Life Is Sweet

Call it Paris by pastry. Chef YOTAM OTTOLENGHI— the acclaimed London restaurateur, cookbook author, and poster boy for modern Mediterranean cooking—goes in search of the French capital’s best patisseries.

Two days in Paris researching the city’s patisseries.

I sometimes have to remind myself that this is, indeed, my job. Yet for all the “You’re doing what?!” and “That will be incredible!” comments in the days leading up to my trip, there was a small part of me that was a little bit intimidated.

I had spent the past two years working on a book about desserts and baked goods. Every Wednesday I would sit down to try the recipes with my co-author, Helen Goh, and see what stage of development each one was at. After months of working this way, I was able to confirm two things. First, there is such a thing as too much cake. And second, the theory of diminishing returns is correct. The more you eat of something, the harder it has to work to get a ‘wow.’

My concern with the way I planned to do Paris—making eight or so pit stops in two days—was how I would fairly assess all the patisseries (pastry shops), boulangeries (bread shops), and purveyors of viennoiserie (croissants and company) I planned to visit. If the enjoyment of food is so much about context, about eating the right thing in the right place at the right time, then surely nothing would be able to compete with that first bite of freshly baked croissant as I stepped off the Eurostar from London.

When I did eventually alight at the Gare du Nord, rather than saving the best till last or pacing myself for the packed two days ahead, I did what all (big) kids in a sweetshop do: head straight for the best, buy way too much, and eat as if you don’t know where your next meal is coming from.