If you want a good piece of travel advice, always, and I mean ALWAYS, start any trip to a new city/country with a food tour.
A local food tour highlights the region’s specialties, usually combined with some background history. In our Paris food tour, we learnt things like the (surprisingly non-French) origin of croissants and the difference between “baguette tradition” and “baguette ordinaire” – I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t settle for ordinary!
Our Paris Food Tour Experience with Paris by Mouth
We met our lovely Paris guide, Melanie, on a Tuesday morning in Le Marais, one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Paris. T and I were hungry to try some Parisian specialties and possibly discover unfamiliar foods.
After introducing ourselves to the group and briefly getting to know each other, we were off to our first stop!
Stop #1: Tout Autour du Pain
Did you know that croissant originated from turkey? Yup. It was a little less refined before it reached France, but believe it or not, the original croissant was created by the Turks! Or at least that’s what Melanie said, and I guess since she’s our tour guide, that makes her credible, right?
We tasted a delicious all-butter croissant at our first stop at Tout Autour du Pain, a boulangerie owned by baguette award-winner, Benjamin Turquier.
Our group also tried Turquier’s specialty “fantasy bread” Vannetais, a soft white chocolate milk-based bread) and “kid’s crack” (quoting Melanie here guys) or “Chouquettes” which are sweet puffs covered with pearl sugar. These are ADDICTIVE.
We picked up our baguette de tradition from here too for our final stop where we will enjoy all foods collected throughout the walk.
Here’s a piece of advice from our guide, Melanie: Don’t be shy to choose the croissant/pastry/bread you like best from the display if you see the vendor reaching for a “less toasted” or “less pretty” one!
Stop #2: The Chocolate World of Jacques Genin
Our next stop was all about chocolate. We stepped into the legendary chocolate world of Jacques Genin.
This artist’s chocolate is housed in a beautiful art museum style boutique along with other sweet specialties including pastries, toffees, and jellies.
We picked up an assortment of chocolate, jellies, and toffees for our lunch picnic, and then we were off to our next stop.
Read more about our delicious discoveries at Chocolaterie Jacques Genin.
Stop #3: Charcutier Traiteur Maison Ramella
A traiteur offers prepacked, pre-cooked foods, and is usually specialized in a professional food trade (i.e. butcher, cheese monger…). Think of it as a delicatessen.
At Charcutier Traiteur Maison Ramella in Le Marais, Melanie got a selection for our picnic.
**A Quick Tour of Marché Couvert des Enfants Rouges**
Before our next stop, we toured the Marché Couvert des Enfants Rouges, which was surprisingly not crowded at all and actually quite deserted. Maybe it was still early.
Stop #4: Fromagerie Jouannault
Just a few steps away, our fourth stop was a historic fromagerie that offers the best cheese in Paris.
In 1990, Pricilla Jouannault opened this Fromagerie with her father, William Jouannault.
The Jouannault family are master cheese mongers (they sell cheese) as well as affineurs (they age cheese).
So at this stop of our Paris food tour with Paris by Mouth, Melanie taught us about cheese.
Here are some things we learned: [by the way, you can totally skip this part if you’re not interested in cheese]
- There are 5 cheese groups: Soft, Semi-Soft, Firm, Blue-Veined, and Fresh.
- You can either buy cheese whole or by the half or quarter, and sometimes, in grams. Buying rules are reflected on the price sticker.
- Did you know that cheese is protected under Cheese law? There’s usually a red stamp on ticket.
- Even seasons influence cheese!
- Goats actually came from Morocco and goat cheese made in the north has a different flavour than that made in the south! FYI March-October is goat cheese season!
Stop #5: Our Final Stop at Divvino
Melanie has been working up our appetites with every stop for the past 2 hours, and now it’s finally time to eat!
Divvino is a wine shop and bar in Le Marais, Paris – you can also book wine tasting sessions here. Their motto? Life is too short to drink bad wine.
We made our way down the old steps to find a beautiful underground bar. The ambience was cozy, but all I could do was think about that cheese we picked up.
We paired different wines (from Divvino) with the cheese and charcuterie we picked up. Of course, that traditional baguette from our first stop was involved.
