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Jacques Genin, Paris


We walked down the bustling rue Vieille du Temple, a great street filled with cafes, restaurants, shops, quaint boutiques, and art galleries.  After a while, the crowds began to thin out, the storefronts became sparser, and my anticipation of a special treat grew stronger.  We veered left onto rue Turenne, walked passed rows of parked motorcycles, a few small shops, and finally reached the large glass windows of one of the most magical places in all of Paris; the tearoom and shop of Jacques Genin. 

The self-taught chocolate and caramel genius Jacques Genin, once the head pastry chef at La Maison du Chocolat, is considered one of the best chocolate and pastry makers in France.  For years his  chocolates, caramels, and petits fours were produced strictly for Paris's top hotels and restaurants.  To the delight of all chocolate lovers, he opened this beautiful store in 2008.



So, let us begin with the chocolate which is sublime, luxuriously delicious, and beautiful.  Each piece is a little work of art, and it is treated as such; handled with white gloved hands, and meticulously arranged in a bag or a fancy silver compact-like box.  







I snapped a photo of the dark and milk chocolate flavors in order to study it carefully and return a day later knowing exactly what I would be getting. 







The second wonderful creation by Monsieur Genin is the pate de fruits, small pieces of fruit and veggie based jellies.  So, I guess one could come here to have a "salad" and follow it with a pastry. 

The veggie and fruit flavors are seasonal and include:
Vegetables - beetroot, pepper, fennel, carrot, celery, green tomato, turnip, pumpkin, cucumber.
Fruit - lychee, raspberry, pineapple, blackcurrant, rhubarb, blood orange, mango passion.



I saved the best for last.  Monsieur Genin is probably best known for his caramels.   For some, it is difficult to get all excited over a caramel; to those people I would say that they just haven't had a Genin caramel.  While I could totally live my life without nougat, I am a sucker for a good caramel.  The Genin caramels are pure poetry; they are creamy, soft to the touch, not terribly sticky when in the mouth, and decadent.  The fruit flavored caramels are spectacular since it is difficult to successfully pair fruit juice with caramelized milk, while staying true to the consistency of a caramel candy. 



I don't have one particular flavor that I would choose as my favorite, but the plain, chocolate, mango, pistachio, and raspberry are damn fine. 






There are plenty of other treats to choose from.  I got a small bag of the chocolate covered marshmallows which were so good, I ate most of them in one day.  Did not feel an ounce of guilt. 


We sat down at one of the tables in the pretty tearoom portion of the store, and ordered two pastries and hot tea.  The pastries are not displayed anywhere; they are ordered from a menu, assembled in the lab/atelier upstairs and carried gingerly down the sleek circular staircase. 






I was really after the vanilla mille-feuille but its was sold out.  The made-to-order praline mille-feuille was lovely, sweet and creamy, with crispy layers of puff pastry. 


The lemon tart had a terrific shell, velvety lemon curd, and lime zest sprinkled on top. 




One of these sleek and fancy silver boxes filled with chocolates or fruit jellies comes home with me each time.



The caramels, if refrigerated, can last up to two weeks.



I once watched my wonderful husband take one caramel out of our fridge and quickly pop it in his mouth.  He turned to see the look of horror on my face.   Shame on me that my own husband did not know that the Jacques Genin caramels need time to warm up to room temperature, become softer, and when perfectly ready they are to be eaten slowly while savoring each morsel.  To just pop one in like a savage, well, that's just not done.  I still love him, even with such imperfections:)



Jacques Genin has two locations in Paris, but only the rue de Turenne shop carries pastries.

133, rue de Turenne (chocolate, caramel, pastry and tearoom)
Tuesday - Sunday - 11-7
Saturday till 8

27 rue de Varenne - no pastry
Tuesday - Saturday - 10:30 - 7

Joanna

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