line 10/12), start from the bottom of this post from La Grande Épicerie.

Chapon (et la Chocolaterie du Bac)

How many chocolate shops in Paris look like you could actually lick the storefront?
Patrice Chapon has been making his chocolate from "bean-to-bar" since 1985 from his workshop in Chelles, 20km north-east of Paris.

Originally a restaurant chef then pastry chef in Deauville, Monsieur Chapon was briefly official ice-cream maker to the Royal Family. The Queen Mother surprised him one day with rose petals from Buckingham Palace gardens, and asked him to make a sorbet with them (see my rhubarb sorbet with rose to feel royal).

It takes 10 days to make the chocolate as we see it in the store. Even the cacao growers in the tropics (10° North or South of the Equator) are amazed at what final result can be achieved from simple looking cacao beans.

Try a cornet of mousse from his popular chocolate mousse bar, initially created for the 2006 Salon du Chocolat in Paris. From the most intense 100% Chocolate Mousse to Perou mousse with a taste of apricots, dried fruits and caramel.

Check out his prize-winning chocolate with a salted dome (chocolat au dôme de sel) and praline Agates. For gooey, fudgy chocolate fondant cake then try the VSD: Vendredi Samedi Dimanche - but it never lasts that long!

Chocolaterie Chapon, 69 Rue du Bac, 75007 Paris

Boissier Paris

Since 1827, this confectionary shop has continued Bélisaire Boissier's dream of making the finest bonbons. It was Boissier who invented a new glaze technique, giving the first candied chestnut or marrons glacé recipe. No French household celebrates Christmas or Noël without them.

Today various Marrons Glacés are given an extra luxury touch such as Ardèche, Cognac, pear liqueur with rum and chocolate. The famous bonbons Boule come in many flavours (violet and coquelicot poppy are so very old French) and les Froufrous all make pretty gifts.

Boissier Paris, 77 rue du Bac, 75007 Paris (Closed Sunday)

Pierre Hermé, BeauPassage

Don't miss the opening on the left at N°53 rue de Grenelle (or at N°83 on rue du Bac, just before rue de Varenne) to BeauPassage's gourmet square. It's a good stopping point for lunch with a choice of several super eateries. But for teatime, a favourite stop is for macarons et al at the Pierre Hermé Café.

With so many of them now around Paris, this one has a quiet outside terrace amongst some greenery. Ideal if you're looking to hide from the paparazzi behind the totem-like statue, Les Mangoustes de Beauvais.

Thierry Marx Bakery, BeauPassage

Pop in next door to Thierry Marx's bakery to pick up this escargot choco-noisettes amongst other viennoiseries (croissants, pains au chocolat).

Prepared by the Tourier(e), they are the pastry chefs who specialise in the confection of the pastry dough. This gives the house their specific lamination for the puff pastry (pâte feuillétée) or brioche. Huge choice of excellent artisanal breads, sandwiches and seasonal fruit tarts.

Thierry Marx's Bakery, 17 allée du Beaupassage, 75007 Paris

Jacques Genin

Continuing on rue du Bac, just on the next corner to rue de Varenne, is Jacques Genin. Perhaps best known for his signature salted caramels, chocolates and fruit jellies, his exquisite pastries from his lab in the Marais's (rue de Turenne) can be ordered here for a weekend pick-up.

Try the green rhubarb, lychee and cassis fruit jellies - he's even invented vegetable jellies: cooling cucumber, pepper and beetroots' sweetness were unearthed but somehow the originality of turnip just didn't quite hit my spot.

Monsieur Genin loves demonstrating how cheeky he can become when chocolate is concerned. I can't resist this photo of him during the first Bac Sucré event, when he made chocolate bars with capers. The surprising saltiness of the capers came through on the aftertaste with a crunchiness in the chocolate that made quite a stir.

Meanwhile, his famous passion and mango caramels are always a sensation, along with honey/chestnut, pistachio. I stop here. Just taste them for yourself.

Jacques Genin, 27 Rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris (Closed Sunday/Monday)

Philippe Conticini

Pastry chef, Philippe Conticini opened his first patisserie in Rue du Bac, La Pâtisserie des Rêves. Now his savoir-faire has moved on to simply 'Conticini' around the corner on rue de Varenne. Fans of croissants and pain au chocolat are in for an XL treat - with 64% Trinitario chocolate at €37 for a whopping 900g or 2lb!

A real privilege to meet chef Conticini himself a few times, he is most sincere when he explains how the critic scene in the Disney film, Ratatouille, was a turning point for him. He realised he could evoke the sweet tasting memories of childhood.

Maison Philippe Conticini, 37 rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris (Closed Monday)

Des Gâteaux et du Pain

From a long family history of top chefs, Claire Damon is influenced by nature from her native Auvergne and l'Aveyron. She is the only women in the group of exceptional pastry chefs of Relais Desserts International. I had my first taste of her pastries on a Seine barge to celebrate the Bûches de Noël; her yule log included a light mousse with hay. Sheer bliss.

Alas, even after politely asking (as I always do in Paris - it's normal etiquette), strictly no photos are allowed inside her boutique.

Try her classics such as Shahzadeh (pistachio dacquoise & mousse with rose cream) - now also in ice cream form. Other specialities: Mont Blanc Cassis (with candied chestnuts from the Auvergne), and Pomme Tatin with Maple Syrup. As the boutique's name implies, she is also a demon bread maker.

Des Gâteaux et du Pain, 89 rue du Bac, Paris (Closed Tuesday)

Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolaterie

Hev'ins above: have you tried his macarons? Still one of my best macarons in Paris, he's also now in the location of Conticini's original Pâtisserie des Rêves (followed briefly by the gluten-free bakery of Helmut Newcake), Jean-Paul Hévin opened yet another of his boutiques focussing on chocolate.

