No meal is complete without these after dinner (or before dinner, even no dinner) desserts. These Parisian treats will have you licking your fingers and reminiscing about the few seconds before when you still had that éclair in your nimble hands. There’s no shame in turning around for more. Dinner who?

Cédric Grolet Fruit Tarts
Cédric Grolet has been crowned the best pastry chef of France and the whole wide world. Pas mal. In addition to his tenure as the pastry chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant at Le Meurice hotel (rumored to be where Beyonce and Jay‑Z conceived Blue Ivy… uh, the hotel not the restaurant, just to be clear), he also has his own pastry shop. The ability to walk into a store and buy his creations is a pretty huge deal. Not only does Cédric possess a masterful ability to de-sweeten fruits and chocolates, he is also known for creating hyper-realistic fruit ‘cakes’ that actually resemble their ingredients. These cakes are absolutely what you should buy at his store. They’re as delicious as they are visually delightful.
ADDRESS: 35 Avenue de l’Opéra (2nd arr.) / 6 Rue de Castiglione (1st arr.)
HOURS: 10am — 6pm Tue.-Sun.
MÉTRO: Pyramides (lines 7, 14)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Opéra
PRICE: €€
NUMBER: +33 1 83 95 21 02
DEETS: closed Mondays, bakery

Chausson aux pommes at Sain Boulangerie
Sain Boulangerie is a quaint bakery tucked around the corner from the Canal St. Martin that specializes in less processed, more wholesome ingredients and baking methods (sain in French means healthy or wholesome, a bit out place when referring to baked goods, but a nice message all the same). Their signature item that all of their regulars nab daily is the chausson aux pommes, or apple turnover. Though it may look unassuming, the deadly combination of deeply cooked apples and layers of flaky pastry dough is truly something special, and the perfect treat to savor while walking around the scenic and idyllic canal.
ADDRESS: 13 Rue Marie et Louise (10th arr.)
HOURS: 7:30am — 2:30pm & 4:15pm — 8pm Tue.-Sat.; 8am — 1pm Sun.
MÉTRO: Goncourt (line 11) or Jaques Bonsergent (line 5)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Canal St. Martin
PRICE: €
NUMBER: +33 7 61 23 49 44
DEETS: bakery, does not have seating
INSTAGRAM: @sain_boulangerie

Black Sesame Roulé at Boulangerie Utopie
Boulangerie Utopie, as the name might suggest, was founded as a haven of sorts for traditional bread and pastry making methods that have fallen by the wayside in recent years in favor of more industrial processes. Boulangerie Utopie is particularly known for its striking black baguettes made with activated charcoal, an impressive array of colorful pastries (snag a croissant while you’re at it) made by hand and with organic ingredients, and of course, the black sesame roulé. A jet-black sweet pastry roll made with the aforementioned black charcoal and sesame seeds toasted until they are black. It looks intriguing and tastes wonderful.
ADDRESS: 20 Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud (11th arr.)
HOURS: open 7am — 7pm Tue.-Sun.
MÉTRO: Oberkampf (line 3)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Folie-Mericourt
PRICE: €
NUMBER: +33 9 82 50 74 48
DEETS: bakery, best croissants in Paris
INSTAGRAM: @boulangerieutopie

Equinoxe at La Pâtisserie Cyril Lignac
La Pâtisserie Cyril Lignac is the (slightly more affordable) pastry version of a Gordon Ramsay restaurant. The name comes from a glitzy celebrity chef who has a Paris-wide empire of friendly neighborhood bakeries. Any of the stunning offerings at one of the five specialty locations across town, like their lemon tarts or their croissants, would be worth the trip, but the real show-stopper is the signature Equinoxe cake. First of all, it has a cool name, and second of all, it’s gorgeous: completely ash gray and decorated with a smattering of searing red dots on top. It’s perfect, and has all the good stuff: bourbon vanilla cream (no alcohol, that’s just a fancy kind of vanilla bean), buttery salted caramel, praline, and speculoos cookies. One of the surprising things about the Equinox is that even if those ingredients don’t normally catch your eye, the combination is bomb AF. What’s not to like?
ADDRESS: 24 Rue Paul Bert (11th arr.)
HOURS: open daily 8am — 7pm
MÉTRO: Faidherbe-Chaligny (line 8) or Rue des Boulets (line 9)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Faidherbe + Charonne
PRICE: €
NUMBER: +33 1 55 87 21 40
DEETS: worth the trip across town, bakery, no seating

