The Best Croissants in Paris, France (by a Local)!

I’m French and these are the best croissants in Paris!
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I’ve read that around 80% of croissant in Paris bakeries are industrially made and frozen. I want you to eat the good stuff, so here I am, showing you my favorite homemade croissants from the best artisanal bakeries of Paris. You’re welcome!

Here are the places we tried:
– Du pain et des idées
– Mamiche
– Stroher
– Yann Couvreur
– Liberté
– Poilâne
– Chez Meunier
– Boulangerie Baptiste Batignolles

#croissant #paris #france #lifeinparis

I’m French and today I’ll be eating the best  croissants in Paris. Starting with one of my   personal favorites. I woke up bright and early to  go to Du Pain et des Idées which is one of my all-time favorite 

Bakeries. From the outside it looks super cute with  an old school design and already a lot of people   eating their breakfast. And you know just going  inside I wish you were there to smell it because   everything smells so good and I had to refrain  myself from buying the whole store. So for this  

Video I just bought a single croissant. This croissant looks  very very homemade. Its shape is pretty irregular   and it looks also really fresh because it was made  right this morning when I bought. It also when you  

Cut into it and when you pull on the croissant  you can really see how many layers the flaky   dough has and the texture is just so beautiful. Mmm  crunchy! The first word that comes to mind for me  

When I taste it is how fresh everything tastes. And  this croissant is made with only four ingredients which   are flour, butter, milk, and eggs. It is not sweet at  all and the texture is super airy you know maybe  

I’m partial to this bakery because this used  to be my local bakery when I first moved to Paris   back when I was a student. So I really want to  make sure I rate each one of these croissants  

On really objective and important criteria. So first  of all we have the smell and we want a really   nice buttery smell. And you know, this croissant is  perfect! Then we have the overall look here I have  

To say that this croissant is a bit undercooked  which also makes the texture a bit less flaky than   I usually like. Then we have the taste and this  taste is really what I personally prefer in croissants,  

It’s not too sweet, there’s no sugar added to it,  it’s super fresh super, airy and overall delicious.  And then of course I want to add something about  the price. A croissant should be cheap it’s a basic  

Breakfast food, that you should be able to have  every single day. But this croissant is a bit on   the expensive side: it’s €2.30 which is the most  expensive croissant we’ll try today. So overall   this croissant is delicious but I think this will  not be the best croissant we will try today because we  

Still have quite a lot of them to try. And you know  being in Paris you’d think that finding a good croissant is super easy you just go to any local bakery and  you’d get a similar experience and get a delicious  

Homemade croissant. Well that’s not true. And I have very  bad news for us croissant lovers: 80% of all croissants sold in Paris bakeries are made industrially and  are frozen so you cannot just go to any bakery and  

Expect a good croissant. But by the end of this video, you’ll know how to recognize a good croissant and most   importantly which bakeries to go to. So, to show  you the difference between a homemade and a frozen   croissant we’re going to do a taste comparison  between a frozen croissant from my local  

Supermarket and our next croissant which is from  Mamiche, which is one of the most popular bakeries   among locals and one I haven’t tried before. Mamiche is a super cute neighborhood bakery and there was   already a long line of locals waiting for bread  and pastries. And again here everything looked so  

Good and so homemade but I just had to go with a  croissant. Okay so now look at these two croissants   so look at this first one, look how it looks, how it  feels and most importantly how it feels when I cut  

Into it and then compare with the second one. It’s  not always easy to guess just by looking at it   because, you know, croissants look very very similar. But the  first one was the frozen croissant and the second  

One was the homemade one. It should be a bit more  obvious when you cut into it because a homemade   croissant has this beautiful croissant pool and a very  nice flakiness that the frozen croissant doesn’t   have. Also the taste is super different it’s almost  two different foods that look the same. Let me try  

The… the frozen croissant to explain. It’s not  very good. It’s quite sweet, pretty dry, has a   very, very chewy texture which I don’t really like.  And most importantly it doesn’t taste fresh at all. 

It tastes like it was made 3 days ago and kept  in a box which I think it has. Let’s put this   one aside. And let’s now compare it with our Mamiche croissant which is absolutely homemade and looks   absolutely delicious. Wow this is so much better.  Like there’s a world between these two croissants. 

