Visitors to Paris are often surprised that pâtisseries where you can sample the wares on-site aren’t more common. It does run a bit counter to the way that French people traditionally use these shops; rather than stopping by for a cake sur le pouce, they tend to source their desserts in pâtisseries to enjoy at home. But I’m always on the lookout for shops where you can enjoy the cakes on-site to recommend to visitors, so I was very happy to discover Ginko.
This pastry shop founded in 2022 is the brainchild of Japanese-American Sayo Yamagata and French-Moroccan Othman El Ouraoui. Together, they’re adding a few new spins to French pastry traditions. On the day of my visit, the case tumbled with ultra-burnished croissants and pains au chocolat alongside viennoiseries flavored with black sesame. On the pastry side of things, a multi-layered chocolate creation featured alongside classics like simple vanilla flan or a slightly revisited raspberry tart with elderflower.
But there were also totally novel innovations, like a chocolate creation featuring layers of cake, praline crisp, smooth crémeux, and light mousse all covered in intense chocolate ganache or a cream puff filled with genmaicha crémeux, raspberry confit, and matcha whipped cream.
We opted to sample a truly unique offering: The Saveur d’Orient (6.80) was made of a pistachio crisp, puffed rice, almonds, orange blossom cream, and a marmalade center. The balance of fruity and floral flavors was perfect, and I loved the marriage of textures that kept it from being too soft-on-soft, as so many modern pastries can be.
But given the American origins of Yamagata, I perhaps shouldn’t have been surprised to find that my favorite bite was actually a peanut butter cookie (2.80). I often find French cookies to be a bit anemic, but this one had the rich, treacly, molassessy flavor I love, and it was topped with swirls of thick peanut butter and loads of roasted peanuts. Given how delicious this was, I’m excited to go back and try the black sesame and kinako versions!
There are a few seats outside, and there’s also a small seating area inside. But the shop is also just a few steps from the Buttes-Chaumont park, which is another fantastic place to dig in!
Ginko – 33 rue des Alouettes, 75019