The Finest Retailers for Meals Souvenirs in Paris

Once I journey, purchasing for meals and tabletop gadgets is a should — spices, sweets, and antiques permit me to savor and relive my expertise once I return residence. These particular tastes are additionally how I favor to share the essence of Paris, my adopted metropolis, with my household again within the States. As soon as upon a time I’d haul again macarons and Mariage Frères tea, however now they’re bought stateside or can be found with the clicking of a button, so I prefer to search for tastes of Paris that aren’t as simple to search out elsewhere.

Paris has quite a bit to supply in the way in which of meals souvenirs. Under is an inventory of things to hunt out in your subsequent journey. If you happen to’re quick on time, a single journey to La Grande Épicerie, Galeries Lafayette, and even Monoprix for primary gadgets works. Nonetheless, by heading to those smaller retailers, you should have the chance to expertise the épiceries and establishments that give Paris its appeal.

Compagnie Française des Poivres et des Épices

Spices

What to search for:
Select herbs and spices that may add typical French flavors to your meal and are solely accessible from protected areas, comparable to salt from the marshes of Guérande in western France or the Camargue within the south. If you happen to purchase piment d’espelette from the Basque area, be certain it’s marked AOC, appellation d’origine contrôlée, signifying that it’s an official pepper from the area and processed underneath Espelette’s strict requirements. (France loves defending meals and wine traditions.)

The place to go:
Compagnie Française des Poivres et des Épices
7 Rue de Furstemberg, sixth arrondissement

A brief stroll from the Boulevard Saint-Germain will convey you to this charming little spice store on the Place de Furstemberg. The family-run store carries a number of completely different sugars and dozens of salt and pepper varieties, organized in little white tin cans and glass cloches to let you take within the aromas.

The store’s Coffret Français present field, with a mix for conventional hen and potato roasts, is a perfect memento. It additionally contains salt from the Guérande marshes within the Pays de la Loire area of France, which has been in use for 3,000 years, and herbs de Provence, the enduring fragrant mix of rosemary, oregano, and thyme discovered throughout the south of France. Along with the coffret, remember to seize a bottle of piment d’espelette and Peugeot bistro pepper grinders. And if you’d like one thing a bit fancier, you will discover forged iron, sterling silver, and Lalique crystal grinders.

Tea

What to search for:

Ajiri Aki

Tea is ubiquitous; when in France, discover a model that isn’t accessible the place you reside, has all kinds of flavors to select from, and delightful packaging for gifting. Mariage Frères, Dammann Frères, Palais des Thés, and Kusmi Tea are all nice French manufacturers to hunt out.

The place to go:
Méert
16 Rue Elzevir, third arrondissement

Méert is a confectionery and tea store with old-world appeal. The model was based in 1677 in Lille and the store evokes this historical past, with sweets stacked on vintage counters and in bonbon jars and painted tea tins lining the wall. Attempt the Thé de la Comtesse, a inexperienced tea with hints of violets and raspberries, or the Thé des Littéraires, a black Ceylon tea with vanilla, lavender, and bergamot and a portray of Marcel Proust on the entrance.

Méert can also be well-known for its gaufres, waffles stuffed with caramel beurre salé, and its signature Madagascar vanilla. However don’t overlook the bins of caramels or meringue-filled tin cans, which journey properly and have an extended shelf life.

Confiture

What to search for:
Confiture (preserved fruit) manufacturers like Bonne Maman can be found everywhere in the world, so it’s higher to hunt out one thing artisanal, like Confiture Parisienne, Alain Milliat, and L’Épicurien. These manufacturers often use unrefined cane sugar and keep away from components and preservatives.

The place to go:
Confiture Parisienne
17 Avenue Daumesnil, twelfth arrondissement

This retailer and workshop is situated within the arcades of the Viaduc des Arts, a transformed practice line that hosts a string of workshops and artisan ateliers. Within the store, you pattern from 90 flavors of jams and jellies, whereas watching the group combine them in big copper containers behind glass.

