Maison Landeman

Maison Landemaine

56 Rue de Clichy 75009 Paris

All the research in the world is no substitution for having a foodie insider who can steer one in the proper gastronomical direction. CA Scotch Gent's sister certainly qualifies as a foodie. She is one of the few people whose palate the Scotch Couples trust completely. Lucky for the Scotch Couples, she also qualifies as a Paris insider, since she lives there half of the time. Consequently, when the Scotch Couples were headed to Paris, it was to CA Scotch Gent's sister that they turned for their pastry and restaurant choices. She recommended Maison Landemaine for their flaky pain au chocolate and urged the Scotch Couples to arrive early in order to scoop them up while they were hot.

Alas, since this was the first morning in Paris, the Scotch Couples did not roll out of bed in time to sample the wares while they were warm. The CA Scotch Couple arrived around 8, but that still wasn't early enough. Since there is both an Avenue de Clichy and a Rue de Clichy, DC Scotch Couple ended up with a little unexpected city exploration on the way and showed up a little later, which was fine with the CA Scotch Couple since it gave them two rounds of pastry eating.

The first round consisted of a pain au chocolate, a raisin pastry, and a loaf of chocolate chip bread. The pain au chocolate really was amazing! It was rich and flaky and had two strips of excellent chocolate inside. The other pastries were also quite good. If fact, CA Scotch Gent ended up polishing off the chocolate chip bread they were saving for the DC Scotch Couple while they were waiting.

Round two commenced with the DC Scotch Couple arrived. They went for the almond croissant, chocolate bread, and a choice from the non-breakfast pastry section. CA Scotch Chick ordered a bag of little sugar encrusted pastries for their travels during the day. Everything was excellent. In fact, the almond croissant was so good DC Scotch Chick, who doesn't have a sweet tooth, threatened to go back to get another one.

Interestingly enough, when CA Scotch Chick did a little research on Maison Landemain, the only web sites she found mentioning it were in Japanese. Scroll down on this one www.yoshimi-boulangere.com/rodoshop.html to see some really good pictures of their wares. In her original research, CA Scotch Chick found that there are several French pastry shops run by Japanese individuals. Since she didn't know there might be a Japanese connection for Maison Landemain when she was there, she did not have an opportunity to ask if the owners are from Japan.

Whatever the origin of this amazing French pastry shop, it is well worth a visit while in Paris. The Scotch Couples sincerely thank CA Scotch Gent's sister for this fantastic find.