Chocolate Tonka Bean éclairs at Yann Couvreur Pâtisserie
Yann Couver’s main location (there’s four all around Paris, and a few in London) is a block or so from the Canal St.-Martin. It has such a good reputation that every food reviewer has sworn by a different pastry (croissants, lemon tartlets, their luxury cakes), but we recommend the chocolate tonka bean eclairs. Tonka beans are a gastronomic staple not found in the United States (where they are actually illegal like weed was a few years ago) that have an almost supernatural versatility and taste and smell similar to vanilla. Like the tonka bean, Yann Courvreur’s bakery is a staple of the Paris scene, and it’s a good idea to get there early as the popular desserts often sell out. Be sure to also grab a croissant while you’re there.
ADDRESS: 137 Ave Parmentier (10th arr.) / 23bis Rue des Rosiers (4th arr.) / 35 Bd Haussmann (9th arr.) / 149 Rue St Charles (15th arr.) / 25 Rue Legendre (17th arr.)
HOURS: open daily 10am — 7pm
MÉTRO: Belleville (lines 2, 11) or Republique (lines 3, 5, 8, 9)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Canal St. Martin
PRICE: €€
DEETS: bakery, awards for days, online order
INSTAGRAM: @yanncouvreur

Tarte Caramel Matcha at Sadaharu Aoki
The Pâtisserie Sadaharu Aoki takes inventive leaps with their visually striking Japanese-French hybrid creations. With (rather famous) offerings such as sesame eclairs, matcha croissants, and yuzu macarons, it can be hard to choose which experiment to try next. The tarte caramel matcha however, is a fantastic start: a decently sized cake dripping with salted caramel, topped with a thick bright green spiral of matcha cream. If matcha is not your jam, there are other versions of the same great cake with different toppings, but those ready to step out of the Paris pastry comfort zone should be ready to be rewarded with the results. There is no other bakery like Sadaharu Aoki (besides the three other locations in Paris).
ADDRESS: 35 Rue de Vaugirard (6th arr.) / 56 Bd de Port-Royal (5th arr.) / 103 Rue Saint-Dominique ( 7th arr.) / 25 Rue Pérignon (15th arr.)
HOURS: open 11am — 1:30pm & 2:30pm — 6pm Tue.-Sun.
MÉTRO: Rennes (line 12) or Saint-Placide (line 4)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Odéon
PRICE: €
NUMBER: +33 1 43 06 02 71
DEETS: worth the line, seating available, best desserts in Paris
INSTAGRAM: @sadaharuaoki_official

Chocolate Rye Cookies at Mokonuts
Mokonuts is as quaint a café as you can get. Run by a married couple, everything is made deliciously in house, the house being a tiny storefront in the Bastille neighborhood. Though the middle-eastern leaning dishes made with fresh and local ingredients are certainly reason enough to make the trip, the true stars are the cookies. Made minutes before customers eat them, Mokonuts’ cookies are sweet with a clever and subtle savory bend and they’re available in flavors like tahini, rye, and miso-sesame, as well as more traditional offerings like chocolate and cranberry. We recommend the chocolate rye cookies, but all the options are soft, chewy, scrumptious, and worth wading through the (perfectly deserved) crowd to get to them.
ADDRESS: 5 Rue Saint-Bernard (11th arr.)
HOURS: open 8:45am — 11:30am Mon.-Fri
MÉTRO: Faidherbe-Chaligny (line 8)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Bastille
PRICE: €
HOW TO BOOK: reservations recommended by phone
NUMBER: +33 9 80 81 82 85
DEETS: worth the line, breakfast, lunch, café, bakery
INSTAGRAM: @mokonutsbakery

