What to Eat in Paris - Dessert

This website is all about what types of food to try while in Paris. This article specifically talks about dessert, but the website also discusses lunch, dinner and snack ideas.

Thankfully for anyone with a sweet tooth, Paris will not disappoint in the dessert category. If you’ve enjoyed a good meal at a restaurant, chances are the desserts there will be tasty as well. Some French desserts you might find on offer are:

• Iles Flottantes – This translates to “floating islands,” and it’s essentially dollops of meringue “floating” in a pool of creme anglaise, a vanilla-cream sauce.
• Clafoutis – This is a sponge cake that usually has baked right into it whatever fruits are in season.

Also keep in mind that to many French people, a selection of fine cheeses is the perfect way to end a meal. So if you’re looking for a dessert alternative that’s less about sugar, you could try a cheese plate (many places will bring out all the cheese they have and you point to the ones you want pieces of; these are sometimes served with honey or jam for drizzling on certain cheeses).

But if you’re looking for a more portable option to satisfy your sugar craving, here are a few things you can hunt for while in Paris:

• Macarons – Don’t confuse a French macaron with that little mountain of shaved coconut. These are a completely different animal. French macarons are light cookies (made with egg whites) that sandwich a layer of icing. In addition being dainty and delicious, they’re usually extremely brightly colored. The most famous macarons come from the shop that started it all, Laduree in Paris.
• Ice Cream – Ice cream is a nearly universal phenomenon, thank goodness, but in Paris there’s a particular ice cream shop that’s not to be missed. There are a few branches of the Berthillon ice cream shops in Paris, but the best one is on the tiny Ile Saint-Louis near Notre Dame. Berthillon’s sorbets are especially noteworthy (they taste so real, you’d swear you were eating the actual fruit), but I’ve never tasted anything there that wasn’t top-notch and well worth writing home about. (Read more about Berthillon in Paris.)
• Madeleines – These famous French sweets are halfway between a cookie and a cake, and although you’ll more often see them served with coffee or tea as opposed to being listed on a dessert menu, there’s nothing stopping you from saving a few from your afternoon stop at the patisserie and letting them melt in your mouth on the Metro ride back from your dinner that evening.
• Chocolate – Paris didn’t invent chocolate, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a long list of chocolatiers in Paris who are busy perfecting the art. There are entire books dedicated to the chocolate shops in Paris, so even if you’re not that into chocolate it can’t hurt to stop into one if you’re passing by.
• Hot Chocolate – If the weather’s the least bit chilly, you owe it to yourself to indulge in a cup of hot chocolate in Paris at some point. European hot chocolate is nothing like the watery microwaveable stuff you may be used to; in fact, it’s more akin to pudding than something you might drink. And yes, that’s why I think it qualifies as dessert and not a beverage.