paris diary: place de la madeleine

i found it incredibly hard to decide which food shops to visit when i was paris for three days last month. i had a long list of recommendations from the trendy pierre hermé patisserie to the much loved androuët fromagerie. the problem was that these shops are scattered all over the city and it takes quite a while to go from one end of the town to the other even by the venerable metro. if only someone had told me about place de la madeleine, i'd gone straight there and worried a lot less about not getting the most out of a gourmet lover's paris.

around place de la madeline you can find more gourmet food stores than anywhere else in paris.



fauchon and hediard are probably the two of the most famous gourmet food stores. hediard was as fascinating as fauchon though i resisted the urge to buy from there having spent a bomb already on my chocolate spree earlier in the afternoon.



there's also a chocolatier at place de la madeleine called foucher that has a spectacular array of the most divine chocolate goodies.




and finally, slightly off place de la madeleine on rue bonaparte, i also visited a tea room called ladurée which has the most delicious macaroons and meringues.



ladurée's newest brand just opened at harrod's london. got to head over to knightsbridge for tea soon!