He refers to chocolate as a "product that's alive and creative which is still evolving".
With 9 boutiques in Paris, he now has shops in Taiwan. With a staggering 13 boutiques in Japan, you'll find many Japanese influences in his flavours.

Newbies in the window are almost in competition with the intense chocolate classics, such as Princesse Chocolat-Vanille and his 'Pomme de Terre' (potato). Except it's not made out of potatoes like a Scottish macaroon bar - instead it's composed of a dark chocolate ganache, walnuts, candied orange, rum raisins and marzipan.

Jean-Paul Hévin, rue du Bac, 75007 Paris (Closed Sunday/Monday)

Oh Oui! Low Sugar Pastries

Since June 2020, Oh Oui! has made quite a stir with "minimum sugar and ultimate pleasure". Don't be fooled by their small shopfront, as they have a super delivery service around France and available at Picard (frozen food store). Why? Because they specialise in 30% less sugar than traditional pastries (some are up to 65% less sugar) and create flavourful pâtisseries that diabetics (type 1 & 2) can enjoy with a glycemic index (indice glycémique) between 27-32.

Not just for diabetics, this is for anyone who is sensitive to sugar in their diet, or just looking for a healthy alternative. Try the vanilla cheesecake or Allumette Truffée, a lovely contrast of textures and intense dose of chocolate with its layers of crumble and hazelnut ganache. Otherwise citrus fans will love the finger citron or pistachio-mandarine.

Oh Oui, 95 rue du Bac, 75007 Paris (Closed Tuesday)

Oh My Cream

False alert. It's a skincare shop.

Angelina

It's always difficult to pass a pastry shop on rue du Bac when there's a fragrance of cakes oozing out of the air vents out on to the street! This is the surprising calmer boutique, a far cry from the queues and crowds on rue de Rivoli. Here there's no seating but take out one of the best hot chocolates in Paris with a pastry and sit in the park opposite.

Celebrating 120 years, don't miss the Mont-Blanc, Angelina's signature pastry since 1903. It's a mound of chestnut paste vermicelli encasing light whipped cream and a meringue heart. Normally crème de marrons (chestnut vanilla cream) is rather sweet but that's what makes top French pastry houses so special: they're surprisingly not too sweet with just the right sugar balance.
Like most patisseries, each season sees new pastries; expect to see some variation on the Mont-Blanc like coconut. Spot the chocolate, hazelnut and caramel podium cake for the Olympics.

See my article for more of their classic pastries and history.

Angelina, 108 Rue du Bac, 75007 Paris

Art fans look up! James McNeill Whistler lived in this building at N°108 from 1892-1901. Mathematician fans? Laplace died in the same building in 1827.

Bac à Glaces

The real McCoy: Parisian, homemade ice cream has been made here since 1955. With a choice of over 60 ice creams, they are all 100% natural (no additives, colouring, flavours, stabilisers, chemicals etc.) and include ice creams without eggs and vegan cones.

Natural stevia is used to sweeten their sorbets, so are ideal for those on a lactose-free diet. Try roasted Pistachio, Cinnamon, Gingerbread and Sesame Halva (same flavour profile as this black sesame ice cream). Cosy seating in their tea room. Taste their ice cream desserts, including many delicious variations to the Classic Vacherin Dessert.

Bac à Glaces, 109 rue du Bac, 75007 Paris

Foucher

Founded in 1819 on 126 rue du Bac, Louis-Aubin Foucher made this chocolate shop famous in the second half of the 19th century - notably for introducing international delivery from 1887.

Foucher was also the first French chocolate shop to open in Japan. As of 1902, delivery in Paris was popular with his chocolate-laden tri-cyles: imagine receiving a chocolate box from a Frenchie on a bicycle like the Onion Johnnies of Roscoff.

Pop in for their hot chocolate (chocolat chaud), either to sit in at the small salon or take away. Try the sesame praline chocolates, mendiants, candied chestnuts (marron glacés) steeped in Madagascan vanilla, or chocolate-covered cherries which have been macerated for months in liqueur.

Chocolat Foucher, 134 rue du Bac, 75007 Paris

La Grande Épicerie

At the end of the street is the famous gourmet food hall, La Grande Épicerie, at the corner of rue du Bac and rue de Sèvres. Luring us in with the best of French food via its deli, cheeses, caviar, teas, jams (Christine Ferber), water bar and wine cellars - to its bakery, chocolate (including Edwart) and patisserie sections. This is their original Parisian store; the other food hall is situated in Rue de Passy, Paris 16th.

Their pastries are exquisite - from billowy lemon meringue and apple rose tartlets, Paris Brest, Saint-Honoré, to the latest seasonal temptations. Check out their cross-section drawings of each pastry. Plus they have some of the best macarons in Paris. Latest flavours to try: fig-raspberry; apricot-pistachio; strawberry-rhubarb, Tahitian vanilla and salted caramel macarons.

La Grande Épicerie de Paris (Rive Gauche)
38 Rue de Sèvres, 75007 Paris

Bac Sucré Annual Event (June)

Le Bac Sucré has been an annual event in June to promote the local artisans. Created by Florence Mazo Koenig and first inaugurated in 2015 by the Mayor of the 7th (Rachida Dati), the event highlights the creative artisans' savoir-faire. Alas, the event has been postponed in the last few years, but it's planned to continue in 2025.

P.S. None of the pastries and chocolates bought for this post were consumed all at once. We enjoyed avec modération, consumed at different times. For more, check out the lifestyle article, 5 Ways to Eat Like the French.

This post was first published 17 June 2015 but is now completely updated.
None of this post is sponsored.