Drinks and Pastries in Paris
 

We are going to Paris for a week at the end of September. We have been to Paris several times in the past but it seems that we have always had a long list of things that "we must do"...this time we are just going relax, observe and enjoy. I have never really tried any of the wonderful pastries other than macaroons and I would love to have a list of beverages to try. If you have any favorites please let me know.
Thank you for your input.
loveyblue

Try to find a lemon tart--when good they are fabulous.

What kind of beverages?

Pastries: millefeuilles, any kind of fruit tart, baba au rhum, crèpes, petits fours, mousse au chocolat, île flottant, beignets, bugnes, éclairs......

Drinks: Lillet, Suze, kir, kir royale, crémant d'Alsace, wine and beer of course,tisanes, infusions, eau à la menthe, Orangina Rouge.....

...the Africain hot chocolate at Angelina's (along with a Mont Blanc perhaps?)

...not much into pastries

but - pastis, wine - pick a type you like and order that type every chance you get (Cahors perhaps)
kir royale (cassis and champagne),
look up and try Curnonsky's five best white wines - Chateau d'Yquem, Chateau Chalon, Chateau Grillet, Montrachet, and Savennieres Coulees de Serrant

Try some different aperitifs:

Suze
Picon and Mandarin
Pineau des Charentes

What a lovely quest!

I lik Suze. If you don't like Campari, you won;t like it. Like the Italian Apero, it is a gentian based drink.
My favorite Pastis is PASTIS 51. If you don't like anise flavor, you may not like it.
A Mont Royal to eat at Angelina's, miam!!!

Forgot two of my faves: vin de noix and vin de peche.

StCirq - I had a kir made with vin de truffe...indescribable

Another vote for Mont Blanc at Angelina!

grandmere, lol, thanks for the correction.
now I can suggest after dinner a Beaumes de Venise, France's best dessert muscat.

Cigale, the Mont Blanc surely is Royal, isn't it?

S.

Yet another vote for Mont Blanc at Angelina. One is enough for two people--too many calories.

I like gateau basque - not a fancy pastry at all, but just as delicious.

b-mark

Aahh cigale, ..." France's best dessert muscat."..that does take me back.
That is fortunately one of the wines that I can find here ( that I like)...sadly there is no Lillet to be found in Argentina..cry for me.

My Paris Drinking Stories:
lol...not really stories..just that when we first started going to Paris, I did not drink wine. And I fell for Cotes du Rhone or whatever table wine we had..
From there I started to like drinks in the afternoon..if it was not tea and pastries, it was sherry or Port..( this was brought over from my trips to London) and then the dessert wines.

My sugggestion would be (regarding desserts) just pick out whatever sounds good or looks good. It is so much more fun to discover it on your own.
Happy eating and drinking! ((D))

robjame: I'm intrigued, totally. Vin de truffe - pray tell, what's it like? Made with with black truffle? I so need this....

loveyblue,

I can't help you, but I am glad you started this thread. It will come in handy when I return to Paris in November.

Tom

www.pbase.com/trsw

StCirq - it was the usual kir recipe but the wine had been infused with truffles. Tasted like a normal kir then suddenly you would get that truffle, earthy, je ne sais quoi.
Don't know if it is available for sale or "homemade but I am going to look this year in Dordogne.

I like Angelina's 'Opera' best.

I just had a chance to get back to my computer and I think I have gained a few pounds just reading through such great responses! I am so glad we are just going to take it easy this trip - I am looking forward to trying several pastries as well as wine, drinks and hot chocolates.
Thank you for such helpful posts.
loveyblue

And then there is Laduree and Pierre Herme .. Christian Constant makes lovely chocolates ....sigh~

And pastries aren't just limited to creamy confections, or even sweet ones. Don't miss out on a well made flaky 'palmier' (or elephants ears, or rabbits ears) sometimes partially dipped in, or drizzled with chocolate or else coated with crunchy sugar. They're great with a late night coffee or dipped into a digestif.
And there are all kinds of crispy, crunchy and buttery cheese pastries to munch on throughout the day, including some long thin cheese straws ('ficelles') eaten as pre-dinner munchies with drinks. Keep an eye out for them. Yum !

No discussion about pastries should end without mentioning those small beignets which the French call "pet de nonne" (gotta love the name!)