The store’s confiture fraise tomate (strawberry tomato) is a standout. However you can also’t go flawed with varieties like carrot ardour fruit vanilla, la confiture de la Tour Eiffel (strawberry and rosemary), orange grapefruit clementine kumquat, or the blanc de blancs Champagne jelly or rosé jelly. And remember to take a look at out the savory jams to your aperitif hour, such because the chutney d’oignon rose, cornichon chutney, and poivron cetterave chutney.

get it residence:
Confitures are bought in glass jars so put them in a plastic resealable bag and place it snugly in some garments in your checked baggage.

French mustard

Ajiri Aki

What to search for:
If you happen to bear in mind the mustard scarcity of 2022 and the mad rationing that adopted, then you’ll perceive how integral this condiment is to French delicacies. It’s utilized in tarts, vinaigrettes, and sauces, and served with steak. Most French mustard producers use Canadian-grown seeds, so for a particular memento, goal mustard that’s grown and made in France.

Look out for Moutarde de Meaux Pommery (varieties embody flavorings like honey, inexperienced peppercorn, gingerbread, truffle, and cognac) or Martin-Pouret (piment d’espelette, Indian spices, bearnaise, honey, and chardonnay). My private favourite is Edmond Fallot, which has been producing artisanal mustards since 1840 in Beaune, close to Dijon, with seeds grown within the area: Its tarragon mustard feels significantly particular, however the cassis, inexperienced peppercorn, basil, walnut, the traditional Dijon, and white wine flavors are all price making an attempt.

The place to go:
G. Detou
58 Rue Tiquetonne, 2nd arrondissement

G. Detou is extremely regarded amongst bakers and cooks. There are two shops adjoining to at least one one other, one centered on sweets and the opposite on savory items. When you’re there, you too can seize some vinegars from Martin-Pouret, honey from Le Rucher de l’École, and cacao from Valrhona.

get it residence:
Mustards are bought in glass jars or ceramic pots so wrap material round every jar, and put them into checked baggage.

Creme de marron

What to search for:
Creme de marron, or chestnut cream, has a roasted, nutty, toffee style and is a staple in lots of French pantries. There are a selection of manufacturers, however one by a celebrated pastry chef is assured to be scrumptious by yourself confections.

The place to get it:
Sébastien Gaudard
1 rue des Pyramides, 1st arrondissement

Positioned close to the Tuileries, Sébastien Gaudard is a captivating pastry and tea room with a classic aesthetic inside and cafe vibes with chairs and tables outdoors. Make sure you strive the tea, confiture, and honey too.

get it residence:
Creme de marron is available in glass bottles and often has a shelf lifetime of as much as three years. Wrap it in your socks or a T-shirt and put it into your checked baggage.

Philippe Vaurès Santamaria/Poilâne

Butter biscuits

What to search for:
Pur beurre (translation: pure butter) and sables Bretons are traditional French biscuits. The previous are just like shortbread and are made with unsalted butter, whereas the latter, from Brittany, use salt in addition to butter. They’re each scrumptious.

The place to go:
Poilâne
8 rue du Cherche-Midi, sixth arrondissement

Poilâne, based in 1932, is aware of tips on how to work flour, eggs, and sugar. That is the unique location, with a restaurant and bakery aspect by aspect. Whereas there are different varieties of biscuits on provide, the Punitions biscuits are trademarked for good purpose. They’re made with out components, preservatives, or coloring brokers — simply eggs, butter, flour, and sugar, baked over a wooden hearth.

get it residence:
The biscuits are sometimes bought in a field and sometimes you will discover them in a tin, making them simple to move with out turning right into a bag of crumbs.

