Paris’ hottest new pastry boutique, La Pâtisserie du Meurice par Cédric Grolet, just opened in the first arrondissement. Until now, Cédric Grolet’s swoon-worthy creations were only available at Alain Ducasse’s swanky restaurant, Le Dalì, where Grolet is head pastry chef, in Le Meurice boutique hotel.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbKTj0qhhsI/?hl=en&taken-by=cedricgrolet
For the past three years, Grolet has been racking up Meilleur Chef Pâtissier awards from several French organizations, and in 2017 he was awarded the ultimate title, the Meilleur Chef Pâtissier restaurant du monde (World’s Best Pastry Chef). At just age 32, he has already left a cardinal mark on the pastry world. (It helps that he is just as much of a darling as his pieces.)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZQfxJvhi-D/?hl=en&taken-by=cedricgrolet
Easily the most tempting and seductive part of Paris’ gastronomic scene is the cult of pastry, with Grolet at its helm. Grolet specializes in a pastry creation called “trompe-l’œil,” simply translated as an optical illusion. His concept for fruit-pastries is to make an exact copy of a fruit (and sometimes nuts too) — lemons, apples, peaches, etc. — with unexpected fillings inside. He goes beyond classic pastry shapes by creating Rubik’s cube pastries and the most sumptuous, decomposed tarte aux pommes. With an unimaginable amount of patience required for his pieces, all of Grolet’s pastries are so unbelievable they must be a work of sorcery. They are just as tempting to eat as they are to break just to see what’s inside.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWem3qhBmCP/?hl=en&taken-by=cedricgrolet
Grolet comes from Firminy, in the Loire Valley, where he started his culinary journey at just 12 years old. He was taken on at Fauchon and immediately noticed by éclair-magnate Christophe Adam. In 2011, Grolet joined Alain Ducasse’s Le Meurice as a sous-chef and within a year became Chef Pâtissier. He still looks up to the original pastry chefs who had left Fauchon to work on their own shops like Pierre Hermé and Christophe Adam, and also the newer players in the game like Christophe Michalak and Claire Damon. It is only in recent years that French pastries have become independent businesses venturing away from the traditional boulangerie/pâtisserie combo shop. You can still find some of the most wonderful French pastries at the traditional shops, but the whimsical offspring of the new era of pastry-making requires stopping by a special set-up like that of Grolet.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgF15cLHFES/?hl=en&taken-by=cedricgrolet
These modern era pastries come at a heftier price as well. Grolet’s pastries price between 8€ for the chocolate tarte and 17€ for the sculpted fruits. Some of Grolet’s more coveted pastries are available by special request too, such as his tarte aux pommes (28€) and Rubik’s Cube (170€.) These are also still available at Le Dalì restaurant in Le Meurice.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgYgclMnjsL/?hl=en&taken-by=cedricgrolet
In the meantime, as Grolet continues cruising the pastry world, he’s coming up with new creations and sharing them with his 886K Instagram followers.
La Pâtisserie du Meurice par Cédric Grolet
Address: 6, rue de Castiglione, Paris, 75001 FRANCE
Hours: Open Tuesday-Sunday, from 12pm until the last pastry is sold
Currently no website is available