Here’s what we had for lunch:
Cheese
- Rouelle du Tarn (goat, Midi-Pyrénées, aged 4 weeks) – shaped like a donut and has a mild milky-flavour with a note of hazelnut
- Ossau-Iraty AOP (sheep, Pyrénées, aged 3-36 months) – sharp and nutty taste, traditionally eaten with black cherry jam. I loved this cheese because it reminded me of Lebanese cheese Kashkaval (قشقوان)
- Munster AOP (cow, Alsace and Lorraine, aged 2-3 months) – washed rind with a strong smell and taste
- Charolais AOP (goat, Bourgogne, aged 2-6 weeks) – light and creamy, smooth, and tastes a little bit sour with a milk and almond flavour
- Mimolette (cow, Nord, aged 3-24 months) – the cheese we tried was “extra-vielle” aged 24 months. This was one of the few cheeses in our selection that I was already familiar with, except for the tiny detail: the cheese is created by cheese mites. Good to know…
- Camembert de Normandie AOP (cow, Normandie, best around 4 weeks) – invented in 1791 by Marie Harel in Normandy. It has a slight mushroom aroma and mold, but don’t be discouraged, it’s delicious
- Roquefort AOP (Carles) (sheep, Midi-Pyrénées, usually aged 3 months but can go up to 10 months) – ripened for a minimum of three months in the Cambalou caves below Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. The natural caves contain Penicillium roqueforti mold, which helps in the production of Roquefort cheese. By the way, I don’t usually like this cheese, but this Paris food tour made me love it!
The first 3 cheeses were paired with Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur Lie “L’Air Innocent” 2015 wine from Domaine de la Fessardière (Melon de Bourgogne from Loire Valley) and the rest with Bourgogne “Les Perrières” 2014 wine from Domaine Bize (Pinot Noir from Burgundy).
Charcuterie
- Jambon aux Herbes (Herbed Ham) – very flavourful!
- Rosette de Lyon – the most famous of Lyon’s sausages
- Duck Rillettes (Duck Spread) – this was my favourite (and the fattiest of the 4)
- Terrine de Lapin et Fines Herbes (Rabbit Terrine with Fine Herbs – this was my least favourite due to its gelatin texture
With our selection of charcuterie, we paired Côte de Rhône “Clos Beatus Ille” 2017 wine from Domaine Saint Préfert (Grenache and Cinsault from Rhône Valley).
After lunch, Melanie brought out the Jacques Genin chocolate. We totally forgot about those!
Finally, the lovely Melanie surprised us with delicious hand-crafted Jacques Genin mango-passion-fruit toffees. I highly recommend buying some foodie souvenirs from this shop.
Final Verdict
The Marais Food Tour with Paris By Mouth was a cool and unique experience in Paris – definitely recommended!
The Pros
- Our guide Melanie is just awesome and made us laugh at every turn
- It’s the perfect introduction to Paris food specialties and the history of main French specialty stores (boulangerie, chocolaterie, traiteur, fromagerie, and cave à vins)
- Groups are always small – we were around 8 persons – so we had a more intimate experience
- We walked the streets of Le Marais, the most beautiful neighbourhood in Paris
- The food was utterly delicious – of course, that’s what we signed up for!
- After our tour, we got an email recapping all the details of where we went and what we tasted
The Only Con
There was only one con for this particular Paris food tour. I’ve been on food tours before (1 in Athens and 2 in London) and they didn’t involve a picnic-like experience of actually picking up different foods along the way in order to enjoy it at the end.
I prefer the standard food tour of tasting food at each stop, because (1) I found that it was a lot to eat at once and (2) personally, I would appreciate the food more if I were to eat them right after learning about why this particular food or store is special to Paris.
To my lovely readers, I really hope you enjoyed going on this Paris food tour with me just as much as I enjoyed reliving my experience by putting words to paper (or screen, in my case).
To Paris by Mouth, thank you for this brilliant Parisian foodie experience in Le Marais. Your food tour inspired T and I to create a romantic picnic in Annecy, which ultimately led to our engagement <3
Have you ever been on a food tour? Would you consider signing up for one on your next trip?
Taste of the Marais Food Tour Stop Summary
- Tout Autour du Pain, 134 Rue de Turenne, 75003 Paris, France
- Jacques Genin, 133 Rue de Turenne, 75003 Paris, France
- Maison Ramella, 38 Rue de Bretagne, 75003 Paris, France
- Marché Couvert des Enfants Rouges, 39 Rue de Bretagne, 75003 Paris, France
- Jouannault, 39 Rue de Bretagne, 75003 Paris, France
- Divvino Marais, 16 Rue Elzevir, 75003 Paris, France
Paris By Mouth offers the Taste of the Marais Paris Food Tour on a weekly basis!
Price per person: €110 per person, including all tastings listed above
Total time: 10:30am-1:30pm (around 3 hours)
For more information about this Taste of the Marais Paris Food Tour and other tours offered, check out the Paris By Mouth website and Facebook page.
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Thank you Paris By Mouth for the great food tour experience! As always,all opinions are my own.
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