Cafe in Paris

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.

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

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

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

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

The Saint-Germain sourdough institution since 1932.

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

Emmanuel Ryon, MOF glacier, Pastry World Champion, turns gelato into Marais grand cru.

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