Pain de Sucre & Kings of Pastry!

Tonight 'Kings of Pastry' will be playing on PBS. To get in the right frame of mind immerse in the amazing tartes of Patisserie Pain de Sucre. Last trip I only peered in the window. I didn't go inside. Admittedly I was munching on a tarte citron from Cupcakes Berko across the street.

An act of betrayal and regret I relive daily since.

Pastry chefs Didier Mathray and Nathalie create shapes, flavors, colors and textures unique among Paris' patisseries.

I can't wait to go back and taste these.

Or at least taste the mini versions - 'tentation'/temptation, the perfect name for this tarte framboise.

"Castanea'- Sablé à la farine de chataigne, pulpe de pomme légèrement caramélisée,praliné croustillant, crémeux au marron, biscuit tendre à la châtaigne, mousse à la pulpe de châtaigne, glacage à la noisette.

Pure poetry no?

What looks like a mini version of the Castanea is really a nounours - chocolate-covered marshmallow on a stick.

I have tasted many of Pain de Sucre's caramel macarons.

Do have the right snacks while you watch Tonight's Kings of Pastry.

Bonjour KINGS & Pain de Sucre!

Pain de Sucre

Just desserts today.

And what incredible desserts they are!
PAIN DE SUCRE in the Marais only creates the unexpected.

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They have a strong sense of pastry geometry too - one of my passions.
And they LOVE the SQUARE! Of course marshmallows/guimauve are square, but in flavors of green Matcha tea or Orange flower or saffron..? This is unexpected.
Pastry chefs, Didier Mathray and Nathalie Robert take the everyday Provencal almond-paste delicacy called a "calisson" and make it square with added candied oranges. Look at this absolutely perfect raspberry squared tarte! Their fruits are the best quality too.
More perfect squares of deliciousness...
AH HA! Now these squares begin to look a bit like Sicilian pizza non?Like tomato with Rosemary popping out of it!

And here sliced figs with more Rosemary!

Extraordinary don't you agree?
Recently a reader wrote that she'd hung around Paris Breakfasts for a month and thought there must be more to Paris than "LOLLIES IN SHOPS".

She was moving on.

But she promised to come back in a month to see if I had moved on from "LOLLIES IN SHOP".

I looked it up - a mostly New Zealand expression for lollie pops in candy shops.

Some of the most creative artists on the planet are creating exceptional lollies in shops. And PAIN DE SUCRE is one of them along with Pierre Herme and Gerard Mulot and...and...and...
 

PAIN DE SUCRE can also do beautiful, surprising round pastries too.