Cafe in Paris

Belle Époque salon de thé since 1903 — Mont-Blanc and chocolat l'Africain under the rue de Rivoli arcades

The Île Saint-Louis institution Gault Millau crowned in 1961 — still family-run, still the standard.

Best Baguette de Paris 2024 winner — sourdough, charcoal-black tradition, and weekend croissant programme

Sartre and Beauvoir's corner of Boulevard Saint-Germain since 1887.

Paris's oldest artisanal coffee roaster — since 1880, still on the same Saint-Honoré sidewalk.

1927 Trocadéro tea-room — marble tables, white aprons, view across to the Tower.

The trompe-l'oeil fruit pastries you've seen on Instagram — boutique and salon

The cult sandwich stall inside Marché des Enfants Rouges — 30-minute queue, 13.50€, no apologies.

The 7e roastery that started Paris's specialty-coffee third wave in 2011.

Paris's oldest chocolate shop since 1800 — Marie Antoinette's chemist's listed boutique on rue des Saints-Pères

Christophe Vasseur's 1875-listed bakery on rue Yves Toudic — pain des amis, escargots, no shortcuts.

The Melbourne brunch room that taught Montmartre flat whites.

The Australian-style breakfast counter that taught Paris to queue for pancakes — and serve them well.

Former Hugo & Victor relaunched under the chef's name — 2003 French Dessert Champion's first eponymous boutique

Marais chocolatier with a tea room — millefeuille made à la minute, possibly Paris's finest caramels.

Robert Linxe's original chocolate boutique since 1977 — the room that defined Paris bean-to-praline

Cyril Lignac and Benoît Couvrand's original 11e patisserie — the Equinoxe was born here

The original 1862 Ladurée tea room — the room that invented the Paris salon de thé.

Alain Ducasse's bean-to-bar manufacture in the 11e — Nicolas Berger's atelier behind a cobbled courtyard

A turn-of-the-century café preserved without irony — zinc bar, red banquettes, all-day terrace.

Gaston Lenôtre's flagship since 1957 — the Plaine Monceau room that taught a generation of French pastry chefs

The other Saint-Germain café, with the better view of the church.

Mickaël Benichou's 2013 patisserie-boulangerie — painted-ceiling 19th-century shop, marble counter heaped with bread

Myriam Sabet's Levantine pâtisserie — kadaïf 1001-feuilles that Istanbul visitors instinctively recognise.

Marais épicerie-fine + restaurant — Delphine Plisson's Dean & DeLuca answer for Paris.

Paris's oldest covered market, since 1615 — 21 stalls, all of lunchtime Marais, on one block.

France's oldest tea house since 1854 — the Bourg-Tibourg flagship with the colonial-era painted casks

Japanese-precision French classical pâtisserie on avenue de Breteuil — Saint-Honoré as the benchmark

Japanese-French pâtisserie since 2001 — matcha, yuzu and black sesame on classical French structures

Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2000 chocolatier — the Madeleine flagship with the life-size chocolate sculptures

The Picasso of pastry, in his original Saint-Germain showcase.

The Saint-Germain sourdough institution since 1932.

Classical French pâtisserie under the Pyramides arcades — tea room facing the Tuileries

Paris's oldest pâtisserie since 1730 — Louis XV's pastry chef's listed shop on rue Montorgueil

Yann Couvreur's first patisserie since May 2016 — the original room with the fox-mark logo