Les Ursulines sur Paris

22/11/2024: This new pastry, the pistachio/chocolate nun, is truly a marvel. Pain de Sucre is one of the best pastries in Paris.

21/11/2024: Pain du Sucre is one of the many store front eateries that line Rue Rambuteau leading straight to the Pompideou Center and has been one of the best patisseries on the street for 20 years. Didier Mathray and Natalie Robert have managed to keep their offerings innovative and eye catching all these years and see no reason to open another shop, because with just one, they can maintain their recognized quality. They actually have a pair of shops almost side by side, the patisserie for sweets and one for savories like their signature Pain de Sel. It is basically a flakey butter pithivier flagged with a sprig of rosemary, filled with fois gras and duck that remains one of my favorite items, comes round for an individual serving or square for four people. A full range of dinner ready patés, tartes, quiche and vegetarian specialties line the vitrines of the savory shop. What started out a whimsical fancy of weird flavor marshmallows, developed by Natalie, continues. Early 19th century French confectioners used the root of the mallow plant, a traditional medicinal palliative for coughs from ancient Egyptian times, to create an easy to eat candied form or lozenge called Guimauves. Natalie’s are more squishy, like pate de fruit squares, forget the mallow. Striking looks attract attention and their current religieuse sport a woodland theme. This traditional patisserie is historically a choux pastry stacked with a smaller one on top. The shape, supposedly originally based on a nun in black and white habit, inspired Natalie. But colors and design became open to interpretation as long as there is a small ovoid on top of a larger one. This time they made them look more like a fanciful mushroom, same creamy taste with hint of pistachio. Waiting to see their next iteration.