Poilâne

Chocolate

What to search for:
There isn’t any scarcity of chocolate retailers in Paris, and plenty of chocolate codecs to select from: Yow will discover scrumptious chocolate from celebrated names like Alain Ducasse, Pierre Hermé, Jacques Génin, Cyril Lignac, and Pierre Marcolini at namesake retailers throughout the town. Most retailers will fortunately provide a pattern and reply your questions, however a field of various candies is at all times one of the simplest ways to get pleasure from completely different varieties.

The place to get it:
À La Mere de Famille, numerous areas

À La Mère de Famille is the oldest confectionery in Paris, with 10 areas throughout the town. The Belle Epoque location on Rue du Faubourg Montmartre within the ninth has been listed as a historic monument, and its inside boasts old-world appeal with vintage ground tiles and wood counters lined with glass bonbon jars.

Its caramel beurre salé candies are a easy mix of two sweets. When you’re stocking up on sweets, strive the nougat, pure butter biscuits, florentines, mendiants, and chocolate-covered almonds. If deciding on one chocolate is just too tough, go for an assortment in a souvenir tin.

Wine and spirits

What to search for:
At small caves à vin, house owners and their groups are there that will help you discover the right wine. Be prepared along with your preferences for white or crimson, mild or full bodied, a bottle for an aperitif or to drink with dinner, and so forth.

The place to go:
La Cave de Belleville
51 Rue de Belleville, nineteenth arrondissement

La Cave de Belleville is a wine bar and cellar within the nineteenth arrondissement in Belleville. There are lengthy tables down the middle of the area the place you’ll be able to get pleasure from wine with plates of charcuterie and cheese. If you happen to aren’t in a rush, spend a while having fun with a couple of wines, then buy your favourite one to convey residence. The store is organized by area, with a number of specialists able to information your nostril and palate. If spirits are extra your factor, Maison du Whisky at Odéon focuses on whiskey and spirits from France and around the globe.

get it residence:
Most wine retailers have bins and bubble wrap readily available. If you happen to solely buy one bottle, then surrounding it with bubble wrap and garments in your checked baggage works advantageous. For 2 or extra bottles, bubble wrap works, however think about a field or bottle separators.

Cheese and cured meats

Ajiri Aki

What to search for:
It may be helpful to ask a few store’s hottest merchandise to search out out the place it excels — or for what merchandise it could have received awards. For cheese, you must at all times ask what’s in season, and in case you are touring internationally, persist with onerous or semi-soft cheese. Word that the shop clerk received’t reliably know what you’ll be permitted to journey with.

The place to go:
Maison Plisson
93 Boulevard Beaumarchais, third arrondissement

Maison Plisson within the Marais is a component grocery retailer, half cafe-restaurant on a busy boulevard between Bastille and Republique. It solely sells the very best merchandise from smaller and underrepresented producers throughout France. The Prince de Paris is a standard Parisian ham with no antibiotics, nitrates, or synthetic components; it’s additionally the one model of ham made in Paris. For cheeses that’ll journey properly, strive the Comté, Camembert, Beaufort, Gruyere, or Emmentaler.

get it residence:
Nearly each épicerie will vacuum pack your meat or cheese which might then be saved in your checked baggage, and because it’s fairly chilly within the baggage space beneath the airplane, that’s an ideal place for it. (Maison Plisson advises that meat and cheese in sous vide packaging is okay for as much as eight hours outdoors of a fridge.) Nonetheless, it’s vital to notice that sure meals, together with some cured meats and unpasteurized cheese, should not allowed into the U.S. and should solely be capable of be loved in the event you’re touring to a different vacation spot within the E.U.

Foie gras

What to search for:
Foie gras will be controversial, but when this French delicacy doesn’t offend, you can find it accessible at nearly each connoisseur meals retailer. Search for manufacturers from Dordogne and Les Landes, and persist with cans and jars versus refrigerated sous vide blocks.

Foie gras is supposed to be lower from a block (like cheese) and eaten on toast. Attempt it with onion or rhubarb chutneys to boost the flavors.

