Address: 6 Rue de Castiglione, 75001 Paris, France
Opening Hours: Monday – Sunday 12:00pm – 6:00pm, Closed on Tuesdays
Official Website: cedric-grolet.com
Ah, the infamous apple pastry. Cedric Grolet. World’s best pastry chef. How much of that is true?
I think, almost true.
17 euros for a bloody apple fruit reincarnated with a shiny exterior so decadently created you’ll wonder what brains does Cedric Grolet have. It is expensive but already the cheapest in the array of beautiful fruit reincarnations. You’ll cry when you learn that a lone Pistachio cookie costs 25 euros and the XXL French Toast costs 90 euros. Marie Antoinette is probably rolling in her grave.
But I haven’t had the guts to spend 90 euros on a first taste. I realize that having the money and courage to spend are two different languages.
I reckon, the Apple and the Tonka Bean should suffice. 34 euros is a reasonable cost to experience the pastry prowess of Cedric Grolet that instagrammers and tiktokers flock to at L’Opera and Le Meurice locations. (Opera, being the worst. Between the lines for Mona Lisa and Cedric Grolet, you’ll wonder who is the genius: Da Vinci or Grolet?) But I encourage you to do as simply as Click and Collect. Don’t line up, only to end up sorely disappointed by the sold out stocks. Plan early and well, 48 hours before your intended date and hour of pickup and you’ll have an experience like mine.
Between the Pomme and the Tonka Bean, the latter wins my taste. Tasting strongly of caramel, this Tonka Bean hails from Brazil. Made of crunchy praline chocolate with fleur de sel, dark chocolate caramel, english cream infused with tonka bean, chocolate tonka mousse, each bite is going to make you wanting. And I mean it. Meanwhile, the Apple, as pretty as it is for Snow White and the witch’s forbidden fruit, is as vain as its skin.
If I was in Paris again, I’d click and collect for Cedric Grolet in a heartbeat. Until then, I am in dessert dreams and yes, for me, Cedric Grolet is one of the best pastry chefs in the world.