Sebastien Degardin Patisserie, My Sweet Paris by Caroline Mignot

It's taken me more than a year to get to patisserie Sebastien Degardin.

Maybe I knew it would be dangerous 🆘

But so pretty.

It's in the 5th arrondissement near the Sorbonne and Pantheon.
200, rue Saint-Jacques 75005

The window beckoned, 'Come inside'.

Very lovely too.

A classic old boulangerie the new owner, Desgardin, has cherished and embellished.

Of course I was tip-toeing around

Stealthily taking pictures whenever the vendeuse went into the back to fetch more Mont Blancs. Only when I got home did I realize she was the pastry chef's wife and partner.

 Isn't this witty. Hard boiled eggs garnished with biscuit 'soldiers' to dip into dark chocolate creme.

Desserts honoring the nearby Pantheon.

A chocolate egg pastry. Degardin's pastries are not at all like so many others you see repeated and repeated.

Their shapes and flavors are surprising.

Not easy to choose either but I always fall for passion fruit and mango.

The Pom Yuzu was sending out magnetic waves. A la prochaine.

I came home and consulted my new best Paris pastry guide, My Sweet Paris by Caroline Mignot.

Parisian author Mignon is a food writer for magazines Maison francaise, Prima, Regal, L'Hotellerie-Restauration, Le Monde plus her blog, Table a Decouvert . Her pastry book is just as detailed and informing.
'Another lovely cake is the Passiflore with it's extra-exotic notes: sitting on a thin coconut shortbread biscuit is a passion fruit cream topped with a very light, white chocolate mousse'. Perfect description.

On Sebastien Degardin, Mignot says,
'He was head pastry chef initially at Michel Troisgros' restaurant moving on to Pierre Gagnaire's establishment before opening his own place in the 12th arrondissement. (The diagrammatic drawing above is from the walls of his former shop). At the end of 2013 he moved into and modernized this magnificent location where part of the decoration has been classified by the Monuments Historiques of France.
I'll be coming back soon to Degardin for the Pom Yuzu. And I won't leave the house in future without My Sweet Paris.
150 pastry, ice cream, tea and chocolate shops are covered within.

Le Boulanger des Invalides Jocteur

Two members of the Clean Plate Club (CPC) met yesterday. At Le Boulanger des Invalides Jocteur.
14 Avenue Villars, 75007
Metro - Saint Francois-Xavier
Bus 87
Glorious pink walls.

Ciel bleu/blue skies overhead.

A golden French chicken gazes out the window. The perfect setting to taste pastries from Lyon.Paris CPC member, Louise Chauchard of Raids-Patisserie chooses the menu.

And explains the order we'll taste.

1. The blueberry cake

2. The pistache/abricot slice

3. Last Jocteur's specialty - a sablee cookie with a praline topping, because it's the sweetest.

First we shoot our food bien sur!

Louise divides up the pastries...

 The only way to really taste dessert is by using our hands like a child. Forks & spoons are NOT permitted. Contrasting textures and flavors are missed when a spoon is used.

There's a fun exhibit at Musee de la Poupee on just this subject, displaying vintage ads of children eating at Impasse Berthaud 75003 near rue Rambuteau. Did I mention everything was divine at Jocteur - perhaps the best tastes of my trip. 

Louise sends me off to discover patisserie Sebastien Degardin, 29, boulevarde de Rueilly 75012. One must support new pastry shops non? More to come on Degardin.

End of day I visit Patisserie des Reves on rue du Bac to view their latest - it’s  research after all.

I'm heading back to New York this afternoon - a Swiss Sleep cure awaits.

And serious exercise with no desserts on the menu.

Stop by pastry expert Louise at Raids.