Paris > Food > Eric Kayser baguettes
The best baguettes in Paris?
"Best" is a subjective term, but the Baguette Monge and
the Baguette Malesherbes at Eric Kayser's Odéon bakery are excellent by any
standard.

ABOVE: Eric Kayser's Baguette Monge has a lovely
color and crumb, and the pointed ends provide extra crunch for crust lovers. TOP
INSET BELOW: Cheryl Imboden poses with a baguette from Eric Kayser's Odéon
bakery.
By Durant
Imboden
Okay, before you beat me
up, I'll confess: "The best baguettes in Paris?" is a clickbait headline.
Still,
it's a headline that, as a bread aficionado, I usually find irresistible
whenever I'm searching Google or browsing through food blogs. And to
be fair, the baguettes that I'm about to describe are certainly among
the best baguettes in Paris, and (as Michelin might say) they're worth a detour
if you're anywhere near the Sixth Arrondissement.
The baguettes in question are from the
Eric Kayser Odéon bakery on Rue de
l'Ancienne Comédie, a couple of blocks inland from the Seine in the tourist
heart of the Left Bank. The loaves come in two versions:
Baguette Monge
(on right), the loaf that made Eric Kayser famous, is the smaller of
the two, with pointed ends.
Baguette Malesherbes is slightly larger and more conventional in shape,
and it's priced a few cents higher.
Both loaves have a thick, crunchy crust and a marvelously chewy interior with
plenty of holes from the natural fermentation process. My favorite is the
Baguette Monge, because the pointed ends increase the crust-to-crumb ratio. The
Baguette Malesherbes produces chunks or slices of a more consistent
diameter, thanks to its more cylindrical shape, but you won't go wrong with
either loaf.
Tips:
Eric Kayser has boulangeries throughout Paris (and even in such
far-flung locations as New York and Kinshasa), but quality may vary slightly
from bakery to bakery or even from day to day, depending on things like
weather conditions and who's working in the back room. I can say that I
didn't have one dud among the several dozen loaves that I bought at the
Odéon branch. Your mileage or km/l may vary.
Eric Kayser's croissants and other Viennoiserie are also
wonderful, and
they're no more expensive than the equivalent products in more
run-of-the-mill boulangeries.
For more information about Eric Kayser bakeries in Paris and elsewhere, visit
Maison-Kayser.com.
About the author:
Durant Imboden
is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European
cities and transportation.
After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and
Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors (including Paris for Visitors) in
2001. The
site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The
Washington Post.
For more information, see
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