Your dessert type
❖ The Classicist
The Paris-Brest the way it was meant to be, and nothing clever.
You trust institutions: a shop from 1730, a torte with its own lawsuit, a mille-feuille cut in front of you by a world champion. Trends amuse you; tradition feeds you. You know the difference between a good croissant and a famous one, and you would rather have the good one.
Your perfect afternoon: A baba at Stohrer at eleven, the mille-feuille at La Galerie at four, a coffee house afterwards with a newspaper on a wooden holder.
Your dessert
The Paris-BrestYour houses
The Classicist: your houses
BoutiqueParis · Rue Montorgueil, 2e
Stohrer
Since 1730
BoutiqueParis · Rue de Varenne, 7e
Philippe Conticini
The Paris-Brest house
HotelParis · Avenue Montaigne
Hôtel Plaza Athénée
Red awnings, gold pastry
BoutiqueVienna · Kohlmarkt, Innere Stadt
Demel
K.u.K. Hofzuckerbäcker
BoutiqueZurich · Paradeplatz, Bahnhofstrasse
Confiserie Sprüngli, Paradeplatz
Luxemburgerli and the café upstairs
The other types
Who else is at the counter
◆ The Chocolate Devotee
Seventy percent, a fresh cream centre, and the box is yours.
✦ The Purist
One perfect mousse, eaten at the counter, in silence.
♛ The Tea Ritualist
Three tiers, a pot that never runs cold, and a second round of scones.
✧ The Avant-Gardist
The lemon that is not a lemon, and the queue is part of the fun.
❦ The Grand Café Romantic
Red velvet, a torte with a seal, and the afternoon is yours.