Cafe Pavane with Jill Colonna

 

Have you been looking for a cosy, friendly tea salon in Paris?

Not one of those wildly extravagant afternoon hotel affairs

Cafe Pavane is perfect for you

I met cookbook author, Jill Colonna of the divine Mad About Macarons at Pavane on Friday.

The owner, Manon, is none other than the daughter of top Paris Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) chocolatier, Jean-Paul Hévin, who waited on us personally.

Most of the lush, chocolatey desserts are c/o patisserie J-P Hévin

The Russian-style cakes and biscuits are made ‘fait maison’.

Plus M. Hévin’s renown macarons (3 for 5€ …possibly the best macaron deal in Paris). How did we forget to get macarons😳

Café Pavane is directly across from les Jardins Luxembourg at 22 Rue de Vaugirard, 75006? 

So convenient if you’re popping into musee Luxembourg for the Léon Monet exhibit.

Jill, with her chocolate expertise, did the honors pouring 

My J-P Hévin chocolat chaud traditional, whipped together for each individual serving is a family secret.

Jill and I go way back. We had hot chocolate at J-P’s rue Saint Honoré salon de thé in 2011.

I did the map art for Jill’s excellent Paris cookbook, Teatime in Paris.

I even had a private financier leçon from Jill, who has the patience of an angel, at my tiny chambre de bonne. I discovered my toaster oven has a ‘good side’, warmer on the back left side…evidently all ovens have their good areas. Merci Dr. Jill 👍

What did we eat at Cafe Pavane? 

Jill had Hévin’s famous signature dessert, la pomme de terre 🥔 The interior is a mix of dark chocolate ganache with orange zest, blond rum-soaked raisons, nuts. The exterior is almond paste or marzipan.

And I had the Princesse Pistache an Italian almond meringue, plus  créme mousseline pistache coated in tiny bits of pistachio - all deliciously crunchy or croustillante as the French say. ‘Croustillante’ is one of their favorite descriptive words when it comes to desserts. Who’d a thunk it?

Jill was in dire need of some Easter chocolate fish 🐟 etc

So we raced off across Paris to Jill’s fav shop, Notre Patisserie to meet Francesca in the 7th on rue Amelie

Isn’t this open egg adorable?

Originally workers from the Eiffel Tower stayed here so authentic beams are inside the shop

Everything looked delish. I walked off with a milk chocolate hen and some mini eggs (eaten last night. They lasted one day). And Jill took home a load of Easter goodies for next weekend. All in all what a great fun day we had! ☕️ 🫖 🥔 🍫 ❤️

❤️ Do stop in my Paris ‘shop’ on Etsy ❤️

Subscribe to ParisBreakfast Newsletter