Macarons Caramel au Beurre Salé at Pierre Hermé
Pierre Hermé is Parisian pastry divinity and his influence is represented in a good number of chefs behind the other bakeries on this list. With that in mind, a visit to his store can seem daunting and overwhelming, especially when confronted with the picture-perfect cakes, tarts, and chocolates. It’s best to stick to what they do best which is the macarons; God-tier macarons. They’re gorgeous, they’re chewy, they come in radical flavor combinations like rose and litchi or jasmine and raspberry, and words can only do so much to reiterate how cute and perfect they are. Grab as many as your wallet allows, and be sure at least one is their salted caramel flavor (Infinement Caramel). Sometimes simple is best. There are several Pierre Hermé locations all around Paris, but the Champs-Elysées shop (the only one with sit-down café service as the others are takeaway) is certainly an experience: ritzy, crowded, enormous, and multitasking as a skincare store. Iconic. Why aren’t all macarons this good?
ADDRESS: 133 Avenue des Champs-Élysées (8th arr.) / 4 Rue Cambon (1st arr.) / 39 Avenue de l’Opéra (2nd arr.) / 4 Rue de Bretagne (3rd arr.) / 18 Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie (4th arr.) / 72 Rue Bonaparte (6th arr.) / 126 Boulevard Saint-Germain (6th arr.) / 43 Rue Saint-Placide (6th arr.) / 53 — 57 Rue de Grenelle (7th arr.) / 86 Avenue des Champs-Élysées (8th arr.) / 89 Boulevard Malesherbes (8th arr.) / 1 Cour de Rome Boite n°7 (8th arr.) / 35 Boulevard Haussmann Gourmet (9th arr.) / Gare de Lyon, Place Louis-Armand HALL 1 (12th arr.) / Place Louis-Armand Hall 2 (12th arr.) / 185 Rue de Vaugirard (15th arr.) / 17 Boulevard de Vaugirard Niveau 2 (15th arr.) / 58 Avenue Paul Doumer (16th arr.) / 12 Rue Fortuny (17th arr.)
HOURS: open daily 12am — 7pm
MÉTRO: Georges V (line 1)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Élysées
PRICE: €€
NUMBER: +33 1 45 12 24 02
DEETS: worth the flight or line (whichever is longer), bakery
INSTAGRAM: @pierrehermeofficial

Sicilian Lemon Bontemps Cookie at Bontemps La Pâtisserie
Bontemps La Pâtisserie is a delightfully frilly and pastel bakery located in the haut Marais, which, among its many other beautiful desserts, has wonderful lemon cake. But it’s their signature little double-decker cookies, named Bontemps after the shop, that take the cake. As they love to repeat in their Facebook posts, temptation is hard to resist. Just try one of everything, but don’t do takeaway. They have one of the loveliest hidden garden tea salons in Paris.
ADDRESS: 57 Rue de Bretagne (3rd arr.)
HOURS: open 10am — 7pm Tue.-Sun. (closes at 6pm on Sundays)
MÉTRO: Temple (line 3)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Le Marais
PRICE: €
NUMBER: +33 1 42 74 10 68
DEETS: bakery, best desserts in Paris
INSTAGRAM: @bontempsparis

Nid Pâtisserie Grenade et Fleur d’Oranger at Maison Aleph
Located in the heart of the Marais, Maison Aleph blends Middle Eastern dessert styles with French ingredients. Their most visually intriguing dish, the nid pâtisserie or pastry nest, is a roost of delicate golden-brown, finely shredded phyllo dough called kadaif, with a delicious filling and topped with cream. They come in a variety of flavors including vanilla-caramel and lemon-cardamom, but we recommend the pomegranate-orange blossom water variety. Snag a table and try their hot chocolate or homemade ice creams too, depending if you’d like to cool down or warm up.
ADDRESS: 20 Rue de la Verrerie (4th arr.)
HOURS: open 11am — 7pm Mon.-Fri., 10am — 7pm Sat.-Sun.
MÉTRO: Hotel de Ville (line 1)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Le Marais
PRICE: €€
NUMBER: +33 9 83 03 42 02
DEETS: bakery, Middle Eastern, best desserts in Paris, very limited seating
INSTAGRAM: @maisonaleph

Kouign Amann at Le Petit Grain
Le Petit Grain specializes in bread made from natural levanings rather than yeast, which lead to some interesting creations like sourdough croissants. Their Kougin-Amann (pronounced ‘queen yaman,’ a Breton butter cake called the most buttery cake in Europe) is made from the same great bread as their croissants, rolled in sesame seeds, and is positively to-die-for. If that wasn’t enough, Le Petit Grain also tries to make their bakery zero-waste. Connoisseur note: reheat your kough amann in the oven on a low setting for ten minutes to unlock the magic. So simple, yet so addictive.
ADDRESS: 7 Rue Denoyez (20th arr.)
HOURS: open 9am — 8pm Wed. — Sun.
MÉTRO: Belleville (lines 2, 11)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Belleville
PRICE: €
NUMBER: +33 6 34 05 20 28
DEETS: bakery, enviro-concious
INSTAGRAM: @lepetitgrainparis