The place to go:
Lafitte
47 rue Cler, seventh arrondissement

Lafitte is a contemporary store lined with solely two partitions of jars and cans of meat. It’s a futuristic, zero-fuss distinction to most historic manufacturers, nevertheless it’s been promoting canned meats since 1920. It additionally has a big number of rillettes, pates, and spreads.

get it residence:
Canned foie gras, pate, and duck confit are allowed into the U.S. so long as they’re in a can or jar with the producer components clearly listed.

Canned seafood

What to search for:
Canned or jarred seafood is in style in France, partly due to the seafood tradition from Normandy and Brittany. Examine the packaging to see the place precisely the fish is from to ensure you are shopping for one thing from the coasts of France (and never Portugal or Spain). Along with plain tuna, sardines, and mackerel, strive varieties which are combined with lemon, tomatoes, or spices.

The place to get it:
La Belle-Iloise, numerous areas

La Belle-Iloise was based in 1932 and sells canned tunas, sardines, mackerel, and soups from Quiberon, Brittany. You’ll discover the model in lots of épiceries in Paris, nevertheless it additionally has its personal retailers with 5 areas throughout Paris. The store at 53 Rue Montorgueil within the 2nd arrondissement has the added bonus of being on a picturesque pedestrian avenue stuffed with different meals retailers, eating places, and cafes.

These merchandise make nice presents, particularly in boxed units with charming packaging. The retailers additionally promote jarred seaweed mayonnaise, hummus, seaweed spreads, and every part else it’s good to host seafaring aperitif hours again residence.

get it residence:
Canned seafood is allowed within the U.S., however needs to be saved in your checked baggage due to the oil or liquids some cans comprise might exceed airline limits.

Pierre Prospero/Landline

Classic tableware

What to search for:
The French are identified for his or her “artwork de la desk,” and also you’ll discover numerous varieties of steel and porcelain tableware starting from the 18th to mid-Twentieth centuries. Ask a gross sales affiliate in case you are searching for a particular sample or model like Christofle or Gien. Nonetheless, many small producers copied the massive costly homes, so that you’ll discover equally lovely no-name gadgets from homes not in existence. Look intently for cracks in glass or porcelain and any rust on steel gadgets that’s onerous to take away. Nonetheless, a part of the great thing about vintage treasures is of their faults.

Use your creativeness when purchasing for classic tabletop items. Many have a number of makes use of past their unique function. A Champagne bucket will also be a flower vase, a misshapen slicing board will be wall artwork, and a crystal sugar bowl may maintain your jewellery.

The place to go:
AXS Design
12 rue St Sabin, eleventh arrondissement

AXS is an vintage store tucked away in a seemingly non-public cobblestone courtyard within the eleventh arrondissement. The store has two rooms stuffed with silver-plated cutlery in jars, stacks of ceramic plates on cabinets and tables, beveled crystal glassware, folded crimson and ecru torchons (onerous linen kitchen towels), and embroidered tablecloths on hangers.

get it residence:
Silver cutlery can simply be wrapped in tissue paper however the breakables want extra care. It’s finest to wrap porcelain plates individually, then collectively in units of two or 4 with a chunk of cardboard in between every plate. Fill all hole areas in gadgets comparable to glassware, vases, and soup tureens with brown packing paper earlier than wrapping absolutely in bubble wrap. To make sure your treasures make it residence safely, take them in your carry-on baggage. If you happen to get carried away and purchase greater than airways will permit, AXS provides delivery companies.

Ajiri Aki

Cookbooks

What to search for:
If you happen to can learn French (or use a translation app), then a cookbook is one of the simplest ways to grasp tarts, soufflés, and recettes de grand-mere. Preserve a watch out for Hachette, a significant writer with cookbooks tackling nearly each French culinary matter and ingredient. Not all French language cookbooks are extensively accessible, so visiting a cookbook retailer versus a common bookstore gives you an even bigger choice. Plus, Paris loves themed bookstores.

