The Paseria Selection 2026
Selection 2026
Not an award, a recommendation. Once a year we write down where we would send a friend with one afternoon and a good appetite.
We spent the year at counters and in salons from the rue de Rivoli to the Kowloon waterfront and wrote down where we would send a friend with one afternoon and a good appetite. One pick and two alternatives in each category, chosen by taste, craft and the experience of buying the piece as anyone can. No house pays to be in the guide and none paid for this. The Selection is revised every September.
Hotel of the year
The house whose pastry kitchen defines the craft this year.
Hotel patisserie of the year
The counter where a palace kitchen sells to the street.
Our pick · Hotel patisserie
Le Comptoir, Ritz Paris
The best pastry per euro in a palace: François Perret’s pieces boxed for the rue Cambon at a third of the salon price.
Open
Hotel patisserie
Sweets & Deli, Palace Hotel Tokyo
Tokyo’s reference hotel counter, a strawberry shortcake cut to the millimetre and an ice pack sized to your journey.
Hotel patisserie
Butterfly Patisserie, Rosewood Hong Kong
The most photographed cakes in Hong Kong, sold by the piece on the harbourfront.
Pastry chef of the year
The hands we would follow anywhere.
Signature dessert of the year
The piece to plan a morning around.
Afternoon tea of the year
The four o’clock we would book first.
Chocolatier of the year
The box we would carry across a border.
Boutique patisserie of the year
The independent counter worth the detour.
Newcomer of the year
The house we did not know last year.
Value of the year
The finest sweetness for the fewest euros.
A recommendation of the editors, revised every year. Not an award, not a ranking, not for sale.