I must first admit that for some reason, my mind never associated this shop with the prestigious pastry school and Michelin restaurants headed by Gaston Lenotre, who passed away in recent years. May be my French is so poor I assumed many shops might end up with similar names and 2ndly much of the food here look slightly pedestrian commercialized. Upon further reconfirmation, in fact the chain of Lenotre catering shops you see in different suburbs are really part of the bigger Lenotre Pastry and Restaurant group. They are also the official supplier to many politicians and noble families.
Viennoiseries and Pastries, kind of like a Deli,
with both savoury and sweet items -
The way they present their ready-made food indicates they are more of a take-out shop.
Small Croissant -
It looked neat. The inside also looked alright and it had a mild buttery taste, but seemed slightly too soft and bready inside when non-reheated in the oven. In Paris context, this won’t go into my Top 5 list and was a little too sweet for me. But if I have to choose, I would eat this over the HK Robuchon L’Atelier version, which is becoming a little too inconsistent and puffy.. ~ 7.5/10
Tarte Sablee de Sole et Petits Legumes – 9,90€
A pretty looking Sole fish, eggs and beans pie, eaten cold.
This was something I don’t find often so instantly attracted my attention. Really liked it and no point describing the taste anymore. That bit was predictable but execution was good. ~ 9/10
Tarte aux Pêches -
One of the signatures here is the Strawberries tart, but I saw this and instantly knew I had to have it. Actually so far the experience has been mixed. Some items were great like this one, with very fresh tasting Peach slices on a decent enough pastry tart base. ~ 9/10
Lenotre Raspberry and Salted Caramel Macarons -
The tant pour tant mixture was balanced, but the texture of these were just so averagely cake like… not helped by the fact the fillings taste were also muted. Very disappointed actually. Out of so many Macarons I’ve eaten and which some shops I have revisited a few times, Laduree Paris definitely remained the one to beat in terms of balance. Fillings wise, the gong firstly goes to Gerard Mulot (who worked for Lenotre before) but the shell remained too sickly sweet & sticky. Hugo & Victor is like Laduree & well balanced overall, especially that to-die-for Salted Caramel one. All the rest like Sadaharu Aoki, Pierre Herme (who also worked under Lenotre), Dallayou, Fauchon, etc were still decent enough. The ones I ate here were at a level below these somewhat, you just wouldn’t really rate them. ~ 5/10
Some Half Bottled House Wine -
I was having a feast here as early dinner.
This was well chosen and of airliner Business Class quality.
The Whole Concept of these Lenotre outlets -
Reminds me of Fauchon. There’s a large variety of pre-made savoury and sweet items for a quick bite. The Peach Tart was amazing, the Fish Tart was also decent. The macarons on the other hand were so average that day and disappointed. Just go for the other stuff I suppose..
Price: Euro 10 ~ 30€
Ease of Access: 4/5 (Close to Arc de Triumph, but has other outlets)
Food: ♕♕♕ to ♕♕♕♕♕
Opening Hours & Address: Quite a few shops available in Paris and also Thailand,
check their website: http://www.lenotre.com
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