The place to go:
The Librairie Gourmande
92-96 rue Montmartre, 2nd arrondissement

The only-floor Librairie Gourmande is just not the fanciest of bookstores, nevertheless it’s centrally situated and shares a big assortment of French language books dedicated to meals. Alternatively, guide collectors and lovers of meals historical past and artwork de la desk can take a stroll to go to the bouquinistes which have been put in alongside the quays of the Seine for the reason that sixteenth century. On the Quai Conti throughout from the Hôtel des Monnaies you can find a vendor that focuses on meals literature, classic cookbooks, and Larousse encyclopedia posters.

French kitchen provides

What to search for:
Aspiring cooks typically make pilgrimages to France to attend its famed cooking faculties, leaving with instruments of the commerce utilized by many Michelin-starred eating places. Ask gross sales associates for the tales behind manufacturers, which are sometimes small family-run companies with a long time of historical past.

The place to go:
Landline
107 Avenue Parmentier, eleventh arrondissement

Landline is an idea retailer within the eleventh with floor-to-ceiling cabinets stuffed with ethically sourced tabletop gadgets, kitchen instruments, toys, and paper items from small corporations. Store for colourful, hand-painted ceramics from Dimanche Vaisselle and Samantha Kerdine, oven mitts comprised of deadstock material, conventional Sarreguemines white porcelain ramekins, and surprisingly helpful kitchen instruments, like tomato knives, zigzag wine openers, heated ice cream scoopers, and brass pepper mills.

get it residence:
Metallic kitchen instruments can simply be packed in your carry-on or checked baggage. (Don’t put any of the sharper gadgets in your carry-on or they could be confiscated.) Porcelain gadgets needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap or tissue paper and saved in a carry-on.

Copper pots

What to search for:
Copper pots are an especially environment friendly solution to evenly unfold warmth if you prepare dinner — to not point out they’re the prettiest cookware to show in a kitchen.

Mauviel 1830 copper pots are the Rolls-Royce of copper cookware, with the value tag to match. It’s finest to select a couple of items on every go to and slowly amass a set over time. The centuries-old firm is well-known for its high quality and conventional manufacturing methods, so your pots will probably outlive you. Make sure you ask for a bath of copper cleaner as properly; the great thing about copper pots requires a whole lot of upkeep.

The place to go:
E. Dehillerin
18-20 Rue Coquillière, 1st arrondissement

Ajiri Aki

E. Dehillerin has lengthy been an establishment for residence cooks and cooks, together with Julia Baby. It’s a treasure trove of provides, however the slender aisles and messy structure are a part of its appeal.

get it residence:
Relying on the dimensions of the pots you buy, you would possibly think about shopping for an extra suitcase to move them or mailing a field of your items residence to lighten your load.

A boxed set of Parisian flavors

What to search for:
One of the best boxed present units function merchandise made in Paris and spotlight iconic French flavors and components. Some shops and eating places will put collectively their bestsellers, and others would possibly offer you a reasonably field and let you assemble your favorites your self.

The place to go:
La Tour d’Argent
15 Quai de la Tournelle, fifth arrondissement

La Tour d’Argent, based in 1582, is the oldest restaurant in Paris. The related épicerie is on the bottom ground of the enduring restaurant, which boasts one Paris’s finest views (and instructions the best value to match).

The store’s Le Coffret Emblématique present field provides a style of what the restaurant is thought for, together with good wine and duck. If the field is a bit overwhelming you too can buy honey, tea, sweets, or wine from the épicerie.

You’ll additionally discover memorable boxed present units at Maison Plisson, Fauchon, La Maison du Caviar, Ladurée, and Maxim’s.

Ajiri Aki is the creator of JOIE: A Parisian’s Information to Celebrating the Good Life and the founding father of Madame de la Maison, an vintage e-commerce store.
Further photograph credit: Mustard photograph by Ajiri Aki; terrine photograph by Ajiri Aki; biscuits by Poilâne; bottle of wine by Olga Popova/Shutterstock; cheese by Nat Belkov