Last month, as the spring flowers were reaching peak bloom in the Tuileries, Paris’s grandest hotel—the Hôtel de Crillon—unveiled the Butterfly Pâtisserie. Through a dedicated entrance on the side of the hotel, guests arrived in what could easily be mistaken for a jewelry store. Before them, on a marble countertop, was an exquisite selection of seasonal tartes, mille-feuilles, breakfast pastries, madeleines, and mini-cookies made by pastry chef Matthieu Carlin, each priced between 12 and 20 euros.
“This is the first [hotel pâtisserie] that combines a tearoom with a boutique,” says Frank Adrian Barron, the author of Sweet Paris: Seasonal Recipes from an American Baker in France, who regularly leads pastry tours across Paris. “It’s an elegant extension of the hotel, with pastries served on porcelain dishware, which elevates the work even further.”