It’s not even the same food, it’s lightly crunchy  but still super fresh. Here I don’t want to rate   the frozen supermarket croissant because it’s not  very good. However the price is pretty cheap for   €1.60 you can get two croissants. So if you like  bad croissants and a lot of them that might be  

Your choice. But the Mamiche croissant is just  so good. We first have the smell, which smells   incredibly buttery. And you can really tell that  a lot a lot of butter has been used here so this  

Is a 9 out of 10 for me. I feel it looks the best  of all the croissants we’ve tried today, so this   is an eight. In terms of taste, the taste is just  so good. You know, I’m very partial to butter: you  

Give me butter I’m happy! So this is an eight as  well for me. And the texture is also pretty cool   here because it’s super super flaky. This will be  an eight. In terms of price, it’s pretty average too 

At €1.40. So now I want to try all the croissants  that are often called the best croissants of   Paris online. And I’m going to see if I agree with  that before showing you the official best croissant of   Paris. Because there is a competition for that.  The first one that I see mentioned everywhere  

As one of the best croissants of Paris comes from  this bakery called Stroher. Which is supposed to be one of the   oldest bakeries of Paris having opened in 1730.  So apparently even before croissants were a thing because  

I’ve read in my research for this video that what  we call croissant today was actually created in the   early 20th century. So their original location is  this very cute shop that’s in the center of Paris  

But they also have an even cuter shop that’s a  close walk away from my house. The inside kind   of looks like a fancy chocolate shop but this  croissant was only €1.6 and I have to say that  

Just looking at it, I’m pretty impressed. I think  I had only vaguely heard of this Bakery, so I had   no expectations whatsoever. But I really love how  it looks when you cut into it. It feels both very  

Dense and super airy. Here I really want to bring  your attention at how the flaky dough is perfectly   evenly distributed in the inside of the croissant.  Very flaky! In terms of smell, it doesn’t smell like  

Much. I can tell that there’s not a ton of butter  in this one, so I’ll give it a six. The overall look   is so beautiful! Especially when you cut into it. I  think it’s super perfect and that looks like how I  

Like my croissant to be, so this is a nine. Then the  taste is pretty good, but it tastes less fresh than   the two croissants we’ve tried before. And you  know maybe this is because I went to this shop  

Later. Because to get the best croissants you have  to be right there, bright in early in the morning.   The taste I’m going to give it a seven. Then the  texture is absolutely perfect, so this is a nine. And  

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Language Sprint and enjoy connecting with people  globally. Click my link in the description below   to find out more and use my code for an additional  €20 off! Our next croissant is from Poilâne. If you’ve heard   of one French bakery chain that’s the one. This  is a massive company, their bread is everywhere in  

Super markets and restaurants. Literally everywhere. They’ve been around for over a hundred years and   they’re still a family-owned business, spanning  over three generations. One thing I do like about   them is that they still make everything by hand in  an artisanal way. So even though they produce a ton  

Of croissants, they’re still considered artisanal.  And looking at our croissant, I can really understand that. it has a really old school croissant shape and is also  perfectly golden without looking too buttery. Which   is a shame because I love buttery croissants. When you  pull into it, it looks pretty good too. With a lot  

Of bounciness and a tiny bit less flakiness. Mmm! oh  interesting! Here the Taste is slightly different:   there’s a touch of salt in it, which makes it super  surprising. So let’s rate it: smell nothing can top   the first two croissants. There’s not a buttery  smell, which is something I personally love. The  

Overall look they: have really perfected the original croissant aesthetic. And I really like that. In terms of taste   it’s a bit different from what I’m used to, but  it’s still pretty good. So I’m going to give it  

A seven. And then for the texture it’s going to  be a 7. And the price is €1.40. And then our next   croissant is really really fancy. We got it at Yan Couvreur, who is a younger French chef that has trained in  

Many Michelin starred restaurants and has this really cool bakery/pastry shop not too far away from   the others. Wow this croissant is so beautiful! You can really tell that this guy has been a pastry   chef all his life because it looks so perfect. So what I really like here is all the different  

Layers of flakiness, and also it’s lightly shiny  as well and perfectly crunchy when you open it.   I feel this looks like the official croissant you’d find  on Google. and I’m really excited to try it! Mmm! This one  

