Edible Paris: Discover the restaurants, markets, bistros, cafés and luxury food shops of Paris
Personalized gourmet food tours of the best restaurants and specialty food shops in Paris, France, all crafted by food writer and critic Rosa Jackson
A Japanese twist on French pastries
The first time I visited Sadaharu Aoki's astonishing little boutique near the Jardins du Luxembourg, a local gourmand was buying every cake in the shop. No wonder: the handsome, unassuming Aoki is the only pastry chef in Paris to put a Japanese spin on French cakes.
Trained as a pastry chef in Tokyo, he spent 12 years perfecting his technique in pastry shops throughout Europe, including the Paris chocolate specialist Couderc, before opening his pristine boutique. His vanilla millefeuille is as good as this classic pastry gets, but what sets him apart is his green tea, black sesame and red bean variations on French cakes.
Perhaps best of all is his green tea éclair, made with Matcha tea imported from Kyoto (the finest green tea, Matcha is used in the Japanese tea ceremony). The recipe wasn't hard to develop, says Aoki. "It just happened." Whether he's filling it with green tea, black sesame, chestnut or chocolate, he never forgets the secret of a perfect éclair. "The pastry is very important; it should be made entirely with butter and cooked until golden-brown. The fondant should be very shiny and the crème pâtissière very smooth." On the day the shop opened he made 15 green tea éclairs; now he sells about 40 a day to his discriminating clientele of French and foreign gourmets, as well as supplying two tea shops and two restaurants (there is nothing mass-produced about his cakes).
Sadaharu Aoki
35, rue de Vaugirard, 6th
Tel: 01.45.44.48.90
Praise for a birthday tour
"I just wanted to thank you for the tour - we really enjoyed it, and more importantly Chris had a great time. It made us want to live in Paris and be able to shop in those places every day! The sad thing is we didn’t seem to find the time to go back and buy lots of goodies to come home, so we’ll need to visit again armed with the Gourmet Paris guide.
Also, Les Papilles was superb – lovely atmosphere, we had an extremely tasty pumpkin veloute with chorizo, some fantastic beef (skirt we think, but slow cooked to be meltingly delicious), a blue cheese with a divine prune compote and a kind of apple trifle. A brilliant start to the weekend and on the list as one of our best meals ever. L’Epigramme was also great, different atmosphere, much more formal but still relaxed. I had scallops which were so good I can’t remember what Chris had, then an amazing soul warming pot au poulet while Chris had lamb with beans followed by cantal cheese.
We also (heroically) went to Le Timbre for lunch on Saturday – the chestnut soup and cochon noir followed by Stichleton (hurrah!) with a lovely Pic Saint Loup was also up there as one of our greatest meals.
Thank you again – we had a brilliant time."
Gwenan Dee, Manchester
December 2008
Add a Comment
Share your thoughts about this article.