With a name like Tartelettes, the very best thing on the menu of this tiny 2nd arrondissement pastry shop should, it seems to me, be the tartlets. But I’m going to take, perhaps, a slightly more polemical position.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Tartelettes is located in a popular pedestrian area just steps from the Palais Royal gardens (the perfect place to sample your spoils, by the way…), but it’s easy to miss, as you walk by; it lacks the somewhat more tantalizing display so many Parisian shops boast. But step inside, and you’ll soon see why it’s been on my must-try list for some time now.
The shop specializes, as its name suggests, in tartlets: specifically a format with a crisp pastry shell filled with a nut brittle that is then baked and topped with cream and a praline insert. The tart is then finished with even more praline, which drips tantalizingly down it when cut open.
The more famous of the tartlets in this format is the pistachio; this, however, is the Piemontese hazelnut one. (The reasons for this choice will make themselves clear in due time, dear reader.)
It should come as no surprise, of course, that this tart was, indeed, delicious. The pastry case was buttery; the layer of hazelnut baked within crisp and almost peanut brittle-like in texture. The two pralines – one within, one on top – offered slightly different flavors and viscosities: The insert was denser and sweeter; the topping looser and more like a natural nut butter.
My only qualm came from the cream, which, unlike many other reviewers, I found too sweet, too dense, too buttery. (I should probably note here that I am not generally a fan of buttercream, so if you are, this might be the pastry for you.) For me, however, the entire pastry was wanting, perhaps, for a bit of fleur de sel, something to cut the sweet-on-sweet-on-sweet.
The same did not hold quite as true for the strawberry tartlet, a seasonal creation made with vanilla, lime, and French gariguette strawberries.
A base layer of almond shortbread is studded with so many thick-cut, sliced almonds I almost thought they were peanut halves, at first. This is topped with a super-airy sponge (like… more air than sponge) followed by a layer of vanilla cream far lighter than the richer topping found on the hazelnut tart. This cream is laced with bits of fresh, seasonal strawberries, which added even more lightness and acidity.
The lime is pretty much undetectable, and the cream on its own is, indeed, a bit too sweet for my taste, but this was far more eatable, as in, I could easily eat the whole thing on my own without a moment’s hesitation.
(That said… it is still a little sweet for my liking.)
This cookie, on the other hand, met me where I like to be: perfectly betwixt sweet and savory. The crunchy peanut cookie base was topped with a gooey salted caramel topping.
And while the cookie is not the best PB cookie I’ve ever had in my life (it’s a teeny bit dry) it was indeed quite good.
At this point, I recognize that my review has sounded perhaps a bit lackluster. But friends, there is indeed one very, very good reason to go to Tartelettes, even if, like me, you are averse to (even very well-made) pastries that tend towards the too-sweet.
Ohhhh Mama.
This is the pistachio brioche. It’s a brioche dough rolled around a sweetened pistachio paste, topped with even more pistachio paste and whole pistachios. It’s dusted in granulated sugar, but the actual brioche dough mostly tastes of butter and orange flower water; the richness of the pistachios themselves is the perfect counterpoint.
I know that I am perhaps an oddity for preferring my pastries like this one – not too sweet, with more of a taste of butter and nuts than sugar – but this is the one that conquered my heart.
Tartelettes – 102, rue Montmartre, 75002