30-32 Passage Jouffroy, 75009, Paris, France
Visited on: Thursday 22nd October 2015
A view of the cake counter at Le Valentin.
Another Lonely Planet recommendation, I’d been looking forward to going to a proper French patisserie the whole time we’d been in Paris. Le Valentin, which is situated in a covered shopping arcade, did not disappoint.
Chocolate eclair, chocolate cake, fancy sugar sticks and pots of tea.
The waitress seated us and then came to take our order. R only wanted tea, but the waitress and I managed to persuade him to try a chocolate eclair as well. I asked for something that was chocolate and the waitress pointed out a particular cake in the cabinet. It had a special name, but I’m afraid I couldn’t quite catch it.
The tea was loose leaf and came in metal teapots. R had chosen a sencha green tea and I had chosen rooibos, neither came with milk and I didn’t ask for milk as I felt I should try it without. In the end, that turned out to be a good idea as the cake was very rich and the tea was more refreshing without milk.
My glowing rooibos tea.
Each of us were served a fancy sugar stick with the tea – a wooden stick with crystallised sugar on it. Neither of us take sugar with our tea but as they were so fancy I folded a napkin around them and took them home with me to give to someone who did take sugar in their tea. R found this highly amusing.
R’s chocolate eclair was light and not too heavy on the cream. My chocolate thing was rich but not cloying and I especially appreciated the little piece of silver on the top of it. The tea was good too.
My chocolate cake thing in all its shiny glory.
The cake and mousse interior of my chocolate cake thing.
We were sat next to the cake counter, so could see what everyone else was ordering and I enjoyed watching everyone come and go. Good tea, great cake and a nice experience overall.
- Teapot? Yes.
- Leaf tea? Yes. Not only that, there was a very wide choice of tea on their tea menu.
- Milk jug? No, but neither needed milk.
- Price? €5.10 for the rooibos tea, €5.50 (I think) for R’s sencha tea, €4.40 for the eclair (eat in price) and around €6 for the chocolate deliciousness that I had (eat in price).
- Cake? Yes! And lots of it. Plus pastries, breads, savoury tarts and pies.
- Go again? Yes.
Tea for you and me 