Is so good because it is super crunchy. When you  look at it you can really tell it’s going to be   crunchy and it is! The texture is so perfect on  this one. So rating: smell pretty good, 7 out of 10  

Overall looks: super beautiful, the most beautiful  croissant I’ve seen today. It’s a 10 out of 10 for me.  The taste is pretty good, it’s buttery just how  I like it and the texture is super crunchy, super  

Airy so I’m going to give a 10 out of 10 to the  texture as well. And the price was €1.60. Okay so   I have to tell you something: the croissants we’ve  been eating today are not even my favorite type of  

Croissant. And before I show you the official best  croissant of Paris, I have to show you something   you absolutely need to try if you like croissants. I’m  talking about croissant aux amandes which just means   almond croissant. It’s a croissant that has been  stuffed with a ton of almond paste and it’s so  

So so so good. Obviously it is super sweet, it’s not  something you’re going to have for breakfast every   single day. But you know for a special occasion,  it is pretty good! So just looking at it, it is  

Way flatter than a croissant. You won’t get any of  the flakiness but you’ll get all of the delicious   almond taste and all of the crunchiness. Yum this  is so good. And my favorite place to get it is  

From liberté. Liberté is a bakery that’s originally  next to the Canal Saint Martin but that has several   antennas around Paris and their croissant aux amandes  is just so so so so good. At this point I’m not  

Even sure this is considered a croissant but I  couldn’t do a croissant video without showing it to you. And you know if you’re in doubt and you want  to be 100% sure you’re eating the best croissant  

Of Paris you’re in luck, because in France we take  croissants very very seriously. Every year there’s a   croissant competition to understand who has the best  croissant. So official judges from the National Bakery   Association eat more than a 100 croissants and rate them  on many different criteria. And you know this feels  

Like a super cool job. But when you think twice  about it, it also seems super hard. Because you   have to actually eat a 100 croissants. But anyway,  this year they’ve decided that this Bakery has  

The best croissant. So I obviously want there and  we’re going to try it. So here we have a croissant from   chez Meunier, the official best croissant of 2023. So looking at it, it  doesn’t look anything special from the outside  

But it’s when you cut it in half that you can see  why this is a good croissant. You have this really   cool texture that’s typical of good croissants.  Which Google tells me is called the honeycomb   texture and which is what we’re looking for in  every single croissant. Mmm, I feel this croissant  

Is a combination of why every other croissant  we’ve tried today is good. So the smell is not too   buttery but it still smells pretty good so we’re  going to give it a seven. And the look is also  

Pretty normal, so we’re going to give it a seven  out of 10. However the texture is just perfect   so we’re going to give it a 10 out of 10. And the  taste is also really, really good, just like a good  

Normal croissant that you could eat every single  day. In terms of price, I also paid 1.60 which seems   to be the upper average end of our croissants today. And  if a panel of croissants experts is not enough for you,  

What about a croissant that’s approved by the French  President himself? Yes, that’s actually a thing   and it feels very French. So let me explain: every  year there’s this very very selective competition   that awards the best crafts people in France. And  when I say very selective, it is very selective :

The whole competition takes around 2 years and if  you’re selected, you’re invited by the president of   France to the Palais de L’Elysée, which is the French equivalent of  the White House and you get awarded a medal and  

Also you get the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France which  means best craft person of France and you can   keep this title all your life and put it  next to your name. So it’s a pretty big deal.   

I was really excited and surprised to find out that  this bakery looks just like a normal bakery of   my neighborhood. Except that when you look closely  you can see that they advertise the name of the head  

Baker who is a meilleur ouvrier de France. And looking at this  croissant you can tell that the people who made   it know what they’re doing. It has a perfect  shape so many beautiful layers, and obviously  

The beautiful airy inside. This one is super flaky  not sweet at all. It has almost a bready taste. And   it has a very buttery texture without tasting too  much like butter. And here is my rating! What I find  

Really crazy is that this croissant is sold for only  €1.30. It’s such a cheap price when you think about   it, because people have dedicated their lives to  make the best croissant for us to eat for only €1.30!

So here is my final comparison of what is the best  croissant of Paris! And if you want to see another   of my favorite bakeries and all of my favorite  spots for French you should watch this video next