Coco Rocher at Sain Boulangerie
Déjà vu! Sain Boulangerie is so wonderful, it shows up on this list twice! In addition to their sweet and slightly salty apple tarts, be sure to also try their coco rochers, or coconut macaroons. Here is one instance where the anglophone world needs clarity, a Coco Rocher is like a ‘macaroon’ or coconut cookie, not a French ‘macaron,’ the heavily-flavored and colored almond-flour based cookie that dominates the city’s pastry scene. Anglos often get the two mixed up.
For the record (which is how you know a flex is coming), the Curiosity Collective team (part of our posse) discovered Sain before Vogue magazine (but after the Michelin Guide). Just sayin’.
Another flex: watch this episode of the TV show, For the Love of Bread to see Editor in Mischief, Kat and Baker Anthony Courteille make croissants together with star Aussie Baker, Andrew Connole. Spoiler, Kat mostly just eats them.
ADDRESS: 13 Rue Marie et Louise (10th arr.)
HOURS: open 7:30am — 2:30pm & 4:15pm — 8pm Tue.-Sat., open 8am — 1pm Sun.
MÉTRO: Goncourt (line 11) or Jaques Bonsergent (line 5)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Canal St. Martin
PRICE: €
NUMBER: +33 7 61 23 49 44
DEETS: bakery, does not have seating
INSTAGRAM: @sain_boulangerie

Orange Blossom Popelini at Popelini
Popelini is a tiny little bakery that only sells tiny little cream puffs that are really like a small, round eclair. This is the way to go for those of you with a fear of commitment. Instead of picking one flavor, you can have a variety. Let your polypastry flag fly. They’re all lined up in little rows, topped with different colors, and come in a variety of flavors, but we recommended the orange blossom (and dark chocolate never disappoints). There are a few locations dotted around Paris.
ADDRESS: 44 Rue des Martyrs (9th arr.) / 35 Rue de Turenne (3rd arr.) / 29 Rue Debelleyme (3rd arr.) / 71 Rue de Seine (6th arr.)
MÉTRO: Pigalle (lines 2, 12)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Pigalle — SoPi
PRICE: €€€
HOW TO BOOK: no reservations
NUMBER: +33 1 42 81 35 79
DEETS: pastry shop, multiple locations, no dine-in, delivery available
INSTAGRAM: @popeliniofficiel

Madeleine at Manufacture de Café Alain Ducasse
The Manufacture de Café Alain Ducasse is a few things, the first bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer in Paris and also a coffee roaster, but in the style of Alain Ducasse. This automatically means that everything will be out of this world. Employing a world-class expert in the set and science of coffee roasting, Veda Viraswami, they have a wild menu of possibilities for the coffee geek. Their 100% handmade, start-to-finish chocolate is amazing, but the store offers lots of other treats, and the Madeleines stand out incredibly. If these are what are recommended at a chocolate shop/coffee shop, you know they’re out of this world. Also, just for the hell of it (you tourist, you…) sneak to the workshop section in the back and try to find the salvaged iron door from a Gustav Eiffel-designed factory on the right side of the passage.
ADDRESS: 12 Rue St Sabin (11th arr.)
HOURS: Tue. — Sat., 11am — 7pm
MÉTRO: Bréguet — Sabin (line 5)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Bastille
PRICE: €€€
HOW TO BOOK: no reservations
NUMBER: +33 1 40 02 76 90
DEETS: luxe, online ordering, delivery available, eco-conscious
INSTAGRAM: @cafealainducasse

Chocolat Plume at Maison Plume
Maison Plume is a darling, deep purple bakery whose products are all without any added sugar and, drumroll please, are completely gluten free!!!! The same cute and beautiful pastries, but accessible to Francophiles with dietary restrictions. Though everything is wonderful, their quaint almond-shaped plume cakes are their best item. The chocolate plumes have a deep brown nut base and are piped with chocolate cream. The bakery uses stevia which almost makes one sigh in disappointment. We know you, Stevia, bastard stepsister of real sugar! But the owner of Maison Plume, sensing the disappointment that comes with finding out stevia is involved, explained that she searched for YEARS for a stevia that doesn’t, uh, disappoint, and she did it. The Chocolate Plume was all the decadence one could possibly hope for with zero funny business. It tastes amazing and could stand on the podium next to desserts made with traditional sugar. Bravo!
ADDRESS: 61 Rue Charlot (3rd arr.)
MÉTRO: Filles du Calvaire (line 8) or Temple (line 3)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Le Marais
PRICE: €€
HOW TO BOOK: no reservations
NUMBER: +33 1 71 39 35 02
DEETS: gluten free, coffee shop, patisserie, closed Monday + Tuesday, custom ordering available
INSTAGRAM: @maisonplumepatisserie

Chocolat Cruffin at the French Bastards
The French Bastards, unlike what their name suggests, are actually some pretty nice guys. In addition to their chocolate cruffins (wtf is a cruffin, you ask? We’ll get there in a second), they also offer a variety of whole grain breads, activated charcoal baked goods, and cross-culture desserts like babka and pavlovas, all under the proud moniker « Fondé Hier” (founded yesterday). Cruffins were invented in Australia and are a cross between a croissant and a muffin. Yes, like cronuts. They’re the type of wacky, why-not creation you have to see (and taste) to believe, and an almost predictable offering from a bakery priding themselves on their newcomer energy and innovation. It’s a successful experiment worth checking out, and when your curiosity does inevitably get the best of you, pick up some of their regular croissants too.
ADDRESS: 61 Rue Oberkampf (11th arr.)
MÉTRO: Parmentier (line 3)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Folie-Méricourt
PRICE: €
HOW TO BOOK: order on deliveroo.com
NUMBER: n/a
DEETS: open daily, bakery, best desserts in Paris, multiple locations
INSTAGRAM: @the_french_bastards

Choux à la Creme at Cédric Grolet
Remember Cédric Grolet, the best pastry chef in France? Well, someone with his reputation can’t have just one spot on the best desserts of Paris list. His French cream puffs (choux à la crème) are also fantastic and might be a slightly cheaper option than the fruit cakes. Get at least 6 and head across the street to the Tuileries Garden (if you are at his Rue de Rivoli location), or to gawk at the beauty of the Opéra Garnier if you are at his second boutique.
ADDRESS: 35 Avenue de l’Opéra (2nd arr.) / 6 Rue de Castiglione (1st arr.)
HOURS: 10am — 6pm Tues.-Sun.
MÉTRO: Pyramides (lines 7, 14)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Opéra
PRICE: €€
NUMBER: +33 1 83 95 21 02
DEETS: closed Mondays, bakery

Sacristain at Du Pain et des Idées
Du Pain et Des Idées has been routinely lauded as one of the best bakeries in town, and in addition to the praise and the awards, they also have the impressive feat of a trademarked bread. This isn’t about their bread though, this is about the sacristain: a long, twisted, almond-filled pastry that hails from the south of France. Clocking in at a foot long, it’s well worth the 3 euros, without including the to-die-for butter content and flakiness. All of the pastries at Du Pain et Des Idées are worthwhile, but this bizarre yet classy one takes the cake bread. On top of everything, the location is wonderful. Du Pain et Des Idées is located steps from the Canal St-Martin in a remarkably preserved 19th century bakery that also serves as a kind of mini bakery museum — not that you can fit inside.
ADDRESS: 34 Rue Yves Toudic (10th arr.)
HOURS: daily, 7am — 6pm
MÉTRO: Jaques Bonsergent (line 5)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Canal St. Martin
PRICE: €
HOW TO BOOK: no reservations
NUMBER: +33 1 42 40 44 52
DEETS: bakery, best croissants in Paris, limited outdoor seating
INSTAGRAM: @dupainetdesidees

Tarte Chocolat Guayaquil at Kubo Pâtisserie
How many bakeries do you know that also sell their own homemade perfume? Probably just this one. Kubo calls their concept olfacto-culinaire, meaning that all of their pastries are inspired by perfumes. It’s unique and delicious, with many of their creations featuring violet, vanilla, and grapefruit elements. The cake to take the cake, however, is their tarte chocolat guayaquil: a chocolate and caramel cake with a midnight-black ganache topping.
ADDRESS: 25 Rue Jacques Louvel-Tessier (10th arr.)
MÉTRO: Goncourt (line 11)
NEIGHBORHOOD: Hôpital-Saint-Louis
PRICE: €€
HOW TO BOOK: order online
NUMBER: +33 9 83 33 90 11
DEETS: pastry shop, dine-in open, online ordering available
INSTAGRAM: @kubo_patisserie